Sales and Finance Cross-Functional User Group— May 12

Anaplan invites you—customers and Community members—to come together for a Sales And Finance Cross-Functional User Group on May 12 to share questions, challenges, and best practices for supporting sales and/or finance organizations.

Unless you’re a firefighter, work shouldn’t feel like you are just putting out fires. Leaders today are asking more questions—more often—to understand and rethink every facet of their business. Teams have also shifted from maintaining a single strategic plan to dynamic scenario planning to accommodate the rapid pace of change. Model builders play a pivotal role to put the right answers in the right hands and enable cross-functional revenue teams to stay agile and focused on the right priorities.

This is never more apparent than in the relationship between sales and finance. Despite having slightly different objectives, they must work together because enterprises need both revenue and liquidity to survive—one cannot happen without the other. And for many businesses, both have recently become less certain.

What Questions Are These Teams Asking?

For sales, the questions begin with the forecast and sales pipeline. Sales leaders and managers work every day to understand who is still buying and what purchase decisions have been changed or canceled outright.

For finance, today’s business environment is putting stress on cash flow and liquidity in new and unexpected ways. Managing cash flow is an uphill battle when you must also consider collections and how diminished cash flow impacts other areas of the business.

Answering these questions with automated roll-ups rather than emailing outdated spreadsheets ensures finance always has real-time visibility to determine liquidity and cash flow. Now, these teams can work together to consider what spending should be changed, postponed, or stopped to maintain revenue.

The Time Is Now for Sales and Finance to Cooperate

When re-evaluating spending, companies face complex tradeoffs. For example, scaling sales capacity up or down to meet future demand may mean sacrificing headcount in other areas of the business. Further, incentive compensation, one of the largest line items in an organization’s budget, requires constant attention. Quota relief or draws may be needed to keep sellers motivated to hit their targets and corporate revenue goals.

Model builders are a lynchpin to bringing sales and finance together to answer questions quickly, collaborate, and cooperate to reach their objectives together. Are you helping your sales and finance organizations stay focused on what matters most, or constantly putting out fires?

Join us for this special, cross-functional user group on May 12 and share your experiences.