Sales velocity calculator: what your sales cycle is really costing you

Sales velocity is the clearest single number for how fast your pipeline turns into revenue. This sales velocity calculator works it out from your open deals, win rate, average deal size and sales cycle. It shows the revenue your pipeline makes a day and what each lever is worth, starting with the one most teams overlook: the days between the demo and the signature. For the bigger picture, check whether your pipeline is enough with the pipeline coverage calculator.

The sales velocity formula

• Sales velocity = open deals × win rate × average deal size ÷ sales cycle length in days.
• A month is 30 days of velocity, a quarter 91 and a year 365.
• Each day cut from the cycle is worth the difference between today's velocity and the velocity with one day fewer, over a month.

The "what if" panel improves each lever by the same share, 10% unless you move the slider, and shows what it adds a month. The biggest gain is highlighted.

A worked example

A made-up team at Tallyfox, a fictional scheduling-software company, has 40 open deals after the demo, wins 25% of them, sells at $12,000 a deal, and takes 40 days from demo to signature.

Their velocity is 40 × 0.25 × $12,000 ÷ 40 = $3,000 a day, about $90,000 a month. Each day they cut from the cycle is worth roughly $2,300 a month. Improve each lever by 10% and you see why: 10% more deals, a 27.5% win rate or $13,200 deals each add $9,000 a month, while a 36-day cycle adds $10,000.

What to count

Open deals: deals that have had a demo and are still active. Leave out anything nobody has replied to in weeks. Win rate: deals won divided by demos held, over the last two or three quarters. Average deal size: won deals only, first-year value. Sales cycle: the median number of days from the demo to the signature on won deals. If you sell two very different products, run the calculator once for each: one blended number hides the slow product behind the fast one.

Why the sales cycle matters so much

Most teams try to grow revenue by adding pipeline. That works, but it costs prospecting time and money. A shorter sales cycle costs neither: the same deals, won at the same rate, simply land sooner. And because the cycle divides everything else, the gain is bigger than it looks.

Where do the days go? Usually into the gaps after the demo: waiting for the proposal, waiting while the champion tries to explain it internally, waiting for someone who wasn't on the call to catch up, and waiting for a follow-up that comes too late.

How to shorten your sales cycle

Send the proposal the same day. Every day between the demo and the proposal is a day the buyer forgets what excited them.

Write it for the people who weren't on the call. The approver decides on what they can read. Give them the problem in the buyer's words, the price and a business case.

Make it easy to share. A link each colleague can open beats an attachment that sits in one inbox.

Follow up on behaviour, not the calendar. When the CFO opens pricing, that's the moment to call.

Faster deals, built in

AfterDemo turns every demo into one interactive proposal page, built from what the buyer said, that their whole team can read, share and accept in one click. You see who's reading it, so you know exactly when to follow up. See a live example, or start free for 30 days.

Questions people ask

What is sales velocity?+

Sales velocity is how much revenue your pipeline produces each day. It combines four numbers: how many deals are open, how many you win, how big they are and how long they take. Raising any of the first three, or shortening the fourth, increases it.

What is the sales velocity formula?+

Sales velocity = (open deals × win rate × average deal size) ÷ sales cycle length in days. With 40 open deals, a 25% win rate, $12,000 deals and a 40-day cycle, that's 40 × 0.25 × 12,000 ÷ 40 = $3,000 a day.

How do I calculate my sales cycle length?+

For each won deal, count the days from the demo to the signature, then take the median across the last two or three quarters. The median keeps one deal that dragged on for months from distorting the number.

How do I improve deal velocity?+

Shorten the time between the demo and the decision. Send the proposal within a day, built around what the buyer said. Give the champion something they can forward to the people who sign. Agree the next step and its date before every call ends.

Why does a shorter cycle beat the other levers?+

Because the cycle is the divisor. A 10% shorter cycle means you divide by 0.9, which raises velocity by about 11.1%. A 10% gain on deals, win rate or deal size raises it by exactly 10%.