Importance of Speed in Business

If you wait 3 days to respond to an email, your buyer will wait a week. If you reply immediately, they match your pace. 👉 6 reasons to prioritize a rapid email response: -  Every 10-minute delay results in a 400% drop in conversion chances. - Leads contacted within five minutes are 21 times more likely to convert than those contacted after 30 minutes. - You're 100 times more likely to connect with and qualify a lead when responding within 5 minutes compared to 1 hour. -  Responding within 1 minute can boost conversion rates by 391%. - 78% of buyers purchase from the first company that responds to their inquiry. - 30% of unresponded leads will reach out to a competitor who responds faster Most of the data I found was for inbound, but the same logic applies to outbound and MoFu. 👉 The easiest ways to control deal momentum? Set a pace that conveys urgency. Speedy replies create urgency. Slow responses create stalled deals. 📌 Quick tip Send, "receipt confirmed" emails. If you can't reply immediately, and sometimes you can't because you need to send a more thoughtful reply or perhaps you're in the middle of more focused work .... Just let your buyer know you got their email and that you will reply within 24 hours. Trust me, taking 30 seconds to send a receipt confirmed email will earn you a lot of aura points. 👉 Set the pace, or your buyer will and odds are, they’ll slow it down. ✨ Enjoyed this post? Let me know in the comments & follow Leslie Venetz for more. Data from - LeadAngel Gobluebird Podium GetCensus SalesWingsApp Chilipiper Calldrip Rep.ai #b2bsalestips #emailtips

“Speed doesn’t just impress buyers. It changes how they think.” I was supporting a deal with a government agency in India. After months of slow movement, one of our AEs decided to change pace. Instead of waiting days to reply to follow-up questions, she started responding within 30 minutes. Instead of booking calls a week out, she offered same-day options. Instead of letting the buyer’s process set the tempo, she respectfully started dictating rhythm. Something shifted. The buyer’s team — previously unhurried — began mirroring that pace. Questions came faster. Decisions followed more quickly. Procurement even escalated approvals internally to stay in sync. ✅ What happened? We triggered urgency. Not by pressuring the buyer — but by resetting their internal tempo. Speed changed the emotional texture of the deal from “eventual project” to “active initiative.” ✅ What we did systematically: – Rebuilt our MAP (mutual action plan) with tighter next steps and weekly internal follow-ups – Used short email recaps post-meeting to clarify alignment – Trained reps to end every call with a same-day or next-day scheduling option – Flagged every unanswered email internally within 12 hours for follow-up 🎯 Behavioral psychology at work: – Temporal Contagion: People mirror perceived urgency – Momentum Bias: Once in motion, inertia helps keep deals alive – Availability Heuristic: Fast responses feel more valuable, more reliable, and more urgent Speed isn’t just about “being helpful.” It influences how buyers prioritize you in their mental stack of decisions. And in complex B2B deals, staying top-of-mind is half the battle. 📌 If you want faster deals, act like it’s already urgent — and watch your buyer catch up. 📥 Follow me for more insights. Repost if this resonated.

I got a series of DM’s over the holiday week, recapping the quarter and saying similar things: 1/ They closed their company's largest deals. 2/ While rapidly increasing average deal size. 3/ And also shrinking cycle times. Here’s a screenshot of one example. Now here's the thing to notice in the DM, and why I'm sharing: Their business case drove up all 3 “sales velocity” metrics at once: - Win Rate: winning complex deals. - Average Contract Value: winning *larger* complex deals. - Sales Cycle Time: winning larger complex deals, *faster.* [ Sales Velocity = (# Opps x ACV x Win Rate) / Cycle Time ] The thing about velocity, though, is it's a lot of “downstream” metrics. Win Rate, ACV, Cycle Time, are outcomes. Not inputs. (e.g. Win Rate = the sum of all individual pipeline stages’ win rates) So I wrote up 3 practices you can use — each enabled by building business cases — to drive 3 “upstream” metrics that matter: - Stage-Specific Win Rates - Seller:Buyer Activity Ratio - Time Spent "Above the Line" Focus on upstream numbers, to get downstream results. Here's the long version: https://lnkd.in/gtgG63fa If you take a look, I’ll be curious to hear what you think. Because I’m finding most teams only have business cases for 5% - 10% of deals in the pipeline. Which makes this a massive, untapped revenue opportunity for 2024. And it's our team's goal for 2024 too: a lot more DM's like this 🙌 Here's the full write-up with 3 practices: https://lnkd.in/gtgG63fa

Is speed a competitive differentiator? ABSOLUTELY!!! And more importantly—how are companies setting their reps up to win with speed? And how are reps actually practicing speed with intention? Last month, I was looking for a space to host my boys’ graduation party. I called a handful of venues. Some never called back. A few followed up days later. But one? Called me within the hour. Guess who I went with? Yep. The first one. 1️⃣ Why? Because they moved fast. They didn’t just respond—they helped shape the strategy. When you’re first, you set the tone. You define the plan. And now, any competitor that comes in later is reacting to your strategy—not leading with theirs. That’s a huge advantage. And if you’re wondering if this applies in B2B… it does. Big time. According to the Harvard Business Review article, “What Fast-Moving Companies Do Differently,” companies that move fast across two areas—speed of insight and speed of action—consistently outperform their competitors. Here’s what the data shows: * Companies that prioritize speed see stronger revenue growth and margin expansion * Fast-movers are 2x more likely to use real-time data and analytics to guide decisions So what does this mean for revenue teams? Companies should: *Remove roadblocks and decision bottlenecks * Give reps what they need to move fast * Listen to their reps and other front line employees: they are seeing things you are not * Build connected ecosystems to reduce time-to-market * Create a culture that rewards action And reps should: * Respond fast (don’t sit on that lead) * Get meetings on the books ASAP * Deliver on your word—on time * Collaborate internally to keep things moving * Ask your leaders to help clear the path. Sometimes it gets too darn hard to get things done internally and as a rep, it’s the most frustrating!!! How are you building for speed? As a company, as a leader, or as a rep—what’s one thing you’re doing (or could do) to move faster and win earlier? And if you need a reminder of what speed looks like… Watch the F1 clip below. That’s what it feels like when a fast-moving team hits its stride. #sales; #speed; #deals

You know what's fascinating about business speed in 2025? While everyone's talking about AI and cutting-edge tech, the real game-changer is still something beautifully simple: how quickly you can turn ideas into reality. In today's market, speed isn't just about being fast – it's about being alive. Think about a cheetah hunting its prey. It's not just raw speed that makes it successful; it's the ability to accelerate, change direction, and adapt in real-time. The most innovative companies today operate with this same kind of agility. While their slower competitors are still debating in meeting rooms, these companies have already launched, learned from their mistakes, and improved their approach three times over. Here's what makes speed such a powerful force: it creates a compounding effect in learning and innovation. When you move quickly, you don't just get to market faster – you accumulate valuable insights while others are still in planning phases. Each rapid iteration becomes a building block for the next innovation. Amazon didn't become Amazon by perfecting each move before making it; they became a giant by constantly launching, learning, and adapting at a pace that left others spinning. The most transformative aspect of speed is how it changes organizational psychology. When teams know they can move quickly, they become more courageous in their thinking. The question shifts from "What if this fails?" to "How quickly can we learn if this works?" This mindset turns potential failures from catastrophes into valuable data points, creating a culture where innovation naturally accelerates. But here's the crucial part many miss: speed isn't about rushing or cutting corners. It's about removing unnecessary friction, making decisions efficiently, and building systems that enable rapid, informed action. It's the difference between a Formula 1 pit crew and a regular mechanic – both can change tires, but one has turned it into a precision operation. What's your experience? When has moving quickly given you an edge? How do you balance speed with quality in your organization? #Innovation #BusinessStrategy #Agility #CompetitiveAdvantage #Leadership

Responsiveness is one of the most powerful superpowers you can have in work and in life. Was on a run this morning with some engineering leaders who told me they chose their vendor simply because that team **replied first** Speed absolutely wins. And responsiveness is the form of speed people can actually feel on the other side, whether they are a customer, a founder, a colleague, or a friend. For a startup, this shows up as sales velocity. A buyer who emails three vendors with products that look very similar – one responds within the hour, schedules a demo that same day, and is ready to help them implement that afternoon. They may not have the best product or the lowest price, but they are the fastest, and that usually means they win. The same principle applies to customer success. If your customers know they can send a message and get a reply right away, whether by Slack, email, or phone, they will feel supported, and that speed builds trust, and that trust compounds over time. It is no different for investors, employees, or even friends. The investors who respond quickly are the ones who get into the most competitive deals. The employees who respond quickly are the ones who get more responsibility, more ownership, and eventually more promotions. The friends who respond quickly are the ones you turn to first when something important happens. Speed signals seriousness. It shows that you care. It creates momentum. And once people know you are fast, they will bring you more opportunities, more trust, and more responsibility. Responsiveness, the form of speed that others directly experience, often makes the biggest difference in who actually wins.

Fast thinking gets a bad rap. ‘Think like a startup’ sounds glib. ‘Move fast and break things’ sounds like an excuse for people who like to break things. So how do you do strategy at speed without the drama and the damage? I’ve been working with strategy projects with a fintech and a ventures lab - two organizations that instinctively run on speed - and we’ve found ways to be both fast and thoughtful. Genuine sprints. We get together for an hour to talk intensively about a specific slice of the problem and then write it up. We give ourselves 24 hours to work on something. We speak with an expert or a person working at the coal-face of the problem, who can make us smarter within a day. Having only a day to solve something builds intellectual openness into a project. I’ve covered a lot of ground - literally - with a client who enjoys a high-intensity discussion while speed-walking at a treadmill desk. Solve big strategic problems as product problems. Strategy is big and exploratory. Addressing it like a product problem can simplify it. Pin down a vague idea into a plan for a customer-facing product. Can we simplify this down to the problem we solve, and the people we solve it for? The Business Model Canvas helps here. It was created for startup businesses but it has clarifying powers for strategy projects in general. (Credit to Saneel Radia who sparked the idea of using the canvas as a strategy tool, and Sean Lyons who used to clarify airy 'what-if' business proposals at R/GA by asking how you could make them into a useful service for a client.) Reduce the homework. A deep 4Cs analysis is a beautiful thing. If you don’t have time for that depth, reduce the ask to what’s the most important thing to explore about the customer, the category or the culture? You need judgement or a theory of victory here, and it liberates the team when they are tasked to do less.  Be prepared to pivot. Sprints throw up discoveries, and a big discovery can send a project in a different direction. This is a good thing. The short lead time requires you to have breakthroughs and to act on them.  Be 80% right. Many strategists run on being right. Most businesses and business leaders run on momentum. (Felicia Zhang has written some great posts on this.) So the goal isn’t completeness or perfection, it’s having enough conviction to move forward. Be open about this trade-off, and be comfortable to be 80% right in 50% of the time. Fast strategy doesn't have to be sleeping-bags-in-the-office hardcore. It starts with honesty and openness, because you are consciously working with less. It takes collaboration between the client and the consultant because you both have to do the work. And it creates respect for others' time and energy, because sprint-paced work makes everyone’s time more precious. If you are a leader who needs to figure out a bigger future for their brand or business, we should be talking. Let’s do a quick Zoom or a philosopher’s walk.

I sent 1 million cold emails last year. Here's what actually matters: 1. Lead magnets crush "book a call" → Free audits get 8x more replies → Templates get 5x more engagement → Case studies get 3x more calls booked 2. Speed kills the game → Reply within 5 mins = 80% engagement → Wait 6 hours = 20% engagement → Next day = Dead lead 3. Multiple channels win → Email + LinkedIn = 3x results → Add calls = 5x results → Text follow-ups = 7x results 4. The list is everything → Bad list + perfect copy = 0 results → Great list + okay copy = consistent wins But it's time to reveal my biggest secret... Consistency over perfection. 1 good email sent daily beats 100 perfect emails sent monthly. Focus on progress, not perfection.

Speed wins: Secrets of high velocity product teams Apple greenlit the original iPod in March 2001 and shipped iPods to customers just seven months later in November. How’d they move so fast?  For many products, teams, and ultimately companies, execution speed is the difference between winning and losing. All else being equal, teams that excel in shipping velocity often outperform and outlast those that don't. An important note: Be cautious about viewing speed as a problem, or a way that bad products get shipped. Strong teams almost always reduce the trade-off between speed and quality to near zero. Here’s a simple checklist I’ve used to help teams troubleshoot why shipping velocity is not as fast as it could be.  Check the long-form version linked in the comments below for watch outs and links if you want to go deeper. 1. Unclear vision or strategy: Non-clarity is a real drag on executional speed. If you don’t have a concrete vision or strategy, teams tend to bounce around doing work with differing points of view on where the collective is going. Any initiative should begin with a crystal clear lens on where this problem to solve fits into the wider vision and strategy. 2. Too many priorities: Too much in flight work, a lack of focus, real switching costs, and cloudy communication spell disaster for product teams. Whether at a company or team level, setting real—and sometimes painful— priorities helps teams move faster by removing non-essential projects from their plate. 3. Bad decision making: The speed and quality of decision making in any team or company can silently kill execution velocity. What this looks like: slow decisions, bad decisions, decisions that get remade over and over, or often just a really inefficient process for how decision-making gets made. Get good at using clear decision making frameworks like RAPID to define what everyone’s role is in a decision and unlock your team’s speed. 4. Lack of ownership at ground level: Sometimes team velocity is hindered by excessive checking and “product reviewing” conducted with or for senior leaders. Good teams have a review cadence that makes sense and gets them valuable feedback and direction. But if your senior leader is being checked with constantly, this slows teams down and kills ownership and agency. 5. No date for your project to ship. It’s amazing how creative, focused, and clear teams get when they are working off a defined ship date. Meetings get shorter and happen less often, and discussions get more crisp. Everything has a cadence of moving forward because, well, it has to.     6. A culture of urgency. The most valuable tool for creating a high velocity team is simply a culture of urgency. This is a team that has its own unstoppable cadence for moving forward, where problems, or blockers are not allowed to fester. These teams often have every part of their operation optimized around a bias for action as opposed to sliding into easy delays. 

Responsiveness - The most important business metric no one talks about. How often do you have to check in on the status of work from one of your vendors? Does this sound familiar: - You sent your tax accountant info a month ago and don't know the status of your tax filing - You have a lawyer helping you on something, but have no idea how it's going. - You send an email asking for an update, but don't get a response for 5-7 days? This happens all the time!!! Why? It's terrible. Businesses that say they are client focused, rarely give you a great client experience. If you run a company, you have to understand that what you do (the output of work) is only a small portion of the value a client will derive from your engagement. The client experience is just as, if not more valuable. A key component to client experience is responsiveness. Companies should be able to clearly answer: - What are your responsiveness metrics? - Do you have SLAs around response times? - How do you track responsiveness? - What are you doing to improve your company's responsiveness? At Decimal, we've built responsiveness into our DNA from day one. We've operationalized it in a way that allows us to track and improve it too. Our SLAs are trained, tracked and improved. We strive to respond quickly to show we care. It's part of our client experience. Sometimes, it's simply to say: "we're looking into this and will get you an update asap." Even that response shows you've received the email, you care, and you cared enough to give the client piece of mind. Responsiveness - The most important business metric no one talks about. Because of that, doing it well is a big differentiator. What are you doing to show your clients/customers you care?