What is Deal Aging?
Deal aging is the pipeline's smoke detector. A deal sitting well past its normal time-in-stage is telling you something is wrong before the close date slips.
Aging alone is not proof of a stall, since long cycles have naturally old deals, which is why it is read relative to your stage averages, not in absolute days.
Short answer
Deal aging measures how long an opportunity has been open, or how long it has sat in its current stage, usually in days. Compared against your historical stage averages, an aging deal signals a likely stall. Watching aging alongside engagement lets you catch deals slowing down before they formally slip or die.
Key takeaways
- Days a deal has been open or in its current stage.
- Read relative to your historical stage averages.
- Aging past the norm is an early stall warning.
- Best paired with engagement trend for confirmation.
Why it matters
A deal that has sat in Proposal twice as long as your average is a risk you can act on now, while re-engagement is still cheap. Aging surfaces those deals before the forecast is affected.
How Ardovo handles it
Ardovo tracks each deal's age in stage against your historical baseline, so Rook can flag deals aging past the norm and pair that with falling engagement to separate real stalls from naturally long cycles.
Frequently asked questions
What is deal aging?
It is how long a deal has been open or has sat in its current stage, measured in days. Compared against your stage averages, it is an early indicator that a deal may be stalling.
When is an aging deal a problem?
When it exceeds your historical average time-in-stage without movement, especially alongside falling engagement. In a long enterprise cycle an old deal may be perfectly healthy, so read aging relative to your norms, not in absolute days.
How do I use deal aging?
Flag deals sitting past their stage average and work them in your weekly review before the close date slips. Catching a stall early through aging makes re-engagement far more likely to succeed.