Diagnosing the sales cycle
June 5 2026
A healthy sales cycle is not measured by pipeline size alone. It is measured by the quality of movement through the pipeline, the integrity of the sales process, and the reliability of the signals being generated. Strong sales systems provide visibility into customer intent, deal risk, and likely outcomes, allowing teams to forecast accurately and continuously improve. Success comes when the team understands not only what is happening in the pipeline, but why.
Gus Byleveld
I’m looking for flow, integrity, and signal quality. Flow means deals are moving at a healthy pace without repeatedly stalling in the same place. Integrity means the stage definitions are real and not inflated. Signal quality means the information in the pipeline tells me something useful about customer intent, deal risk, and likely outcomes.
More specifically, I look at stage-to-stage conversion, sales cycle length by segment, win rates, loss reasons, slippage, expansion potential, and whether the team is discovering the real buying process early enough. A sales cycle is working correctly when movement is consistent, forecasting is credible, and the team can explain both why they win and why they lose.
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