Pipeline Velocity
Pipeline velocity measures how quickly revenue moves through your sales pipeline, combining deal count, size, win rate, and cycle time.
- Pipeline velocity shows the rate at which your pipeline generates revenue, calculated by combining the number of opportunities, average deal size, win rate, and sales cycle length.
- Common Mistakes:
- Not using consistent time periods across all components.
- Ignoring that improving one factor may hurt another (e.g., faster cycles but lower win rate).
- Comparing velocity across teams with different ICP or market focus.
- Not weighting velocity by deal quality or profitability.
- Using velocity as the only metric without considering pipeline coverage.
- Forgetting to adjust for seasonality in opportunity creation.
Definition
Pipeline velocity shows the rate at which your pipeline generates revenue, calculated by combining the number of opportunities, average deal size, win rate, and sales cycle length.
Sales efficiency improving; faster revenue generation.
Stable but may need optimization.
Pipeline bottlenecks or efficiency issues.
Formula
Pipeline Velocity = (# Opportunities × Average Deal Value × Win Rate %) / Sales Cycle Length (days)
Variables
Number of qualified opportunities in the period.
Average contract value or ACV.
Percentage of opportunities that close-win.
Average days from opportunity to close.
Examples
Quarterly pipeline velocity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Opportunities created | 100 |
| Average deal value | $50,000 |
| Win rate | 25% |
| Sales cycle | 60 days |
- 1Velocity = (100 × $50,000 × 0.25) / 60
- 2Velocity = $1,250,000 / 60
- 3Velocity = $20,833 per day
Track in Daymark
Data Sources
Required Fields
- opportunity_id
- create_date
- amount
- close_date
- status
Sample Questions
- What is the current pipeline velocity?
- Show pipeline velocity trend over time
- Which factor (opps, deal size, win rate, cycle) impacts velocity most?
- Calculate velocity by sales rep or team
- Compare velocity across different product lines
- Model velocity improvement scenarios
- What's the revenue impact of reducing sales cycle by 10 days?
Dashboard Template
Revenue per day
Impact of each component
Monthly velocity over time
What-if modeling
Common Mistakes
- •Not using consistent time periods across all components.
- •Ignoring that improving one factor may hurt another (e.g., faster cycles but lower win rate).
- •Comparing velocity across teams with different ICP or market focus.
- •Not weighting velocity by deal quality or profitability.
- •Using velocity as the only metric without considering pipeline coverage.
- •Forgetting to adjust for seasonality in opportunity creation.
FAQ
Increase any of the four components: more opportunities, larger deals, higher win rates, or shorter sales cycles.
Velocity shows efficiency; coverage shows sufficiency. You need both adequate pipeline and fast movement.
No. Focus on your biggest constraint. A 10% improvement in your weakest area often has more impact than improving a strong area.