How to Find CFO Email Addresses and Phone Numbers

From filing company taxes and planning annual budgets to building long-term financial models and overseeing accounting activities, the working life of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is as busy as it is diverse. 

CFOs are the financial backbone of any well-run organization and often play a pivotal role in major business decisions, including purchases. 

As a sales professional, reaching CFOs with well-crafted, personalized outreach is crucial to achieving buy-in from these key decision-makers within an organization. However, gaining access to a CFO’s email address and phone number is much easier said than done. 

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about building an effective CFO email list. We’ll discuss the CFO’s role in the decision-making process, explore the most effective methods and tools to gather accurate CFO contact information and provide you with some tips on how to create effective outreach messages that resonate with this critical audience.

Understanding the Role of CFOs in B2B Decision-Making

CFOs are much more than great accountants or financial experts. They understand how an entire company and industry work to help their company be profitable and competitive. Thus, CFOs play a pivotal role in B2B decision-making processes, particularly when it comes to significant investments or purchases. As the financial gatekeepers of an organization, CFOs are tasked with evaluating the potential return on investment (ROI) and assessing the financial implications of any major business decision. 

Importance of Personalized Outreach to CFOs

Given the influential role of CFOs, their email inboxes are often flooded with hundreds of emails per day. This means that generic outreach emails will most likely go unread, or worse, be relegated to the dreaded spam folder. 

Well-researched and personalized outreach helps you stand out among the sea of other emails in a CFO’s inbox and positions you as a trusted advisor in your space. By demonstrating a deep understanding of their specific pain points, challenges, and goals, you can increase your chances of engaging CFOs and fostering meaningful conversations.

Methods for Building a CFO Email List

Building an accurate and up-to-date CFO email list is a critical step in creating effective outreach campaigns. Here are a few methods you can use to source this valuable information:

• LinkedIn: You can leverage LinkedIn to search for CFOs within your target industries or companies and connect with them directly if you have mutual connections (or if you have a premium membership). Once you’ve connected with a CFO, you can directly message them or sometimes scrape their email address directly from their profiles for use in a follow-up sequence.
• Company Websites: Many organizations list the names and (sometimes) email addresses of their executive team, including the CFO, on their corporate websites. Most often these profiles will be found under an “About Us” section of a company’s website. 
• Conferences and Networking Events: Attending industry-specific events, conferences, seminars, or workshops can be an excellent way to meet CFOs and other executives in a more relaxed setting. While these connections require 1:1 effort to create, they can be more meaningful and long-lasting. 
• Email Finding Tools: Various online email finder tools and services specialize in locating and verifying email addresses for specific individuals or roles within companies. For example, using SalesIntel’s vast database of human-verified email addresses and phone numbers, you can quickly and easily build an actionable CFO list to power your outreach efforts. 

Read About – How to Find CEO Email Address

Best Practices for Email Outreach to CFOs

Once you’ve got your CFO email list built out, here are a few best practices to help ensure your outreach stands out and resonates with your audience:

• Craft Compelling Subject Lines: Around 64% of email recipients open their emails based on subject lines (although this number is likely higher for CFOs). Either way, that means more than half the success of an email depends on those 50-60 characters your audience first sees in their inbox. Crafting subject lines that are concise, attention-grabbing, and highlight the value proposition for the CFO will help your email stand out and increase the likelihood that yours will be read.
• Personalize Everything: If you’ve been in sales long enough you know personalization is key to winning over your prospects. Personalization shows you’ve done your research on their company and helps prospects understand how it can help their businesses. Because CFOs are so influential in purchase decisions, you should use your outreach emails as an opportunity to deeply tailor your content to address the specific challenges, goals, and pain points of the CFO and their organization.
• Include Data or Insights: CFOs are numbers people. They appreciate data-driven insights and concrete examples of how your solution can positively impact their organization’s financial performance. Do you have any statistics or concrete examples about how your solution has provided real value to similar companies? If so, lead with those in your outreach.
• Lead with Outcomes, Not Products: This point ties into the previous tip. Not all stats will resonate equally with a CFO audience. For example, among the list of common CFO concerns is the constant struggle to increase revenue while minimizing costs. That means a CFO doesn’t want to read about how: 

“Our powerful talent acquisition platform can reduce time-to-hire and increase job acceptance rates by 48%”. 

That might move the needle for a CHRO or Director of Talent Acquisition, but to get the message across to a CFO, you need to put it in terms they care about. Instead, they want to see:

“Here’s how Company X reduced hiring costs by 54%, saving them $233,000 annually”.    

• Leverage Case Studies and Customer Reviews: CFOs (like most consumers) use social proof points in their decision-making processes. A 2023 study by Datarails found that 61% of CFOs heavily on reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations in their purchase decisions. Leveraging reviews from happy customers and case studies of similar companies can go a long way in building your credibility and showing a CFO that your solution is right for their business.   
• Respect Their Time: This tip is broadly applicable to any sales email but especially crucial for the busy schedule of a CFO. Keep your email concise and to the point and include a clear call-to-action so the reader will know exactly what to do next.

How SalesIntel Can Help

SalesIntel is the leading provider of B2B data and account intelligence. By tapping into our vast database of human-verified B2B email addresses and phone numbers, you can build an actionable CFO email list and start your outreach process. Need help finding a specific contact? No problem. Our team of 2,000 on-demand researchers will help you find the contact you’re looking for. Our comprehensive suite of tools and resources is designed to help you prospect more effectively and generate more sales.

CFO Selling Made Easy

Selling to CFOs doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Utilizing the methods outlined in this article, you can build a high-quality CFO email list that will kick-start your outreach process. By implementing best practices for engaging CFOs – doing your research, personalizing everything, leading with outcomes, and leveraging data and customer stories, you can increase your chances of resonating with your audience and building meaningful connections that drive revenue for your organization.