A sales cycle acts as a roadmap that your sales team can follow to close a new lead.

While sales cycles vary across businesses, their end goals are usually the same. They help you sell better, train your sales team easily, and track the effectiveness of your sales operations properly.

In this article, I'll explain what a sales cycle is and why it's critical to your business. I'll then cover the seven important stages in a typical sales cycle and offer five actionable tips to help boost your sales cycle efficiency.