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Sales & Retail vocabulary · Sales Process & Pipeline

Sales cycle

Meaning in sales & retail, with examples

/ˈseɪlz ˌsaɪkəl/nounCore term

In sales & retail, sales cycle means: The whole sequence of steps from the first contact with a potential customer to the signed deal, and the time this usually takes.

In Turkish: satış döngüsü, satış süreci

How it is used

Used to compare businesses and to plan forecasts. People talk about a long or short sales cycle and try to shorten it. Selling coffee to a café may take a week; selling software to a bank can take a year.

Example sentences

  1. Our average sales cycle is about four months, so deals started in January close in May.

  2. Free trials helped us shorten the sales cycle for small businesses.

Common collocations

  • long sales cycle
  • shorten the sales cycle
  • average sales cycle
  • stage of the sales cycle
  • sales pipelineAll the potential deals a salesperson or team is working on, arranged by stage from first contact to signed contract, so you can see what is likely to close.
  • discovery callAn early conversation with a prospect in which the seller asks questions to understand their situation, problems and goals before suggesting a solution.
  • proposalA document sent to a potential customer that explains the suggested solution, what is included, the price and the main terms, written to win their business.
  • B2BBusiness-to-business: selling products or services to other companies rather than to individual consumers.
  • sales forecastAn estimate of how much a person, team or company will sell in a coming period, based on the pipeline, past results and market conditions.

More terms: Sales Process & Pipeline

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