How long should it take to close a deal? The answer varies wildly by deal size—and has gotten 22% longer since 2022.
B2B SaaS sales cycle length benchmarks: SMB (<$15K ACV) averages 14-30 days, Mid-Market ($15K-$100K) 30-90 days, Enterprise (>$100K) 90-180+ days. Median across all B2B SaaS is 84 days. Cycles lengthened 22% since 2022 due to budget scrutiny and committee buying. Fastest closers share 3 traits: multi-threading, mutual action plans, and same-day proposal delivery. Source: Optifai Sales Ops Benchmark 2025 (N=687 companies with stage-level data).
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Often single decision-maker, credit card checkout possible
Procurement involvement, 2-3 stakeholders typical
Security review, legal redlines, budget approval cycle
RFP process, committee decisions, multi-quarter budgets
Average B2B deal now involves 6.8 stakeholders (up from 5.4 in 2020). More sign-offs = more delays. CFO involvement in software purchases increased 40%.
Security questionnaires now standard even for Mid-Market. SOC 2, GDPR, vendor risk assessments add 2-4 weeks to average cycle.
"Do we really need this?" is the new default question. Buyers require stronger ROI proof before committing. Budget freezes create mid-cycle pauses.
Distributed teams mean asynchronous decisions. The "hallway conversation" that closed deals is gone. Calendar coordination adds friction.
| Stage | SMB | Mid-Market | Enterprise | Bottleneck |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery → Demo | 3-5 days | 5-10 days | 10-20 days | Calendar coordination |
| Demo → Proposal | 1-3 days | 5-15 days | 15-30 days | Internal alignment |
| Proposal → Negotiation | 3-7 days | 10-20 days | 20-40 days | Stakeholder buy-in |
| Negotiation → Close | 2-5 days | 10-20 days | 30-60 days | Legal/Procurement ⚠️ |
Key insight: The Negotiation → Close stage accounts for 35-40% of total cycle time in Enterprise deals. Legal redlines and procurement approval are the #1 cause of delayed closes.
Deals with 3+ contacts engaged close 2.4× faster than single-threaded deals. Don't wait for your champion to "bring others in"—request introductions in the first call.
Co-create a timeline with the buyer: demo date, security review window, decision committee meeting, go-live target. Shared ownership prevents drift.
Deals where proposals are sent within 24 hours of demo close 35% faster. Momentum matters. Pre-build proposal templates to enable same-day turnaround.
Small team? Detect signals, auto-act, zero missed deals.
Turn intent into action before competitors even notice.
Optifai detects stalled deals and triggers automated re-engagement—keeping momentum alive without manual effort.
Data last updated: November 26, 2025
Impacted metrics:
Regularly updated with latest industry data