Product metrics and goals
Sales cycle length
Also called Sales cycle, Time to close
How long it takes, on average, from a sales opportunity opening to the contract being signed.
How it's worked out
Average days from opportunity created to deal won
A longer cycle ties up the sales team and delays revenue, so it affects how fast a sales-led business can grow. Bigger and more complex deals take longer, which is expected.
Watch for it creeping up within the same kind of deal. That usually means more people need to approve, or the product's value is harder to prove.
In practice
Deals that took 50, 70 and 105 days to close average a 75-day sales cycle.
Common mistake
Averaging small and enterprise deals together, which hides that each has a very different cycle.