The Problem
You know which channels drive revenue. You don't know which ones drive it fastest, and that gap has real consequences for your forecast and your budget.
A channel closing deals in 90 days, ties up the pipeline and reps for three months before it pays out. A channel closing in 25 days might be compounding value at twice the rate. Standard attribution captures the outcome, not the drag. So you can pour budget into a channel that looks great on a revenue report while it's quietly generating the longest, most expensive deals in your pipeline.
This build connects the original source to sales cycle length across closed-won deals, so you can compare channels not just by revenue, but also by how efficiently they generate it.
Required HubSpot Tools & Tiers
- Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise
- Sales Hub Professional or Enterprise
- Custom Report Builder
- Calculated properties
- Dashboards
Step 1: Ensure Sales Cycle Property Exists
Go to:
Settings → Properties → Create property
Configure:
-
Object: Deal
-
Property type: Calculation
-
Calculation method: Time between
Setup:
-
Start date:
Create date -
End date:
Close date -
Format: Days
Name:
Save.
Step 2: Build Average Sales Cycle by Original Source
Navigate:
Reports → Create report → Custom report builder
Data Sources:
Select:
-
Deals
-
Contacts
Ensure:
Deals is the primary object
Add Fields:
-
Original source (Contact property)
-
Total Sales Cycle Length (Days)
-
Deal stage
-
Close date
Visualization:
Column chart
X-axis:
-
Original source
Y-axis:
-
Average of Total Sales Cycle Length (Days)
Filters:
-
Deal stage = Closed Won
-
Close date = This year
-
Original source is known
Save as:
This immediately shows which channels move fastest.
Step 3: Add Drill-Down for Channel Granularity
Create new report.
Fields:
-
Original source drill-down 1
-
Total Sales Cycle Length (Days)
Visualization:
Column chart
Metric:
-
Average of Sales Cycle Length
Filters:
-
Closed Won only
-
Close date = This year
Save as:
This reveals:
-
Paid Search vs Paid Social
-
Organic Google vs Organic Direct
-
Referral vs Email
Step 4: Add Revenue Context to Avoid Misinterpretation
Velocity alone can mislead.
Create a combined view.
Create new custom report
Fields:
-
Original source
-
Total Sales Cycle Length (Days)
-
Deal amount
Visualization:
Table
Group by:
-
Original source
Metrics:
-
Average Sales Cycle Length
-
Average Deal Amount
-
Sum of Deal Amount
Filters:
-
Deal stage = Closed Won
Save as:
This shows:
-
Fast + low ACV channels
-
Slow + high ACV enterprise channels
-
Balanced channels
Step 5: Add Distribution View (Advanced Insight)
Create report:
Fields:
-
Total Sales Cycle Length (Days)
-
Original source
Visualization:
Box plot (if available) or column with median
Break down by:
-
Original source
This identifies:
-
Consistency vs volatility
-
Outlier-heavy sources
-
Predictability by channel
Save as:
Step 6: Build the Channel Efficiency Dashboard
Go to:
Reports → Dashboards → Create dashboard
Name:
Add:
-
Average Sales Cycle by Source
-
Sales Cycle by Source Drill-Down
-
Revenue + Velocity by Source
-
Revenue by Source
Optional additions:
-
MQL → SQL by Source
-
Win rate by Source
-
CAC by Source
How to Interpret This Dashboard
Fast Close + High ACV
→ Premium growth channel
→ Increase budget
Fast Close + Low ACV
→ Scale for volume
→ Strong mid-funnel channel
Slow Close + High ACV
→ Enterprise motion
→ Needs longer nurture strategy
Slow Close + Low ACV
→ Re-evaluate investment
Strategic Outcome
You now have:
-
Revenue speed intelligence
-
Channel-level sales efficiency
-
Budget allocation clarity
-
Pipeline timing predictability
-
A defensible marketing ROI story
This moves attribution from:
“Who brought in the deal?”
to:
“Who brought in the right deal at the right speed?”
