Sales Cycle
Definition
The elapsed time and sequence of stages from first contact with a prospect to a signed contract. In B2B technology sales the cycle commonly runs months — and roughly 80% of it is the technical-win phase: validation, RFPs, demos, POCs, security review. Shortening the cycle is usually a matter of accelerating that middle, not closing harder.
Stages describe sequence, not duration
A pipeline stage tells you where a deal is, not what it is waiting on. In enterprise technology the waiting is concentrated in validation — requirements, architecture review, proof of concept, security questionnaire — and that is also the part with the least tooling and the fewest recorded events.
Where cycles actually lengthen
- Waiting on one expert. The security architect who must confirm a control. Median time-to-answer is usually the real cycle-time driver and is almost never on a dashboard.
- POCs without exit criteria. A proof of concept with no agreed question does not end; it fades.
- Procurement discovered late. Thresholds, legal queues and paper process add weeks that were knowable in week one.
- Re-answering. The same requirement researched independently by three people because none could find the first answer.
The diagnostic
Take ten closed deals and mark, for each, the longest single wait and who was waiting on whom. If the same step or the same person appears in most of them, cycle length is a queue problem rather than a selling problem — and no amount of pipeline pressure will move it.
Related terms
- Technical Win
- Proof of Concept
- Security Questionnaire
- Time-to-First-Response
- SE Capacity Planning
- Mutual Action Plan
Further reading
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