What's the Typical Enterprise Sales Cycle in 2027 and How Do You Compress It?

By Kory White · Updated Nov 2026 · 6 min read

Bright meeting room with a long table, grey chairs and a wall-mounted screen

Direct answer

There is no single typical length, because publishers define the start, the end and "enterprise" differently. The best primary evidence is public companies describing their own sales in annual filings: Workday says typical sales cycles for many new customers are six to twelve months and can extend for eighteen months or more (fiscal year ended January 31, 2026), and Palantir says its cycle often lasts six to nine months and can extend to a year or more, in some cases over twelve months for large enterprises and government entities (year ended December 31, 2025). On the buyer side, Gartner reported a mean buying cycle of roughly 18 months for respondents' biggest purchase decision, in a March 29, 2022 post that gives no sample size.

Averages across all deal sizes are far shorter. Gong analyzed more than 1.3 million opportunities from 811 companies and found an average sales cycle of 68.7 days in 2024, for deals averaging $96.8k. That is not an enterprise-only figure. Gong and Workday are vendors reporting on their own deals, so read the spread, from days for the all-deal average to well over a year for large enterprise and government, instead of one number. No source read here has 2027 data; the newest data year is 2025.

Compressing the cycle is mostly about the buying group, not the seller's calendar. The tactics below are marked as evidence or judgment, and none of the sources read gives a percentage reduction you can promise.

What public company filings say

Annual reports are the one place where a company must state its own sales cycle in a document it is legally responsible for. They describe the company's own customers, so they are not an industry average.

Workday, fiscal year ended January 31, 2026Typical sales cycles for many new customers are six to twelve months and can extend for eighteen months or more. Workday says much of its selling targets large enterprise customers (Workday 10-K).
Palantir, year ended December 31, 2025The cycle, measured from initial demonstration to sale, often lasts six to nine months and can extend to a year or more. Large enterprises and government entities can run over twelve months (Palantir 10-K).
Coupa, fiscal year ended January 31, 2022Typical sales cycle ranges from three to nine months (Coupa 10-K). This is an older filing from a vendor selling to a broad range of buyers.

These ranges are in months and come from three different companies, products and years. They show that large enterprise cycles commonly run into the second half of a year or longer, but each is a company's description of its own deals.

What buyer-side and analyst sources say

Gartner published a March 29, 2022 post saying the calculated mean buying cycle is roughly 18 months across respondents, who were asked about the biggest purchase decision they were involved with. It says a vendor's sales cycle covers phases 2 and 3 of that journey, which it puts at roughly 12 months. The post gives no sample size and no formal definition of enterprise, and it averages range midpoints.

A separate Gartner survey, run in November and December 2021 with 1,120 executives involved in technology evaluation or selection, put the public sector's average buying cycle for technology purchases at 22 months, the longest of any industry it surveyed, per a September 7, 2022 release. That release does not define buying cycle.

Group size is part of why. Forrester's 2026 State of Business Buying, reported January 22, 2026, says 13 internal stakeholders and nine external participants influence a typical B2B purchase decision; the article gives no sample size. Gartner's 2025 release on a survey of 632 B2B buyers, conducted in 2024, describes buying groups ranging from five to 16 people across as many as four functions.

Averages across all deal sizes

Gong defines sales cycle length as the average time from initial engagement to final sale. Its analysis of more than 1.3 million opportunities from 811 companies shows 69.3 days in 2023 and 68.7 days in 2024, with average deal size of $90.9k and $96.8k. Gong's later State of Revenue AI report, covering more than 7.1 million opportunities from 3,613 organizations, says average win rates and deal duration remained consistent in 2025, without a readable day figure.

HubSpot says in a blog post dated October 2, 2023 that the average sales cycle for an enterprise deal is usually six or more months, against around 60 days for a small or midsize business. It gives no sample or source for those figures, so treat them as a rule of thumb.

A figure of 192 days for enterprise deals of $250K and above is widely attributed to Ebsta and Pavilion's 2024 benchmarks. Ebsta publishes its sales cycle results as chart images, and the original could not be read for this page, so that number is left out.

Why the figures disagree

Different starting lines. Gong counts from initial engagement, Palantir from initial demonstration, and Gartner's buying cycle from the first step of exploring options, so the buyer-side number is naturally longer than a seller's.
Different finish lines. Gartner's buying cycle runs through signing contracts; a CRM close date can come earlier or later.
Different deal sizes. Gong's 68.7 days blends every deal size. Workday and Palantir are describing large enterprise and government buyers.
Different years and authors. The data here spans fieldwork from 2021 to 2025, and most figures are published by companies that sell software or research.
Self-reporting. Filings and benchmarks describe typical or average cases, and each company chooses how to describe its own.

Contract pages with a fountain pen resting on them, ready to sign — Photo: Blogtrepreneur / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

How to compress it: what has evidence and what is judgment

None of the sources read here tests a compression tactic and reports a time saved. What the evidence supports is where cycles get long: big, cross-functional groups that have to agree. The tactics below follow from that, and each is labeled.

Map the whole buying group early. Evidence (correlation). Gong says closed-won deals include 67% more contacts than closed-lost deals, and says multithreaded deals bring shorter cycles without giving numbers. This shows won deals involve more people, not that adding contacts shortens a cycle.
Work on agreement, not just a champion. Evidence on quality. Gartner found buying groups that reach consensus are 2.5 times more likely to report a high-quality deal. That is about deal quality, not speed.
Get a senior sponsor on both sides. Weak evidence. Palantir says its sales efforts have historically depended on the significant involvement of its senior management team, and that buyers evaluate at multiple levels and typically involve their senior management.
Use a short, scoped pilot with agreed success criteria. Judgment. Palantir uses short-term pilots but also says there is no guarantee they convert to longer-term contracts, so a pilot without a written decision path can add time instead of removing it.
Start security, legal and procurement reviews in parallel with evaluation. Judgment. In the process Gartner describes, signing follows choosing a winner, and queuing every review for that last step is a common way for deals to stall. No source read here quantifies the delay.
Write a mutual plan with dated steps and named owners. Judgment. It makes the buyer's internal approvals visible so a slip can be spotted when it happens.

What not to expect

Gong's own data shows the average sales cycle was essentially flat from 2023 to 2024, even though Gong reports that in January of 2024, 81% of leaders said their deals had become significantly more complex and open opportunities were taking longer to close. Its opportunity to shorten cycles with AI is stated as a possibility, not a measured result. For planning, the filings above put many large enterprise cycles between 6 and 18 months, so treat any promised percentage cut with suspicion.

Questions people ask

What is the typical enterprise sales cycle?

Published figures range widely. Workday says typical sales cycles for many new customers are six to twelve months and can extend for eighteen months or more. Palantir says its cycle often lasts six to nine months and can extend to a year or more. Gartner put the mean buyer-side cycle at roughly 18 months in 2022. All of these are company or analyst figures with different definitions.

How long is the average B2B sales cycle across all deal sizes?

Gong reports an average of 68.7 days in 2024 from more than 1.3 million opportunities at 811 companies, for deals averaging $96.8k. That is not an enterprise-only figure.

Is there 2027 data on enterprise sales cycles?

Not in any source read for this page. The newest data year is 2025, in annual filings and in Gong's 2026 report.

Can you shorten an enterprise sales cycle?

Probably, but no source read here reports a time saved from a specific tactic. Gartner links consensus in the buying group to higher-quality deals, and Gong links more contacts to won deals, but neither proves faster closes.

Sources

Workday Form 10-K, fiscal year ended January 31, 2026 · Typical cycles six to twelve months, up to eighteen or more
Palantir Form 10-K, year ended December 31, 2025 · Six to nine months, over twelve for large enterprises and government
Coupa Form 10-K, fiscal year ended January 31, 2022 · Three to nine months
Gartner: Buying Cycle Time vs. Sales Cycle Time (March 29, 2022) · Roughly 18 months buying cycle, roughly 12 months sales phases
Gartner survey on public sector technology buying (September 7, 2022) · 1,120 executives, 22 months public sector
Gartner 2025 survey on buyer team conflict, reprint · 632 buyers, group size, consensus finding
Forrester State of Business Buying 2026, via Digital Commerce 360 · 13 internal stakeholders and nine external participants
Gong Labs: The State of Revenue Growth 2025 · 1.3 million opportunities, 68.7 days in 2024
Gong Labs: State of Revenue AI 2026 · 7.1 million opportunities, deal duration consistent
Gong: guide to multi-threading and team selling · Closed-won deals include 67% more contacts
HubSpot: The Enterprise Sales Cycle · Enterprise six or more months, unsourced
Ebsta 2025 GTM Benchmarks · 655,000 opportunities; sales cycle results are chart images

Sales cycle benchmarks are mostly vendor-published and are not directly comparable. This page is general information, not advice for your specific deals.

Top photo: Breather breather / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons