Sales cycle

The time from first contact to signed contract.

Example

Six weeks for a mid-market deal; nine months for enterprise.

Important

Your sales cycle sets your cash needs. A nine-month cycle means today's pipeline is next year's revenue, and runway must cover the gap.

Related terms

  • Sales pipeline — All your live opportunities, organised by stage, with a value and an expected close date.
  • ACV (Annual Contract Value) — The annualised value of one customer contract.
  • Runway — How many months your company can keep operating before it runs out of money, at its current rate of spending.

Lessons that explain it

  • Handling objections — Most objections are information, not resistance. The four you will hear constantly, and what each actually means. (12 min)
  • Closing and following up — Most deals are lost to silence, not to a no. Asking clearly and following up systematically wins more than any technique. (10 min)

All 176 terms in the Founder glossary