👋Hey there,
Want an FP&A job that goes beyond traditional month-end reporting?
Try working on your company’s Deal Desk Team.
Or stand one up if your company doesn’t have one yet.
Tune in and learn how we’ve stood up multiple Deal Desks.
And helped boost our company performance and career prospects in the process.
Listen on
Deal Desk Goes Beyond Spreadsheets
We love a good spreadsheet.
And you can create plenty of them in a Deal Desk role.
🔥TIP: Increase your productivity by using Excel shortcuts.
But Deal Desk is less about being a spreadsheet jockey.
And more about negotiating.
A skill you aren’t traditionally taught but can greatly benefit from in FP&A.
Show Notes
00:35 - We’ve stood up Deal Desks at multiple companies.
01:50 - Deal Desk is great for companies with daily deal-making.
03:15 - Deal Desk = Financial Rigor = Future Financial Transparency.
03:55 - Try negotiating with your cable company—practice makes perfect.
05:01 - Tracking daily deal-making is beneficial for your CRO and CFO.
05:55 - Be a connector between your CFO and CRO.
06:52 - Ask why A LOT—helps you understand your pricing strategy.
08:31 - Automation is powerful—saves time and drives faster deal-making.
09:51 - Understand your Marketing and Sales funnel—helps with analysis.
11:51 - Big finish—Deal Desk drives financial rigor for your CFO and CRO.
12:46 - After the pod—get your analytical reps by working on a Deal Desk
🔥TIP: Here’s a framework to get to FP&A Manager and beyond, Deal Desk can help.
Why Your CFO and CRO Care About Deal Desk
Guess what your CFO and CRO have in common?
It’s not just the first and last letter in their acronym.
They want your company to hit its revenue targets.
Which is a key KPI at many companies.
Help them achieve this common goal.
By inserting yourself in the middle of the deal-making process.
🔥TIP: Here’s how KPIs and metrics work.
FP&A and Deal Making Can Mix Well
Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is counterintuitive and impossible.
At least that’s how it looks on paper.
Your Deal Desk has 3 goals:
Instill financial rigor by analyzing deals
Reduce selling friction by removing internal conversations
Speed up deal-making by assessing list prices and approval thresholds
How can you do all 3 at the same time?
By building a kick a$$ Deal Desk Team.
🔥TIP: Make sure your Deal Desk Team understands pricing strategy.
How to Create a Best-in-class Deal Desk Team
Do these things to help your Deal Desk thrive.
Assess new deal revenue
Surprised by your month and quarter-end revenue?
You can help remove some of that surprise element.
By analyzing new deal revenue expectations.
And do so for every single deal daily so no surprises exist at the end of the quarter.
🔥TIP: Here’s how to do QTD sales analysis.
Understand new deal profitability
Saying NO to deals can be very easy.
But it’s time-consuming and creates back-and-forth friction between Sales and FP&A Teams.
What if you didn’t have to say NO as much?
Build in deal profitability analysis into your deal approval price thresholds.
It will inform Sales of the DO NOT CROSS selling price line.
And when they do cross that line, they’ll be ready to explain why.
🔥TIP: Customer segmentation can help assess profitability.
Global Teams = Follow the Sun Coverage
Sales Teams are constantly working to close deals 24/7 around the globe.
That means your Deal Desk Team needs a good deal approval coverage plan.
If possible have multiple Deal Desk Team members work in different time zones.
Having a person in Asia, Europe, and the Americas can help keep your team working 9-5 with fast response times.
Conclusion: Deal Desks Are Super Powerful
Creating and working in a Deal Desk may not be an FP&A career path you thought was possible.
But take it from us, many companies can benefit from it.
And many careers were accelerated because of the value it brings to Sales Teams, CROs, and CFOs.
If your company struggles with revenue results, lack of financial rigor in deal-making, or long deal negotiation approval processes— a Deal Desk may help.
As always, let us know if you have any suggestions or ideas you want us to cover by replying to this. We read and reply to every email.
Now go have fun making an impact on your business and your career!
See you next week 👊
Cheers,
Drew & Yarty
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Disclaimer: This content is not investment advice or financial advice. The views expressed and stories told are our own. We may be investors in the companies discussed. Do your due diligence when considering applying what you learn.
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