How long does the average deal take?
№ 154 · Cycle time distribution
Definition
MetricElapsed days from qualified opportunity creation to closed-won
Unitdays, distribution across closed-won deals
Histogram of days from opportunity creation to closed-won across deals. Right-skewed; the long tail signals stalled deals. Build from CRM date stamps per stage. Cut off the tail (force-close or kill stalled deals). Example: median 32 days; long tail at 180+ days (stuck deals).
- CRM
- Customer relationship management system. The system of record for accounts, contacts and pipeline.
Benchmarks
| Bottom 30% | Median | Top 30% |
|---|---|---|
| 150 days or more | 80 to 90 days | 45 days or fewer |
B2B SaaS across segments, measured from qualified opportunity creation rather than first touch, 2024 to 2025 data. Enterprise deals above $100K sit well outside this range and should be charted separately. · Cycle time has moved materially and recently, so older benchmarks mislead. Ebsta's 2024 dataset found cycles 16% longer in the first half of 2023 and 38% longer than 2021 before stabilising later in the year, with roughly 22% lengthening since 2022 on the current dataset. The start point is the main definitional trap: measured from first touch rather than qualified opportunity creation, the same deals will show 30 to 60 additional days. The most useful finding on this chart is not the median but the threshold effect: Ebsta reports deals closing within 50 days winning at roughly 47% against roughly 20% for deals running past that, which makes deal age a win-rate predictor rather than a hygiene metric. Deal size drives most of the spread, with sub-$15K deals resolving in weeks and enterprise deals commonly running two quarters or more.
| Category | Bottom 30% | Median | Top 30% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below $10K ACV | 10 weeks or more | 6 weeks | under 4 weeks |
| $10K to $50K ACV | 18 weeks or more | 12 weeks, roughly 90 days | 8 weeks or less |
| $50K to $100K ACV | 24 weeks or more | 17 weeks | 11 weeks or less |
| $100K+ ACV | 36 weeks or more | 24 weeks | 14 weeks or less, and about 70 days at the $100K mark |
| Expansion into installed base, all ACV | 80 days or more | 52 days | under 40 days |
When it looks bad
A long right tail with a cluster of deals past 150 days that never resolve either way, so the forecast is being propped up by opportunities that are already lost but have not been marked as such.
Median cycle of 78 days, but 30% of open pipeline value sits in deals older than 160 days.
What to do about it
- Set a stage-age kill rule and enforce it automatically. Ebsta 2025 puts win rate at roughly 47% for deals closing inside 50 days against roughly 20% beyond that, so age is evidence rather than untidiness, and holding old deals open costs rep capacity as well as forecast accuracy.
- Get the decision maker engaged before the midpoint of the cycle. Ebsta reports early decision-maker involvement lifting win rate by about 55% while delayed deals show a sharp reduction, and both effects run through cycle length.
- Standardise commercial paper and pricing to cut the legal and procurement tail. This is usually the largest single block of days in enterprise deals and it sits outside the rep's control entirely, so coaching will not touch it.
- Chart cycle time by segment rather than blended. A blended median across SMB and enterprise describes no actual deal and will hide a deteriorating enterprise tail behind fast small deals.
Sources
- Ebsta and Pavilion Average win rate 19%, down from 29% the prior year. 78% of sellers missed quota, up from 69%. Top performers close 11x faster than bottom performers, up from 8.9x in 2024 and 4x in 2022. Top 14% of sellers generate 80% of revenue. Engaging 6 or more stakeholders early moves win rate from 12% to above 40%. Channel velocity: partner and referral 1.3x, organic 1.2x, outbound 1.05x, events 0.78x, paid 0.68x. Expansion is 52% of new revenue. 46% of SaaS and tech companies moving to full-cycle sales. joinpavilion.com ↗
- Ebsta (PR Newswire release) 78% of sellers missed quota in 2025 versus 69% in 2024. Deal values up 54% year over year. Top-to-bottom seller velocity gap widened to 11x from 8.9x. prnewswire.com ↗
- Cloud Radio (Cloud Ratings) interview with Ebsta CEO Guy Rubin Top performers are 455% better at discovery than B and C players. Engaging 6 or more stakeholders early lifts win rates from 12% to above 40%. Channel velocity ranks partner and referral highest at 1.3x and paid lowest at 0.68x. cloudradio.cloudratings.com ↗
- The Bridge Group 48% of reps at quota, down from 51% in 2024. Median AE OTE $200K. Median AE quota $960K at 4.6x quota-to-OTE. Average ramp 6.2 months, highest in study history. Required experience at hire 3.7 years, up from 2.7 in 2022. SaaS median quota $875K. bridgegroupinc.com ↗
- The Bridge Group Median OTE $190K at 53:47 base to variable, up from $167K in 2022. Median commission rate 11.5% of ACV at full attainment. Quota-to-OTE 3.2x at 25th percentile and 4.8x at 75th. Quotas grew about 2% annually while OTE grew above 5% CAGR. blog.bridgegroupinc.com ↗
- SaaSletter (Matt Harney) A 19% win rate implies roughly 5.3x pipeline coverage is required, which is expensive to generate and hard to sustain in practice. saasletter.com ↗
- Ebsta Despite 61% of businesses adopting a sales methodology, most commonly MEDDPICC, just 15% of opportunities were fully qualified. Lost opportunities with strong early relationships closed 211% faster. ebsta.com ↗
- SaaStr Suggests $500K to $1M ARR per sales rep at scale, ramp of 3-6 months at $20K-$80K ACV and about 60 days below $10K, 70-80% of reps hitting quota as healthy, pipeline coverage of 3x to 4x, and win rates of 20-30%. saastr.com ↗