FP&A teams have a well-earned reputation as “numbers people”—they eat, sleep, and breathe data. But that very expertise can trap them in a paradox: the deeper they dive into the numbers, the easier it becomes to miss the bigger picture.
This is especially true for finance leaders stepping into new industries. A CFO moving into a market that’s new to them (like healthcare services to biopharma) or just new in general (like AI) can’t simply repurpose their old playbook. Every industry has its own financial levers, pricing models, and investor expectations. A CFO new to the AI space, for instance, should study the current menu of pricing formats (user-based, task-based, token-based, etc.) before diving into a model.
This is a key factor that separates good FP&A teams from great ones: the former build intricate models stuffed with industry benchmarks, while the latter take a step back and ask, “which metrics tell our unique story?” Often, that means going beyond the obvious indicators that every competitor reports on in favor of those that zero in on your core business drivers.
This is true business fluency: bridging how internal teams measure success with how the board, investors, and management evaluate the company.
Welcome to part two of our five part series on the pillars that define top-performing FP&A teams. Here, we’ll unpack how elite teams balance analytical rigor with operational know-how, and how yours can too.
Where finance teams get stuck
Picture this: you’re reviewing your pipeline report for the month, and something isn’t adding up. The sales team crushed their revenue target, but inbound pipeline generation came in well short of expectations. An average finance team would flag the discrepancy, assume inbound demand is soft, and call it a day.
But a top FP&A team would ask a better question: where did these deals actually come from? After talking to sales leaders and digging into pipeline attribution, they discover that 40% of closed-won revenue came from untracked partner referrals and word-of-mouth introductions. Since these deals didn’t originate from the traditional inbound or outbound efforts, they weren’t reflected in traditional pipeline metrics—making it look like something was broken when, in reality, sales was just winning through different channels.
FP&A digs in with the proper teams to better understand if these wins are repeatable and scalable to refine their pipeline assumptions to ensure this source is accounted for and accurately reflects expectations.
The lesson here is that tunnel vision can mask the true story. Ultimately, the top-of-funnel goal is in service of the revenue target—if the former doesn’t actually reflect how deals are moving through the pipeline, it’s not of much use.
Four ways top FP&A teams sharpen their focus
Great FP&A groups rely on these four habits to keep their analysis rooted in reality:
1. They get out of their bubble and talk to other teams
Teams that work in isolation make flawed assumptions. A study in Global Business Review found that “83% of [survey] respondents indicated that silos exist within their companies, [and] 97% saw these conditions as having a negative effect on performance.” Finance is no exception. If your understanding of the business is limited to spreadsheets and dashboards, you’re operating with blinders on.
Monthly syncs with sales, marketing, and product teams are well worth your time—they arm you with valuable context that numbers alone can’t provide. This is your opportunity to better understand:
- How they define success: What KPIs matter most to them? What does "hitting plan" actually mean from their perspective?
- Where they need support: Are they adequately resourced to achieve their goals? If not, what’s missing?
- What’s changing: Has a shift in the sales process affected close rates? Are product delays pushing revenue targets back?
It’s an obvious but overlooked truth: the more finance understands how the business really works, the better their analysis will be.
2. They know their product inside and out
You can’t model what you don’t deeply understand. For elite FP&A teams, product immersion is non-negotiable, even if they’re not the end users.
Here’s what that looks like:
- Quarterly product deep dives: Scripted demos are a good start, but sitting through polished walkthroughs isn’t enough. Pose tough questions to your product and experience teams about real-world challenges and how they impact financial outcomes.
- Map features to financial drivers: If your AI recommendation engine drives 40% of upsells, it shouldn’t be buried in a generic “product development” line item. Model it as the growth lever it is.
- Role play sales scenarios: Sit in on sales calls and demos to understand how prospects evaluate the product, what objections they raise, and how pricing ties back to customer value.
They don’t need to be product managers, but FP&A should understand your offering well enough to step into a sales demo without getting lost.
3. They treat benchmarks as a starting point—not gospel
Every business has its own quirks. Benchmarks can be a helpful baseline, but blindly applying industry-standard metrics can distract from what matters most to your business. Instead of relying on generic KPIs, elite FP&A teams define success on their own terms.
For example:
- If expansion revenue is a major growth driver ➡️ focus on net revenue retention (NRR), not just churn.
- If speed-to-value sets your company apart ➡️ track time to onboard new customers, not just annual revenue growth.
- If referral and network-driven deals are key to growth ➡️ rethink how pipeline and attribution are measured.
Don’t be afraid to deviate from what everyone else is tracking. Take the time to identify and deeply understand the signals that move the needle for your business.
4. They stay on top of macro and industry trends
When you're heads-down in the day-to-day, it can be easy to lose sight of the broader forces shaping your industry. Some macro factors, like interest rates, are impossible to ignore. But other less-obvious variables can be just as impactful, even if they’re not front and center.
Staying informed starts with understanding how competitors, analysts, and investors evaluate your industry. What KPIs do they care about? What trends are they betting on? What risks are keeping them up at night? Wall Street research reports, investor notes, and deep-dive industry analyses offer a window into how external stakeholders frame businesses like yours.
Competitors’ earnings calls can also offer valuable clues about shifting market dynamics. Are they pulling back on hiring? Doubling down on enterprise deals? Facing longer sales cycles? These might be early indicators of trends that will eventually impact your business, too.
Finding the best industry voices is just as important. The hard part is cutting through the noise. An influencer with a hyper-relevant newsletter or a handful of analysts who actually understand your space can be worth their weight in gold.
It’s also worthwhile to occasionally zoom out and think about how your business fits within the macro picture. If a big chunk of revenue comes from international markets, a change in trade policy or currency fluctuation could be worth digging into.
A Goldilocks framework for knowledge gathering
Know your business
❌ Not enough: Copy and paste industry-standard KPIs without pressure testing them against your company’s market position, strategy, or customer base.
🤯 Too much: Overload yourself by sitting in on every sales and product meeting, trying to absorb every last operational detail.
🎯 Just right: Build relationships with leaders across sales, product, and operations to understand how they define success. Then, connect the dots—translate those insights into the language of investors, management, and your board so your FP&A strategy bridges internal execution with external expectations.
Know your industry
❌ Not enough: Skim quarterly earnings reports from a handful of competitors without digging deeper into market trends or investor sentiment.
🤯 Too much: Fall prey to FOMO by attending every industry conference you’re aware of, chasing every new trend without a clear filter for what actually matters.
🎯 Just right: Curate insights from earnings reports, analyst research, top-tier industry newsletters, and conversations with customers and peers to develop a well-rounded view of your industry. Layer in perspectives from internal teams—sales, product, and customer success—to understand how macro trends are playing out in real time.
Applying this mindset to your FP&A strategy
Our prescription here isn’t to spend three hours a day consuming news. It’s to refine your information diet so only the most salient sources remain.
Here’s a practical checklist to keep your industry and product fluency sharp:
- Listen to three different podcasts that cover your company’s space for a week. Subscribe to your favorite and incorporate it into your routine.
- Ask for the one-pagers and pitch decks the sales team uses. Keeping up with product positioning makes it easier to align financial reporting with what’s actually driving revenue.
- Listen to three competitor earnings calls and/or read three analyst reports each quarter. Keep your eyes peeled for changes in pricing, consumer sentiment, and strategy that could impact your business.
- Subscribe to five well-regarded industry newsletters and read them all for a week. Then, keep one or two that consistently provide value and ditch the rest.
- Schedule three 1:1s a month with team members from sales, marketing, product, or customer success. You’ll walk away with insights you never would’ve gotten from a dashboard.
- Pick one cross-functional team meeting to join each month. Whether it’s a sales forecast review, a product roadmap update, or a customer success check-in, these sessions provide crucial context that keeps your financial analysis grounded in reality.
Don’t just know the numbers. Own the narrative.
Knowing your business inside and out is just as important as building a bulletproof financial model. The best teams make learning about their company, product, and market a core part of their job.
What’s the point of cultivating all this knowledge? To become a data-driven storyteller.
Andy Ravreby, VP of Finance at EvenUp, put it this way during our recent webinar:
In part five of this series, we’ll break down how to weave what you’ve learned into a strategic narrative that supports decision-making at the highest level.
Subscribe and stay tuned! 👇
