Hi 👋

This week, I noticed an alarming stat by Tomasz Tunguz, a venture capitalist at Theory.

He says “The average startup saw a 24% increase in sales cycle from early 2022 to 2023. 60 day sales cycles are now 75 days.”

It isn’t an unnatural economic cycle.

After the hyped years of 2021 and 2022 when everybody was flush with funds, things are more muted in 2023.

Last year, even my grandma was so keen on buying three pairs of glasses – one for reading, one for watching TV, and one for general stuff!

But, she is strangely quiet this year. She says she can manage with her old pair of glasses.

(Although I’m not sure how she’s able to see better with them).

But, a lot of sales deals aren’t happening because CFOs aren’t convinced about them yet.

Two months ago, we had written about how to sell to CFOs.

We had also shared Outreach CEO Manny Medina’s post about his CFO’s tips for sales reps to sell better.

Things have not changed much since then.

That’s why Devin Reed’s post about what to keep in mind while selling to CFOs is so relevant.

If you’re a marketer trying to help your sales reps win, print this and stick it on your wall.