What is sales cycle length?
Sales cycle length is the average time from opportunity creation to close for won deals, usually measured in days. Adobe's Marketo Measure documentation, for example, reports the average number of days for closed-won opportunities from the first stage to close. Measure it separately by deal type, since a repair quote and a multi-site agreement move at very different speeds.
Why it matters to a revenue leader
Cycle length tells you when today's pipeline turns into revenue. If a typical agreement takes 120 days, pipeline created this quarter funds next quarter, and a leader who waits for bookings to drop has already lost a quarter. Longer cycles also raise cost of sale and the risk of no decision. Track cycle length alongside win rate and apply both to live deals, so a deal far older than the norm stands out.
How to calculate it
Sales cycle length = total days from creation to close across won deals ÷ number of won deals.
Common mistake: switching the start point between periods, such as first contact one quarter and opportunity creation the next, which changes the number with no change in the market.
Example
Fictitious numbersA fire protection company closed 30 new service agreements last half-year. Their combined age at close was 3,150 days, so average cycle length was 105 days. Inspection-driven repair jobs averaged 18 days over the same period, so the leader reports the two separately.
"How long do our won deals of each type take from creation to signature, and which way is that trend moving?"
Sources
- Opportunity Velocity Dashboard | Adobe Marketo Measure checked 9 Oct 2026