How many accepted leads a month does your target need?
A calculator for the Head of Sales, VP Sales or CRO who owns a revenue target and sells on a long technical cycle. You enter your target, your deal size, your rates and your cycle, and it works back to two numbers: the accepted leads you need each month from today, and the last date on which a new lead can still close inside the period.
How do you calculate the pipeline a revenue target needs?
Divide the target by your average deal value to get deals needed, subtract what open pipeline should close at your win rate, then divide the gap by your win rate and your lead-to-opportunity rate. Subtract your sales cycle from the period end to find the last date a lead can still close, and spread the leads over the months left.
What do the sources behind the calculator say?
Each figure links to the page it comes from, so you can check it before you repeat it.
| What the evidence says | Source |
|---|---|
| 49% of the 243 sales leaders surveyed say their sales organisation's definition of a qualified lead differs greatly from marketing's. | Gartner, press release (21 May 2025) |
| SDR ramp averages 3.0 months, and 60% of SDRs reach quota. | The Bridge Group, 2025 SDR Models and Metrics Report (6 February 2025) |
What's in the calculator
- Ten inputs, each with where to find it in your CRM and the trap to avoid, such as entering a weighted pipeline twice
- Twelve formulas, each shown, from deals needed to accepted leads per month
- The lead deadline: the last date a new lead can still close inside your period
- A stress test that reruns everything with your win and conversion rates a quarter lower
- A worked example with every step written out
- A paragraph for your CEO, filled in from your own results
- A starter list of rejection reasons, so the leads you count are leads sales agreed to
Who the calculator is for
For a commercial lead who owns new-business revenue, reports pipeline to a CEO or board, sells to a list of a few hundred to a few thousand named accounts, and works through a cycle of two quarters or more.
Who it's not for
On a cycle of a few weeks the deadline part has little to say, and a standard coverage ratio will serve you. If you have closed fewer than five deals, the calculator still runs, but its result is an estimate and the sheet tells you to mark it as one.
A look at the arithmetic
The example uses round numbers to show the arithmetic and comes from no real company.
Take a target of CHF 1.2 million by 31 December 2027, an average deal of CHF 150,000, a 25% win rate, 30% of accepted leads becoming opportunities, a six-month cycle and CHF 1 million of open pipeline. Eight deals are needed and open pipeline should produce about 1.7, so 26 opportunities and 87 accepted leads are still missing. The last date to accept a lead that can close in time is 31 May 2027, which leaves 12 accepted leads a month from today. With both rates a quarter lower, the figure becomes 22 a month.
Questions about the calculator
What counts as an accepted lead in the calculator?
A lead is accepted when it carries all five facts and nobody rejects it within five business days with a reason from a fixed list. The five facts are a named person in the buying group, at a target account agreed in writing, with a need or a timing stated in their own words, with a lawful basis for contact recorded for their country, and not already an open opportunity in your CRM.
What if I have closed fewer than five deals?
The calculator still runs, but its result is an estimate and the sheet tells you to mark it as one. With fewer than five closed deals or fewer than twenty accepted leads behind your win and conversion rates, rerun it each month as the counts grow.
Are the numbers I enter sent to Torke?
No. The calculator runs in your browser, and the numbers you enter stay on your device. The form on this page stores only your email address, the resource you asked for and the page you came from, in a database in the EU, for up to 395 days.
Get the calculator by email
One email with the link, from vincent@torke.tech. The calculator runs in your browser, and the numbers you enter stay on your device.