Time to first deal is the number of days between a sales rep's start date and the first deal they close that they sourced or ran from discovery.
What the number tells you
Teams use it as an early read on a new hire and to compare onboarding cohorts. It is easy to count and easy to distort. A rep who inherits a late-stage deal can close in week two without having run a conversation, and a rep in a nine-month enterprise cycle may close nothing inside onboarding however well they work.
So count it the same way for every hire: the first deal the rep sourced, or ran from discovery onward, and closed. Compare only within the same territory type and cycle length. Read it beside an earlier measure, such as buyer evidence captured on the rep's deals and the coached behaviors present on sampled calls, because a first deal tells you a rep can close and says little about whether they run the team's method. Our sales onboarding guide sets out both measures together.
Two AEs, same start date
This example is illustrative. Two AEs start in the same month. Robin inherits a deal at contract stage and it closes on day 12. Jesse's first deal is one Jesse ran from discovery, and it closes on day 84. Counted naively, Robin ramped seven times faster. Counted by the rule above, Robin's time to first deal is still open on day 84, and Robin's first discovery-to-close deal is the one to watch. The inherited deal goes in the record as a handover.
Related terms
- Ramp time: how long a new rep takes to run the team's method on live deals to standard.
- How to build a 30-60-90 sales onboarding plan: deal-evidence gates that come before the first close.
- How to ramp a new account executive: what to do with inherited deals in week one.
FAQ
What is time to first deal? Time to first deal is the days from a rep's start date to the first deal they close that they sourced or ran from discovery. Counted that way, inherited late-stage deals do not flatter the number.
How long should it take a new rep to close a first deal? It depends on the sales cycle, so set the target from your own last cohort on the same territory type. In long enterprise cycles the first deal can fall after onboarding ends; track buyer evidence on the rep's deals in the meantime.
Is time to first deal the same as ramp time? No. Ramp time ends when the rep runs the team's method on live deals to standard, and time to first deal marks a single close. That close can come before or after the rep reaches standard. Use day one and sales onboarding and ramp time for the earlier measures, and how to coach SDRs for the SDR equivalent.