Why my grandma doesn't need new glasses?

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.

P.S. If you’re dead serious about getting past the CFO obstacle, get their CFO Approval Guide here.

The best marketing tips on LinkedIn this week 📝

1. I’m a big fan of low-volume keywords simply because they have higher intent. Sam Dunning seems to agree with me. He says high-volume keywords rely on historical data and that’s why you should avoid that SEO trap.

2. Tyler Fyfe has put out 17 solid lessons you need to create YouTube videos. Don’t miss the comments in this post, there’s so much value in there.

3. “What does that mean?” When you hear that question from a customer, it means your messaging isn’t correct. That’s why you need to sit on calls with your sales teams, says Harish Peri.

4. Camille Trent and the team at PeerSignal regularly put out mind-blowing amounts of original research. This time, they researched 687 B2B SaaS demo pages. Read her post to know what you need to put out in your demo page.

5. You’ve made the “Buy Now” as big as you could, sent countless reminder emails and given the juiciest discounts. Yet, people aren’t buying your product. It’s because of cognitive dissonance - learn what Wes Kao says about how to deal with it.

6. If people aren’t connecting with you on LinkedIn, then blame the banner. Iqra Khan says has picked the best LinkedIn profiles to inspire yours.

The Best Sales Tips On LinkedIn This Week 😎

1. The CFO is at the decision-making table. So, your value prop has to convince the the CFO more than anybody, says Sam Jacobs.

2. In your cold outbound, don’t send video messages in your first touch, says Steve Richard. Instead, connect with prospects first and then send a video message.

What’s cooking in SaaS and startups this week? 🍪

1. Startup ideas are galore. Only you need to observe closely. That’s what Jack Dorsey did. When he was fired from Twitter in 2008, he worked on making payments easy with Square. Read 's take on how he launched not one but two enormously successful products.

Until next time folks! Missed our earlier coverage? Binge read it now:

1. 12 Proven (yet ignored) reasons why your startup can fail

2. A farmer's 148-year-old prediction came true 🤯

3. 5 Lessons that cost $44 billion to learn

4. Stop making this huge mistake in your sales outreach 😲

5. Nobody tells you this truth about scaling 👀

6. How YETI built a $1.4 Billion brand 💥

7. Sell ugly carrots and bruised bananas for $386M

8. One-man army 🥷

Peace and Love 🙏

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Banner image by Runrevenue.pro’s CFO Approval Guide.