Selling to CFOs: Risks and Objections

Bassem Hamdy closes enterprise sales deals in 9 days—not 6 months. After scaling Procore from $10M to $100M as EVP of Marketing, he built Briq to an 8-figure ARR by selling AI automation to CFOs in construction. In this episode, early-stage B2B SaaS founders will learn the enterprise sales playbook that bypasses long procurement cycles.

Bassem breaks down exactly how to close enterprise sales fast by focusing on "vision and value" instead of product demos. You will learn why you should never do free POCs, how to identify when you're wasting time with "Innovation Teams," and the land-and-expand strategy that grew Briq from $15K deals to $100K+ contracts.

In this episode, Bassem also shares why he made the controversial call to fire bad enterprise clients, and how partnering with industry associations gave Briq the social proof to earn trust with risk-averse CFOs before they had logos.

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🔑 Key Lessons

• 🎯 Sell Vision and Value, Not Features: Bassem closes enterprise sales in 9 days by confirming vision alignment and ROI before ever demoing the product.
• 💰 Never Do Free POCs: Free work attracts time-wasters from innovation teams. Even a dollar creates commitment and filters for real buyers.
• 🤝 Land and Expand for Enterprise Sales: Start with a small paid implementation that proves ROI, then expand across departments.
• 🏢 Target the Economic Buyer: CFOs write checks; innovation VPs waste your time. Always qualify whether your contact controls budget.
• 📉 Fire Bad Enterprise Clients: Large companies can drag you into dark alleys with endless requests. Cut them loose to protect your resources.
• 🛠️ Partner for Early Credibility: Before you have enterprise logos, partner with trade associations to earn the social proof CFOs need.

Chapters

• Why SaaS Founders Should Ignore Feature Requests
• Introduction & Welcome
• Is AI "Human Replacement" Software?
• The "Construction Data Cloud" Idea (And Why It Failed)
• Finding the Wrong ICP
• The "Agile" Trap: Why Most Product Teams Are Waterfall
• The Investor-Forced Pivot to Forecasting
• How to Close Enterprise Sales Deals in 9 Days
• Selling on "Vision & Value" vs. Features
• SaaS Pricing: Moving to Tokenization & Consumption
• First Price Was $15K—And It Was Too Cheap
• CFO Sales: Overcoming Risk Aversion
• Building Trust with Industry Associations
• Firing Bad Enterprise Clients
• Land and Expand Strategy
• Lightning Round

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Resources

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