Standardize the sales process
Define clear stages, entry and exit criteria, required activities and ownership so opportunities move consistently from qualification through proposal, approval and close.
Reduce time to close
KPI: Time to close · Reduce by x%
- KPI
- Time to close
- Levers
- Process · Qualification · Pricing · Packaging · Automation · Approvals · Contracting
- RevOps tasks
- 10 actions
- Leading indicators
- Approval time · Follow-up activity · Proposal-to-close rate
- Target outcome
- Shorter sales cycles and increased sales velocity
How long it takes to get from a qualified opportunity to signed business — without giving up deal quality, pricing discipline or customer fit. It should never be one number: a $2,500 local digital campaign and a $250,000 annual sponsorship aren't the same sale, and averaging them makes everyone look slow. The friction worth attacking is internal. Proposal turnaround, approval time and order entry are where you can take out days directly, instead of telling salespeople to sell faster.
How you actually get there
Grouped by the phase it belongs to. Flag anything that is a real problem for you as you read. That is what builds your plan, so there is no long questionnaire at the end.
PlanAssessment, sequencing, business case. The fundable first step.
Identify and eliminate deal bottlenecks
Measure time spent in each sales stage and find the recurring delays — pricing approvals, inventory checks, proposal creation, legal review, credit approval, customer response.
BuildConfiguration, data architecture, integration.
Simplify packaging and pricing
Create standardized packages, rate structures, bundles and pricing guardrails so sellers can build solutions quickly without excessive internal approvals.
Accelerate proposal creation
Use standardized templates, product catalogs, pre-approved language, customer data and automation to turn a qualified opportunity into a professional proposal in less time.
Streamline internal approvals
Establish clear approval thresholds for discounts, non-standard terms, inventory and added value — and automate routing and escalation wherever possible.
Improve inventory and product visibility
Give sellers direct access to available inventory, audience data, product specifications, pricing and fulfillment requirements so they aren't chasing three teams before presenting a solution.
Automate follow-up and next steps
Use CRM workflows, sequences, reminders, AI-assisted communications and inactivity alerts so proposals and opportunities don't stall on inconsistent seller follow-up.
ExecuteMigration, training, adoption.
Improve opportunity qualification
Establish budget, decision-makers, objectives, timing, product fit and buying process earlier, so sellers spend less time advancing opportunities that were never going to close.
Simplify contracting and order entry
Standardize agreements, electronic signatures, insertion orders, credit processes and handoff requirements so a verbal yes becomes booked revenue as quickly as possible.
RunMaintain, extend, improve.
Measure sales velocity by segment
Track cycle length by rep, market, advertiser size, product, deal type and revenue tier to find where cycle time can realistically be reduced without treating every sale the same.
The distinction that makes it actionable
Transactional / SMB
Repeatable packages and relatively short decision cycles.
Set its own cycle-time benchmark — this is where standardization pays fastest.
Mid-market / consultative
Customized solutions requiring real discovery.
Proposal turnaround usually dominates the cycle here.
Strategic / enterprise
Larger multimedia agreements involving agencies, procurement, legal and multiple stakeholders.
Long by nature. Benchmark it separately so it stops distorting the average.
What leadership reads
Sales velocityOpportunities × average deal value × win rate ÷ average sales cycle. The equation that makes the business case: shortening the cycle raises revenue capacity without adding a single seller, lead, or dollar of deal size.
Average days to closeQualified opportunity to closed-won. Read by segment, never blended.
Average days by sales stageShows exactly where deals are slowing down.
Proposal turnaround timeQualified request to proposal delivered.
Proposal-to-close timeProposal delivered to signed and booked.
Stalled opportunity rateShare of opportunities with no meaningful activity for X days.
Leading indicators
What moves before the KPI does.
Approval timeHours or days spent waiting on discount, terms, inventory and credit approvals.
Follow-up activityWhether next steps are actually happening on open opportunities, and how fast.
Proposal-to-close rateShare of delivered proposals that convert — separates a speed problem from a quality problem.
What we’d need to know
Answer what you can. The blanks are as useful to us as the answers. They are usually where an assessment starts.
01Between a verbal yes and booked revenue, how many people touch the deal?
02How long does it take to get a proposal out — and how much of that is waiting on someone internal?
03Do you measure cycle time separately for a $2,500 buy and a $250,000 one?
04What has to be approved before a seller can quote a standard package?
05How many open opportunities have had no meaningful activity in the last 30 days?
Next
Next: Reduce manual work That’s time to close. Now manual work.
One more outcome to walk through before we build the plan.