Velocity is the speed at which something moves in any given direction. When it comes to sales, it’s the speed at which your team moves customers through the pipeline – i.e., from opportunity to close. As with any measurement, there is of course a calculation. But before we get to that, let’s take a moment to understand what sales velocity is and what it really means in today’s sales landscape.
What is sales velocity?
You can define sales velocity as the measurement of how quickly a prospective customer moves through your sales pipeline – in other words, the rate of revenue generation. But a quick word of warning – speed should never come at the cost of deal quality or integrity.
Sales velocity typically combines several metrics — number of opportunities, deal size, win rate, and length of sales cycle — to provide a comprehensive view of sales performance. It’s extremely important in terms of forecasting and driving predictable revenue growth.
Measuring sales velocity is fairly simple and can be calculated at an individual level, team, or organisational level. The standard sales velocity formula is:
Sales Velocity = Number of Opportunities x Deal Value x Win Rate / Length of Sales Cycle
Top Tip – Flume is about to launch a quick, easy, and free sales velocity calculator to help you pinpoint where your sales team is right now, and how your business can improve. Find out more on the sales velocity calculator here. You can also follow us on LinkedIn to guarantee you are one of the first to access it.
Why does sales velocity matter?
In the current landscape, sales velocity is becoming an increasingly important measure of sales team success. It’s tough out there:
- 75% of B2B buyers take longer to make decisions now than they did two years ago, indicating a trend towards extended buying cycles (Forrester)
- 77% of buyers say their latest purchase was very complex or difficult (Gartner)
- In 2024, the average B2B sales process took 25% longer than it did five years ago. (Biznology)
Sales leaders are facing several challenges right now:
- The number of qualified leads is decreasing: In today’s competitive sales environment generating a consistent pipeline of qualified opportunities is critical to success, but harder than ever to achieve.
- Average order value is plummeting Declining deal size is one of the most pressing concerns right now. But to really move the needle on average order value requires a shift in mindset, skills and strategy.
- Win rates are dropping: Addressing declining win rates is not as simple as just working to close more deals. Sales leaders must dive deeper into what is preventing deals from closing.
- Sales cycles are getting longer: This is a trend that’s accelerated in recent years, with slippage common and buyer indecision rife. Accelerating the speed of sales requires a new understanding of what’s causing delays and roadblocks in the modern buying world.
As the saying goes “time is money”. Sales velocity is more important than ever.
Top tip: Take our new Sales Velocity Scorecards, to help you diagnose the root causes impacting your revenue growth, and discover the KPIs that will help you gain more influence over pipeline growth, deal value, win rate and cycle length.
What can you do to improve the speed of travel?
Of course, there will always be external forces you cannot control, but when it comes to improving sales velocity, by far the most effective, impactful, and indeed cost-effective approach is to improve sales team performance. And by that, we don’t mean just simply making them work harder – it means your sales team needs support to work smarter.
The key is to identify the sales velocity KPIs that drive revenue growth and diagnose the specific areas that need improvement. Then implement a smart programme of sales training, coaching and reinforcement to ensure reps adopt and sustain the right behaviours, and are equipped with the tools and techniques to pursue and convert high-value opportunities.
To that end, there are four sales velocity levers that your business can pull to drive up sales team performance and achieve the accelerated growth and predictable results you desire. This works even despite the challenges inherent to today’s dynamic and competitive sales environment.
1. Increasing the number of opportunities in your pipeline:
A strong pipeline starts with a steady flow of high-quality opportunities. There are seven challenges here – from adopting a prospecting mindset and strategic account planning, to how to identify high potential prospects, and engage and nurture them.
Teams that transition from farmer to hunter can generate 40% more opportunities, improve conversion rates by 30%, and achieve 68% faster conversion times.
2. Boost win rates:
Improving win rates isn’t just about closing more deals, it’s about closing the right deals via a more refined approach. Overcome issues like poor qualification, multiple decision makers, and lack of buyer confidence by providing sales teams with a tailored behaviour transformation programme that helps them improve qualification and the prioritisation of high-value deals, drive up value creation and position themselves for success.
Effective qualification increases win rates by as much as 311% and delivers a 4.7x uptick in sales velocity. Being able to address objections early increases win rates by 45%.
3. Accelerate speed of sale:
Slow sales cycles drain momentum and stall revenue growth – so how to reduce bottlenecks, create urgency and accelerate decision making without damaging deal integrity? The answer is to identify root causes of sales rep underperformance and implement proven techniques to help them keep high-quality deals moving forward faster. Whether its learning how to ask the right questions, overcome indecision via de-risking, handle objections with confidence or create compelling proposals and presentations, there are a variety of ways effective sales training can help.
Building buyer confidence can reduce sales cycle time by 25%. Multi-threaded deals (i.e. those with broad stakeholder buy-in) close 35% faster. The ability to proactively resolve objections reduces delays by 40%. And engaging presentations can reduce sales cycles by 30%.
4. Drive up average order value:
We’re not talking simply upselling here. We’re talking about positioning the value your product or service delivers so effectively that it creates a compelling business case perfectly aligned to the customer’s need. It’s a behaviour change, moving sales reps from transactional sellers to high-value consultants through effective account planning, storytelling, negotiation and value creation.
A planned and strategic approach can increase deal size by 40% and effective positioning increases average order value by 28%. Meanwhile, advanced questioning can deliver a 42% uptick in upsell opportunities.
We’re going to be blunt. Most sales teams need help right now. The statistics don’t lie.
Training that is focussed on each lever and embeds new behaviours, winning habits, and value-driven approaches is the key to driving sales velocity.
Get it right and the impact can be transformational.
“The results have been astonishing. In just six months We witnessed a 4% increase in conversion rates which translates to a projected £1.5 million of additional pipeline revenue over the next twelve months.” Leyton UK.
Ready to accelerate your sales team’s success?
Join us on Tuesday, 4th March 2025 (14:00-15:00 UK) for an exclusive webinar on Sales Velocity, designed for senior sales leaders and CROs looking to optimise their teams and accelerate results. You’ll learn:
- Understand the fundamentals of sales velocity and why it’s essential for sustained growth.
- Learn how to identify root causes and address gaps in your sales process to improve performance.
- Gain actionable insights into creating a strategic roadmap for optimising your sales and go-to-market teams.
To secure your spot and gain first mover advantage, register today.
