Sales cycles grew an average of 27 days this year: - Cycles in H1 2023 were an average of 134 days (4.4 months) - Compared to the 107-day (3.5 months) average in H1 2022* *data from the excellent Capchase report, 'B2B SaaS Sales Cycles in 2023' Which is (obviously) a big problem. Because a 25% jump in cycle times is *the same thing* as having just 9 months to close 12 months of revenue. Like getting your 2024 quota… …then being told to hit that target in September. Not December. In other words: A whole quarter was stolen from most sales teams this year. Which is why 84% of leaders in the study said shrinking cycles is a priority. So, what’s the secret to cutting cycles times? Well it’s not about applying more force or pressure. It's about applying a little “WD-40” to cut out friction in the *buying* process. The trick is knowing where to apply it. _______ 1/ Update your pipeline stages to focus on specific *buying* behavior. 2/ Create specific exit criteria for moving deals from stage → stage. 3/ Look for the longest stage-to-stage time. 4/ Ask: what’s happening in the buying org? What's preventing them from moving forward? 5/ Pinpoint the doubt / uncertainty / confusion that's happening. 6/ Intentionally address the answer to # 5 in the prior stage. 7/ Repeat # 1 - # 6 above from the longest → shortest stages. _______ Here's a visual of what this could look like. Notice two big ideas: - You can’t troubleshoot what you can’t isolate. - Slowdowns are about what happens inside the buying org. Which are two big misses in most sales process design: - Stages are too clumped up, without clear exit criteria. - Stages are based on a seller's activity, not buying behaviors. And if you're an AE reading this, thinking, "Uhh, great, but I can't change our CRM stages..." that's okay. You can still take and apply the concept to the process *you* choose to design and run inside your own accounts. Which is the difference between deals closing in '23, vs. pushing to '24.