Use Approval Friction as a Fintech Meeting Hypothesis

Approval delays are visible to vendors and employees, yet they can result from policy, delegation, missing documents, or system adoption.

Listen for the difference between a delayed approval and an invoice that lacks information. Those are separate problems with different owners. An SDR can ask who is allowed to approve an exception and where that person sees the request. The answer may show that a meeting with accounting alone would be incomplete, so the rep can request the right participants.

Ask where an invoice waits, who can release it, and whether the team has a clear exception path. A fictional agency may route project expenses through several budget owners before accounting can enter them.

Do not say a tool will prevent late payments or replace approval policy. Practice a response to “Send me information.” The SDR should offer one specific question about the current handoff.

Ask for a brief meeting with the AP owner when there is a documented reason to continue.

Give the SDR a delayed invoice example. They should ask whether it waited for a document or an approver. That distinction is observable and prevents a generic pitch about approval speed. Ask whether a substitute approver can act during travel, because that operational detail may matter more than the number of approval steps.