Practice a cold call or LinkedIn live connect with a CFO who didn’t opt in. Social selling, relevance, and permission-based discovery in under two minutes.
CFO
Hidden agenda: Already talking to incumbent about renewal — your call is unplanned
Style: Terse; ‘send email’ default; respects prep and brevity
You play Alex Rivera. Read their lines aloud or have a partner play the buyer.
Outbound to CFO at mid-market manufacturing firm. They downloaded nothing; SDR left voicemail twice. You’re calling after earnings call mentioned margin pressure.
Stakes: CFO access unlocks enterprise deal; without it, you’re stuck with mid-level evaluators.
Company: ~900 employees, public margin guidance down, LinkedIn post on operational efficiency.
Earn permission for a short follow-up by demonstrating relevance to a CFO priority — not by pitching product.
Read through each act, then work the decision points below. Coaching notes appear after annotated lines.
Morgan Lee · CFO
This is Morgan. I have a minute.
Alex Rivera
Morgan — Alex Rivera. I’ll be brief. Your earnings commentary on margin pressure — two peers in manufacturing used labor variance visibility to recover 120 bps without headcount cuts. Worth a 20-minute compare, or should I drop?
Morgan Lee · CFO
Who are the peers?
Alex Rivera
Similar NA footprint — I can name them on a call, not on a cold interrupt. Tuesday 7:30am or Wednesday 4pm your time?
Morgan Lee · CFO
You’re selling software.
Alex Rivera
Fair. We sell ops analytics — but today I’m only asking if the peer comparison is relevant before I waste your board prep.
Morgan Lee · CFO
Send email.
Alex Rivera
I will — one page, peer outcomes only, no deck. If it’s not relevant, reply ‘pass’ and I won’t follow up. If it is, Wednesday 4pm still open?
Morgan Lee · CFO
…Send it. If the page is good, Wednesday might work.
Choose a path before reading the debrief. In pair practice, pause and discuss which option you would take.
Decision 1 of 2
30-second company pitch + top features
RiskyWhy: CFO pattern-matches to vendor spam; hang-up likely.
Lead with margin trigger + peer outcome + ask for 20 minutes
RecommendedWhy: Relevance and respect for time; invites curiosity.
Ask ‘what keeps you up at night?’
RiskyWhy: Generic; puts burden on CFO; feels like training script.
Decision 2 of 2
Promise full deck and case studies tonight
RiskyWhy: High effort, low show rate; sounds like every vendor.
One page, peer outcomes, permission to opt out + hold time option
RecommendedWhy: Buyer enablement; low friction; maintains micro-commitment.
Push for live meeting now — email never gets read
RiskyWhy: Violates time boundary; burns trust.
Continue practicing related situations.
Jordan Chen has twelve minutes, a failed vendor rollout last year, and zero patience for slides. Can you earn a second conversation without pitching too early?
Your champion liked the demo — then procurement said they’re renewing incumbent for three years. ‘We’re fine.’ Are they?
Frameworks and research cited in this scenario.
Buyers research sellers before they take meetings. Social selling turns LinkedIn into a trust-building channel — not a spam cannon.
Buyers say expertise builds trust, but few sellers deliver it. LinkedIn and Ipsos show how trust — not more automation — wins in the AI era.
Sandler flipped traditional selling: the seller acts as a trusted advisor who qualifies ruthlessly, not a product-pusher chasing every lead.
Gartner's landmark study of 6,000 sales reps found that 'Challengers' — sellers who teach and push thinking — dominate complex B2B environments.
