Table of contents
Time in Stage
TL;DR
Time in Stage tracks how long an opportunity stays in each stage of your sales pipeline. For SaaS sales teams, it reveals where deals are moving efficiently—and where they’re getting stuck. Monitoring this metric helps improve forecast accuracy, streamline deal progression, and identify coaching or process opportunities by stage.
What is Time in Stage?
This metric measures the average duration (in days) an opportunity spends in each pipeline stage (e.g., Discovery, Proposal, Procurement).
Formula (per stage):
Time in Stage = (Date Exited Stage − Date Entered Stage)
To get an average:
Average Time in Stage = Total Time for All Deals in Stage ÷ Number of Deals
Example: If five deals spent a combined 100 days in the Proposal stage, the average time in that stage is 20 days.
You can track this across all opportunities, or just closed-won, lost, or stalled deals.
Why It Matters in B2B SaaS
- It identifies pipeline bottlenecks. Long delays in specific stages can point to process issues
- It improves forecast precision. Deals aging too long in a stage often need requalification or executive attention
- It enables rep coaching. Reps struggling in certain stages may need better tools or messaging
- It drives sales ops alignment. Legal, security, and procurement friction often shows up as elongated deal stages
- It helps refine pipeline definitions. Clear entry/exit criteria are critical for stage progression to mean anything
How to Measure Time in Stage
Step 1: Define your sales stages clearly (with entry/exit criteria)
Step 2: Ensure your CRM tracks timestamps for stage changes (most do)
Step 3: Subtract the entry date from the exit date for each opportunity in a given stage
Step 4: Average across deals by:
- Segment (SMB vs. Enterprise)
- Win/loss outcome
- Rep or team
- Product line
- Deal size
Best Practices
- Track across both won and lost deals. Bottlenecks affect both outcomes
- Normalize by deal size. Enterprise deals may move slower but not necessarily inefficiently
- Visualize with stage heatmaps. This helps RevOps and leadership identify systemic delays
- Set stage duration benchmarks. Flag opportunities that exceed average time in stage
- Tie to deal velocity. Stage-level analysis is the root-cause layer beneath velocity trends
Final Thought
If deal velocity tells you how fast you're going, Time in Stage tells you why. By measuring and managing this metric, sales teams get the power to unblock stuck deals, coach smarter, and turn "stuck in pipeline" into "closed-won." In SaaS, time really is money—and Time in Stage keeps you honest.
FAQs
Which stages should I monitor most closely?
Focus on stages where deals commonly stall—like Procurement, Legal, or Proposal. Those are usually the high-impact friction points.
Should I include inactive deals?
Yes—but treat them separately from actively progressing deals. Long periods of inactivity often signal disqualification or poor follow-up.
What’s a healthy time in stage?
It depends on your sales cycle. Use historical benchmarks to determine what's "normal" for each stage by segment and deal size.
How can I improve Time in Stage?
Improve clarity on next steps, tighten entry/exit criteria, remove internal handoff friction (legal, finance), and coach reps on objection handling.
Discover Petavue
Your AI-Powered Advantage
Identify High-Impact Accounts
AI-driven insights pinpoint exactly which accounts and segments deserve your focus, and why.
Optimize Every Interaction
Proactively uncover customer friction points to enhance CX and boost adoption.
Guide Your Next Steps
Receive clear, expert-guided recommendations on the precise actions to take for growth.
Achieve Scalable Efficiency
Get fast, accurate intelligence across sales, marketing, and CX, without scaling headcount.
Identify High-Impact Accounts
Use AI to spotlight the accounts most likely to convert—ranked by revenue potential, engagement signals, and deal velocity.
Optimize Every Interaction
Uncover what drives buyer engagement at every stage—so your reps show up with the right message, at the right time, every time.
Guide Your Next Steps
Receive clear, expert-guided recommendations on the precise actions to take for growth.
Achieve Scalable Efficiency
Get fast, accurate intelligence across sales, marketing, and CX, without scaling headcount.
Identify High-Impact Accounts
Use AI to spotlight the accounts most likely to convert—ranked by revenue potential, engagement signals, and deal velocity.
Optimize Every Interaction
Uncover what drives buyer engagement at every stage—so your reps show up with the right message, at the right time, every time.
Guide Your Next Steps
Receive clear, expert-guided recommendations on the precise actions to take for growth.
Achieve Scalable Efficiency
Get fast, accurate intelligence across sales, marketing, and CX, without scaling headcount.