Start with these five checks.
- Freeze the cycle start and end definitions.
- Compare medians and distributions, not only averages.
- Split active work from waiting at each stage.
- Segment by deal size, product, industry and procurement path.
- Inspect re-entry, approval and document-rework loops.
Ask for only what can change the answer.
- Stage historyEntry, exit and re-entry times
- ActivityMeetings, responses and next steps
- ApprovalsDiscount, legal, security and finance
- DocumentsProposal and contract versions
- StakeholdersCoverage, role and decision authority
- OutcomeWin, margin, cycle and no decision
Test one reversible move.
Select one stage with repeated internal waiting, such as discount or security approval. Pre-authorize a narrow low-risk class with explicit limits and compare elapsed time, win rate and exception rate against matched deals. Reverse the rule immediately if commercial leakage or compliance exceptions exceed the pre-set threshold.
A decision your team can use.
- 01A stage-level time ledger
- 02A queue and rework diagnosis
- 03Comparable-cycle benchmarks
- 04A controlled fast-path test
Common questions.
Should open deals be included?
Use survival or cohort methods. Treating every open deal as complete understates cycle time.
Does a long cycle mean weak sales execution?
Not necessarily. Deal mix, procurement and internal approvals can change independently of rep behavior.
What should the test protect?
Win rate, margin, legal and security controls should remain guardrails while elapsed time improves.