# How to Implement Pipeline Velocity Optimization
In the competitive Australian business landscape, it isn’t just about how many leads you have; it’s about how quickly those leads turn into revenue. Pipeline Velocity Optimization (PVO) allows you to identify bottlenecks in your sales process, ensuring your team focuses on the high-value activities that move the needle.
By mastering this metric, you can predict future revenue more accurately and scale your Brisbane business without simply throwing more money at lead generation.
Prerequisites: What You’ll Need
Before we begin, ensure you have the following ready:- A CRM: (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive) with at least three months of historical data.
- Defined Sales Stages: A clear understanding of your current sales process (e.g., Discovery, Proposal, Negotiation).
- Clean Data: Accurate records of when deals were created and when they were closed/won.
- The Formula: Velocity (V) = (Number of Opportunities x Deal Value x Win Rate) / Sales Cycle Length.
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Step 1: Calculate Your Baseline Velocity
You cannot improve what you don’t measure. Start by calculating your current velocity for the last quarter. What you should see: Open your CRM dashboard and look for 'Time in Stage' reports. Multiply your total qualified opportunities by your average deal size and your win rate percentage. Divide that total by the average number of days it takes to close a deal. This number represents the revenue you are generating per day.Step 2: Audit Your Lead Qualification (The 'Top of Funnel' Filter)
Many Australian businesses suffer from 'clogged' pipelines because they let unqualified leads through. Review your Lead Scoring criteria. Are you wasting time on 'tyre kickers' who don't have the budget or authority? Action: Tighten your MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) to SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) transition. Ensure every lead has a valid ABN and fits your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) before a salesperson spends an hour on a discovery call.Step 3: Map Your Current Sales Cycle Stages
Document every step a prospect takes from the first touchpoint to the final invoice. Screenshot Description: You should see a linear flow chart or a 'Board View' in your CRM. Each column represents a stage. If a stage like "Proposal Sent" has 50 deals while "Negotiation" only has 2, you’ve found your first bottleneck.Step 4: Identify 'Stale' Deal Triggers
Define what a "stale" deal looks like for your industry. For a Brisbane professional services firm, a deal might be stale if there is no activity for 14 days. For a SaaS company, it might be 48 hours. Action: Set up automated alerts in your CRM to notify account managers when a deal has sat in a single stage for longer than the average duration.Step 5: Optimise the 'Number of Opportunities' (Variable 1)
To increase velocity, you need more qualified opportunities. Instead of just buying more ads, look at your 'Lost' deals from the last six months. Pro Tip: Implement a 'Closed-Lost' nurture sequence. Re-engaging someone who already knows your brand is often faster than converting a cold lead from scratch.Step 6: Increase Your Average Deal Value (Variable 2)
Can you increase the value of each transaction without significantly increasing the sales time? Action: Look for logical upsells or bundled packages. In the Australian market, offering 'Value-Add' services (like an initial audit or a setup workshop) can increase the initial contract value and build trust faster.Step 7: Improve Your Win Rate (Variable 3)
Analyze why you are losing deals. Is it price, features, or timing? Action: Conduct 'Win/Loss' interviews. Sometimes, a simple change in your proposal template or adding Australian-based case studies can boost your credibility and win rate significantly.Step 8: Reduce Sales Cycle Length (Variable 4 - The Divider)
This is the most powerful lever in the formula. If you cut your sales cycle from 60 days to 30 days, you effectively double your revenue velocity. Action: Identify the 'Dead Time'—the gaps where the deal is waiting on you. Can you automate the contract sending process? Can you use tools like Calendly to remove the back-and-forth of scheduling meetings?Step 9: Implement Sales Enablement Content
Often, deals stall because the prospect needs to 'sell' the solution internally to their boss or board. Action: Create a 'Buyer’s Kit'. This should include a summary of benefits, a ROI calculator, and a one-page FAQ. Giving your champion the tools to sell for you speeds up the decision-making process.Step 10: Standardise Your Follow-Up Cadence
Don't leave follow-ups to chance. Create a standardised sequence of calls, emails, and LinkedIn touches. Screenshot Description: In your CRM 'Sequences' or 'Workflows' tab, you should see a series of scheduled steps. For example: Day 1 (Email), Day 3 (Phone Call), Day 7 (LinkedIn Message).Step 11: Conduct Weekly Pipeline Reviews
Shift your sales meetings from "What are you closing this week?" to "What is stuck and how do we move it?". Focus on the deals that are exceeding the average time in stage.Step 12: Review and Iterate Monthly
Pipeline velocity isn't a 'set and forget' project. Every month, re-calculate your velocity. Compare it to the previous month to see if your changes (like new content or tighter qualification) are actually working.---
Pro Tips for Success
- Focus on Small Wins: A 5% improvement in each of the four variables leads to a cumulative 21.5% increase in total velocity.
- Localise Your Social Proof: Australian buyers value local references. Use testimonials from other Brisbane or Australian-based companies to reduce friction and build trust quickly.
- Automate Administrative Tasks: Ensure your sales team isn't spending 50% of their day on data entry. Use CRM integrations to automate logging calls and emails.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Mistake 1: Chasing 'Ghost' Leads. Keeping deals in your pipeline that haven't responded in months inflates your numbers and skews your velocity data. Be ruthless—close them out.
- Mistake 2: Only Focusing on New Leads. It is almost always faster to expand an existing account than to acquire a new one. Don't ignore account management in your velocity calculations.
- Mistake 3: Over-complicating the CRM. If your sales team finds the CRM too hard to use, they won't log data accurately, making your velocity metrics useless.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Problem: Our Velocity is high, but we aren't hitting revenue targets.- Solution: Check your Deal Value. You might be closing lots of tiny, low-margin deals very quickly. While velocity looks good, the 'Value' variable is too low to sustain the business.
- Solution: Look at your 'Decision Maker' involvement. Are you talking to the person who can actually sign the cheque? Often, sales cycles lengthen because we are stuck talking to 'influencers' who don't have budget authority.
- Solution: Create a 'Sales Playbook' that defines exactly when a deal should move from one stage to the next. This ensures everyone is measuring 'velocity' the same way.
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Next Steps
- Download your CRM data from the last 90 days.
- Run the Velocity Formula to find your current baseline.
- Identify the weakest variable (is it Win Rate? Cycle Length?) and focus your efforts there first.
Need help auditing your sales process or setting up CRM automation to track these metrics? Our team at Local Marketing Group can help you streamline your Revenue Operations. Contact us today for a strategy session.