The Approval Lag Calculator:

Approval Lag is the time elapsed between a request for a decision and its formal resolution. In high-growth companies, this is the single most expensive hidden cost in the P&L.

When a deal sits in a Slack thread waiting for a VP’s "thumbs up," it isn't just standing still—it is decaying. Every hour of lag increases the "Deal Fatigue" for the prospect and reduces the quarterly capacity of your sales team.

Calculate Your Revenue Leakage

To get an immediate assessment of your team's decision velocity, use the logic below:

Your Data

Average Deal Size $_________

Monthly Deal Volume_________

Current Approval Lag (Days)_________

Annual Revenue at Risk$_________

The Formula: (Monthly Volume × Deal Size) × (Approval Days / 30) = Monthly Revenue Latency.

The Three Stages of Approval Lag

To manage velocity, you must first categorize it. Most teams operate in the "Danger Zone" without realizing that a 24-hour shift in response time could add 10% to their bottom line.

1. The High-Velocity Zone (< 4 Hours)

Decisions are made within the same half-day cycle. Documentation is automated. Friction is near zero.

• Outcome: Deals move through the pipeline at the speed of the buyer, not the internal bureaucracy.

2. The Friction Zone (4–24 Hours)

Decisions are made "eventually." The requester often has to "bump" the thread to get eyes on the request.

• Outcome: Context is lost, and the "why" behind the decision is rarely recorded.

3. The Danger Zone (24+ Hours)

The "Decision Debt" begins to compound. By the time the approval is granted, the original context is stale, and the buyer's urgency has cooled.

• Outcome: Significant revenue leakage and "Invisible Debt" that slows down the entire organization.

Why Standard Tools Fail to Fix Lag

Most teams try to solve this with more Slack channels or more "Urgent" tags. This fails for three reasons:

1. Fragmentation: The request is in Slack, the data is in Salesforce and the contract is in DocuSign. No one has the full picture.

2. Notification Fatigue: Managers miss the one critical "Yes" amidst 100 "FYIs."

3. The Memory Tax: Without a central record, the team spends more time asking "Did this get approved?" than actually closing the deal.

How to Reduce Lag by 80% Immediately

The fix is not more meetings; it is Systemic Resolution.

• Move to Async-First: Stop waiting for "sync" meetings to get a signature.

• Standardize the Request: Every approval request must include the "Price, Term, and Trade-off" in a single block.

• Automate the Ledger: Use a tool like Decision Desk to turn a Slack reaction into a permanent, searchable record.