Sales cycle length
Sales cycle length is the elapsed time from a defined start event to close, measured on won deals, lost deals and stalled deals separately.
The measurement is only comparable when the start event is fixed, opportunity creation, first meeting, or qualification, and stated whenever the number is quoted. Cycle from creation and cycle from qualification measure different spans, and quoting one while planning with the other is a straightforward source of capacity error.
Excluding lost and stalled deals inflates the figure’s usefulness while destroying its accuracy. Won deals are the fastest cohort by construction. Planning coverage from won-deal cycle time systematically understates how long a quarter’s pipeline actually needs.
Where it breaks
Cycle length is computed on closed-won only, so the coverage model assumes deals close a month faster than the pipeline as a whole does.
Related terms
- Pipeline coverage
- Pipeline coverage is the ratio of qualified open pipeline to the target it must produce, evaluated for the period the pipeline can actually close in.
- Win rate
- Win rate is the proportion of a defined cohort of opportunities that reached closed-won, measured from a fixed entry stage.
- Cohort analysis
- Cohort analysis groups records by a shared start event and follows that fixed group over time, which is the only way to separate mix change from behavior change.
- Capacity planning
- Capacity planning derives how many productive selling resources are required to hit a revenue target, given ramp time, attrition, productivity and coverage assumptions.
Field notes on this
- When pipeline stages describe sellers, not buyers
Seller-activity stages can weaken conversion and forecast analysis. Define buyer evidence, then calibrate it against realized outcomes.