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  • May–June 2021
  • Article
  • European Business Review

Getting Up to Speed in Your Sales Efforts

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Zoran Latinovic
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

In a study before the pandemic, Pricewaterhouse Coopers found that companies had made little progress in the previous decade in speeding up their cash-conversion cycle, as the cash crunch generated by the pandemic painfully demonstrated. In most firms, sales velocity is the biggest driver of cash-out and cash-in. But sales velocity is itself the result of other activities: opportunity selection, deal size, and win rate. This article discusses each component, what some companies are doing to improve sales velocity, and new tools for managing this aspect of financial oversight as well as sales management.

Keywords

Sales Velocity; Opportunity Selection; Deal Size; Win Rate; Sales; Management; Cash Flow

Citation

Cespedes, Frank V., and Zoran Latinovic. "Getting Up to Speed in Your Sales Efforts." European Business Review (May–June 2021): 68–71.
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About The Author

Frank V. Cespedes

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • May 3, 2023
    • TrainingIndustry.com

    What Top-Performing Sales Managers Do Differently

    By: Mike Schultz and Frank V. Cespedes
    • May 2023
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    Where Sales Technology (Really) Helps

    By: Frank V. Cespedes
    • April 18, 2023
    • Harvard Business Review (website)

    The Rebirth of Software as a Service

    By: Frank V. Cespedes and Jacco van der Kooij
More from the Authors
  • What Top-Performing Sales Managers Do Differently By: Mike Schultz and Frank V. Cespedes
  • Where Sales Technology (Really) Helps By: Frank V. Cespedes
  • The Rebirth of Software as a Service By: Frank V. Cespedes and Jacco van der Kooij
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