Enter your numbers below to see how much revenue your pipeline produces per day, per month and per quarter, and what a 10% improvement in each lever is worth. The example values are filled in so you can see how it works.
Count of open, qualified deals. Remove stale deals first.
Deals won ÷ deals closed (won + lost).
Average value of deals you won, not of all deals.
Days from opportunity created to closed-won.
How to use it
- Open qualified opportunities. The number of open, qualified, new-business deals in your pipeline today. Remove stale deals (no buyer-facing activity for more than 30 days) first, or velocity will be overstated.
- Win rate by count. Deals won divided by deals closed (won plus lost), over a recent period such as the last four quarters. Use the count rate here, because the first input is a count of deals.
- Average won deal size. The average value of the deals you won over the same period. Don't use the average of all open deals; won deals are often smaller.
- Average sales cycle. The average number of days from opportunity creation to closed-won, for the deals you won.
If you sell to very different segments, run the calculator once per segment and add the results. A single blended figure will usually differ from the sum of the segments, and the sum is the better number.
How the calculation works
Sales velocity multiplies the three things that create revenue (how many deals, how many you win, how big they are) and divides by how long they take:
- Velocity per day = open opportunities × win rate × average won deal size ÷ average sales cycle in days
- Per month = per day × 30
- Per quarter = per day × 90
The "what if" table changes one lever at a time by 10%: more opportunities, a higher win rate, a bigger deal size, or a cycle 10% shorter in days. The first three each add exactly 10%. A 10% shorter cycle adds about 11%, because you divide by 0.9.
Worked example
A team has 120 open qualified opportunities, wins 30% of its deals by count, wins $15,000 on average, and takes 60 days to close.
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Velocity per day | 120 × 0.30 × $15,000 ÷ 60 | $9,000 |
| Per month | $9,000 × 30 | $270,000 |
| Per quarter | $9,000 × 90 | $810,000 |
| +10% opportunities | 132 × 0.30 × $15,000 ÷ 60 × 90 | $891,000 (+$81,000) |
| +10% win rate | 120 × 0.33 × $15,000 ÷ 60 × 90 | $891,000 (+$81,000) |
| +10% deal size | 120 × 0.30 × $16,500 ÷ 60 × 90 | $891,000 (+$81,000) |
| −10% cycle | 120 × 0.30 × $15,000 ÷ 54 × 90 | $900,000 (+$90,000) |
On paper the shorter cycle looks like the biggest lever. In practice, if the team creates deals at the same rate, closing them faster mostly brings revenue forward once, into this quarter instead of next. It only adds bookings every quarter if faster deals also mean fewer deals lost to delay.
Common mistakes
- Counting stale deals as opportunities. Deals nobody is working inflate velocity. Clean the pipeline first.
- Mixing units. The opportunities input is a count, so pair it with the win rate by count and the average won deal size.
- Treating a shorter cycle as a permanent uplift. Valued per quarter, a shorter cycle looks bigger than it is. Most of the gain is a one-off timing benefit.
- Using one blended number for very different segments. Calculate velocity per segment and add the results.
- Comparing velocity across periods with different definitions. Keep the qualification rule, win-rate window and cycle definition the same, or the trend means nothing.