HERO SUMMARY

Industry: Pleo (UK & Europe)
Objective: Acquire CFOs & finance teams across UK & Europe
Outcome: Sharpscale deployed a data-rich outbound & inbound ecosystem to build a predictable enterprise pipeline

 

Key Metrics:

• 312 qualified finance leads in 60 days

• 21% demo-to-opportunity conversion

• CAC reduced by 28%

• 4 enterprise accounts closed in Q2

 

Client Overview

Pleo (UK & Europe) is a financial automation platform simplifying reporting, reconciliation, and compliance for mid-market organizations. Their product had strong capabilities — but inconsistent, unpredictable growth.

Their bottleneck wasn’t demand.
It was visibility and systemisation.

 

The Challenge

• Unclear targeting of CFOs vs. controllers

• Fragmented outreach with no messaging hierarchy

• Paid ads draining budget without ROI clarity

• Demo requests were sporadic

• No funnel architecture or tracking

Pleo needed precision, structure, and scalability.

 

Strategic Diagnosis

Our analysis revealed:

• 63% of current leads weren’t finance decision-makers

• Their messaging didn’t reflect CFO pain points

• High-value prospects weren’t being nurtured

• LinkedIn & outbound had untapped potential

Pleo didn’t need more channels — they needed smarter orchestration.

 

Sharpscale’s Engineered Strategy

A 3-layer growth system:

1️⃣ Audience Intelligence Layer

• Identified 14 CFO-specific buying triggers

• Built a segmented list of finance teams (ARR, headcount, tech stack)

• Deployed a CFO intent-scoring system

2️⃣ Precision Outbound System

• 4-message sequence for CFOs

• ROI-driven creatives

• Value-first outreach using finance benchmarks

3️⃣ Funnel + Automation Architecture

• Demo booking funnel with qualification gates

• WhatsApp reminders for finance teams

• Automated nurture flow tailored to CFO objections

 

Execution

Phase 1 — System Build

• Landing page refresh

• CRO on demo form

• Attribution clarity using UTMs + dashboards

Phase 2 — CFO Outbound Engine

• Cold email + LinkedIn + retargeting

• Funnel heatmap to fix bottlenecks

• Sequential messaging

Phase 3 — Automation Layer

• WhatsApp follow-ups

• PDF + case study delivery system

• Lead warming

 

Results

• 312 qualified finance leads in 60 days

• 28% lower CAC

• 4 enterprise accounts closed

• 21% demo → opportunity

• Scaling pipeline projected 3x in Q4

 

Why It Worked

Pleo finally communicated the CFO’s language — risk, accuracy, compliance, reporting.

And Sharpscale rebuilt outreach into an engine, not a gamble.

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"Sharpscale helped us reach CFOs we couldn’t access for years. Our pipeline is finally predictable.”

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Ready to engineer predictable sales pipelines?
Start your FinTech growth audit today.