Growth
Sales velocity
The rate at which a sales organisation generates revenue, measured as opportunities × win rate × average deal size, divided by sales cycle length.
In plain English
How much revenue your sales team produces per day, on average. Lifting any of the four inputs (more deals, higher win rate, bigger deals, shorter cycle) lifts velocity proportionally.
Example
20 open opportunities × 25% win rate × $50k average deal = $250k expected revenue. Divided by a 60-day average sales cycle = $4,167 per day of sales velocity. To double velocity, halve the cycle, double opps, double win rate, or double deal size — pick the cheapest lever.
Formula
Sales velocity = (Open opportunities × Win rate × Avg deal size) / Sales cycle length (days)
Why it matters
Founder-stage sales leaders often optimise for win rate alone. Velocity exposes the trade-offs: a 50% win rate on a 120-day cycle is often worse than a 25% win rate on a 30-day cycle. Velocity is the metric that tells you whether to invest in pipeline (more opps), enablement (higher win rate), pricing (bigger deals), or process (shorter cycles). It also indexes well across companies for board comparison.
Common mistakes
- Tracking velocity only at the team level, not the segment level — SMB and enterprise velocities are fundamentally different
- Including unqualified opportunities, which artificially inflates the numerator while win rate collapses
- Ignoring discount-driven cycle shortening (cycles look better, but ACV drops more)