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Blog · Forecast and pipeline

Sales velocity across two quarters: the whole arithmetic on one page

The complete sales velocity calculation and decomposition across two quarters, small enough to check by hand: qualified opportunities, win rate from outcomes, average won value and cycle length from won deals, velocity as revenue per day, the four one-factor recomputations that attribute the change, the interaction residual, and why cycle length explains more than the whole decline, so a reader can reproduce every figure and then run it on their own snapshots and outcomes.

The short answerLast quarter: 120 qualified opportunities, 28 percent win rate, $42,000 average won value, 61-day cycle, velocity $23,100 a day. This quarter: 131, 27 percent, $43,000, 79 days, $19,200 a day. To attribute the fall, recompute velocity four times with one factor at this quarter's value and the other three at last quarter's. Opportunities add $2,100 a day; win rate removes $800; deal value adds $600; cycle length removes $5,300. The four sum to minus $3,400 against an actual change of minus $3,900, and the $500 residual is interaction. Cycle length explains more than the entire decline. Every number can be reproduced by hand.

Sales velocity is four factors in one formula, and a change in it can be attributed to each factor by recomputation. On two quarters the arithmetic fits on a page. This page works the factors, the velocity, the four attributions, the residual, and the finding.

The formula

Velocity = opportunities × win rate × average won value ÷ cycle length, in revenue per day

The factors

Factor Last quarter This quarter Source
Qualified opportunities 120 131 Snapshots: opportunities reaching qualified in the quarter
Win rate 28% 27% Outcomes in the quarter: won ÷ (won + lost)
Average won value $42,000 $43,000 Won deals in the quarter
Cycle length 61 days 79 days Won deals: qualification to close

Velocity

Last quarter = 120 × 0.28 × 42,000 ÷ 61 = 1,411,200 ÷ 61 = $23,134 per day This quarter = 131 × 0.27 × 43,000 ÷ 79 = 1,520,910 ÷ 79 = $19,252 per day Change = −$3,882 per day, −16.8%

The four attributions

Move one factor to this quarter's value; hold the other three at last quarter's.

Move only Computation Velocity Attributable change
Opportunities 131 × 0.28 × 42,000 ÷ 61 $25,255 +$2,121
Win rate 120 × 0.27 × 42,000 ÷ 61 $22,308 −$826
Average value 120 × 0.28 × 43,000 ÷ 61 $23,685 +$551
Cycle length 120 × 0.28 × 42,000 ÷ 79 $17,863 −$5,271
Sum of the four −$3,425
Actual change −$3,882
Interaction residual −$457

Cycle length alone would have cut velocity by $5,271 a day, more than the whole decline of $3,882. The other three factors together added $1,846 and were overwhelmed.

The finding

Eighteen days of cycle. The stage duration table for won deals this quarter against last:

Stage Last quarter, median days This quarter
Qualified to discovery complete 12 13
Discovery to proposal sent 18 19
Proposal to negotiation 20 34
Negotiation to close 11 13

Fourteen of the eighteen days are in proposal. The slip count list has the deals.

Where it goes wrong, even on two quarters

Velocity read alone. Down 17 percent, cause unknown; the reaction is "sell more".

Factors from the CRM summary. Win rate from open probabilities reads 40 percent; the decomposition is fiction.

Attributions forced to sum. The residual hidden in one factor.

Cycle from today's close dates. Every open deal's date is in the future; the cycle reads short.

From two quarters to twenty, and per rep

The same four factors per rep and per segment per quarter, the same one-factor recomputations. Covirage runs it on the snapshots and outcomes. The sales velocity guide covers the measure, and the slip count guide covers the deals behind the eighteen days.

Questions people ask

Why recompute one factor at a time?

Because the formula multiplies and divides, so the change cannot be split by subtraction. Holding three factors at last quarter's values and moving one shows what that one alone would have done. The four attributions do not sum exactly, and the residual is shown rather than hidden.

Where do the factors come from?

Opportunities from qualified snapshots in the quarter; win rate from outcomes reached in the quarter; average value and cycle from the won deals among them. Not from open pipeline probabilities, and not from today's close dates.

What does the finding lead to?

Eighteen days of cycle length, and the stage duration table says which stage grew. The slip count list usually has the deals. The other three factors improved; the team is not selling worse, it is closing slower.