Jeff Perry, CRO of Carta, reveals why controlling inputs beats chasing outputs in complex sales. Learn the framework for 12-18 month enterprise cycles.
Ever wonder why your enterprise team’s biggest deals seem to take forever, even when velocity metrics and pipeline acceleration tools are pushed harder than ever?
The sobering reality is that the average enterprise B2B software sales cycle spans roughly nine to 18 months, compared to three to six months for mid-market deals. This structural gap creates a disconnect between expectation and reality, leading to persistent tension for enterprise sales leaders, with 84% of sales reps missing quota in 2024.
In this article, we’ll explore what “patient selling” is and why it outperforms velocity-driven models in enterprise sales. We’ll also introduce the input-over-output framework, a practical approach to managing long-cycle deals by focusing on controllable, compounding inputs rather than short-term outcomes.
Patient selling is an enterprise sales approach that prioritizes relationship-building, strategic timing, and consistent value creation over short-term velocity metrics. It recognizes that in complex buying environments, progress is measured not by how fast a deal moves, but by whether the right conditions are being built for a confident decision.
Unlike high-velocity sales models designed for transactional or SMB motions, patient selling aligns with the realities of enterprise purchasing. Decisions involve multiple stakeholders, competing priorities, formal procurement processes, and meaningful risk. In these environments, urgency cannot be forced. It must be earned.
Patient selling shifts the focus from outcomes that lag, such as closed revenue or stage progression, to inputs that compound over time in enterprise sales. These include stakeholder engagement, executive-level conversations, educational touchpoints, and moments that build credibility and trust. Each interaction is designed to add clarity, not pressure, helping buyers make sense of their options rather than accelerating them prematurely toward a decision.
Importantly, patient selling is not passive. It is structured, intentional, and highly disciplined. Reps are still accountable for activity, but the activity is measured by quality and relevance, not volume alone. The objective is to remain consistently present and valuable throughout a long buying journey, so when timing aligns, the seller is the obvious and trusted choice.
In enterprise sales, patience is not the absence of urgency. It is the deliberate management of momentum over time.
A typical enterprise deal involves six to 10 stakeholders. Each individual comes to the table with their own priorities, incentives, and definitions of risk. In an environment like this, progress usually isn’t linear. Yet, most velocity-based sales models assume it should be.
This assumption is the root of the problem. Velocity metrics weren’aren't built for enterprise sales; they were designed for transactional and SMB environments where authority is concentrated, buying paths are predictable, and deals move forward in a relatively straight line when sales methodologies are properly operationalized.
Enterprise buying journeys are their own beast. They move in starts and stops. Stakeholders disengage and reengage. Internal champions lose influence or change roles. Budgets pause as priorities shift elsewhere. Progress happens in bursts, not stages, as 86% of purchases stall due to internal disagreements or confusion.
And this is why velocity-based metrics struggle in enterprise environments.
As a result:
What follows is often artificial motion. Additional meetings are scheduled without purpose. Follow-ups repeat the same message. CRM activity increases, but buyer confidence does not.
When it comes to velocity selling in enterprise environments, here are the biggest issues:
Most importantly, teams begin to confuse motion with momentum.
Enterprise sales success depends on being present, credible, and valuable when timing aligns. Velocity metrics are poorly equipped to measure that readiness. When used as the primary lens for performance, they don’t just fail to accelerate deals. They actively undermine the behaviors required to win them.
This is the gap patient selling is designed to address, and why enterprise teams need a fundamentally different way to define progress.
The failure of velocity metrics in enterprise sales doesn’t mean leaders should abandon rigor or accountability. It means they need a different control system.
This is where the input-over-output framework is designed to help enterprise sales organizations transition away from a high-volume, activity-driven "sweatshop" model and toward a strategic, patient enterprise model that still preserves accountability. Instead of managing teams against outcomes that unfold over 12 to 18 months, it refocuses leadership attention on the inputs that compound over time and directly influence long-term success.
Traditional enterprise sales metrics over-index on outputs such as:
These outcomes matter, but they are lagging indicatorslagging indicators. By the time they appear or fail to appear, the underlying behaviors that caused them are already locked in.
Rather than fixating on whether deals are closing fast enough, the input-over-output framework asks a more practical question: What can sales leaders and reps realistically control on a daily and weekly basis in a long-cycle environment?
Input-based sales management doesn’t lower standards. It raises them by making expectations explicit, observable, and repeatable.
In slower, more complex enterprise environments, reps can't rely on volume to create momentum without proper account planning execution. They need to rely on intentional, high-quality inputs that build trust, clarity, and readiness over time. This is the practical reality of enterprise sales, where outcomes are shaped months before they show up in a forecast.
Jeff Perry, CRO at Carta, encourages his team to focus on controllable, high-quality inputs rather than forcing short-term outcomes. He says, “What are the things within your control that you’re doing every day in your territory or pipeline? Control the inputs, and the outputs will take care of themselves.”
Examples of enterprise-relevant inputs include:
When consistently applied through execution excellence, these inputs compound. A single executive conversation may not move a deal forward immediately, but a pattern of credible, value-driven engagement builds preference long before a formal decision is made.
One of the biggest fears leaders have when moving away from velocity-based models is losing control. The assumption is that without aggressive output targets, teams will slow down or disengage.
The opposite is usually true.
The input-over-output framework introduces clear, behavior-based accountability that enterprise teams can actually execute against:
Instead of interrogating forecast timing, leaders can assess whether the right conditions are being built for success. This creates more productive coaching conversations and removes the incentive for artificial urgency.
Closing Thoughts
Velocity has become a stand-in for effectiveness, even in environments where speed is neither realistic nor desirable. When applied to enterprise sales, it distorts behavior, erodes trust, and incentivizes motion over meaning.
Patient selling offers a different path forward.
By shifting focus from outcomes that lag to inputs that compound, enterprise leaders regain control without sacrificing rigor. The input-over-output framework doesn’t ask teams to slow down. It asks them to direct their effort toward the behaviors that actually influence long-term decisions.
This is how organizations move away from high-volume, burnout-driven sales cultures and toward strategic, durable growth. Reps know what matters. Managers know how to coach. Leaders gain visibility into progress even when deals are quiet.
In enterprise sales, success isn’t determined by how fast a deal moves through a pipeline. It’s determined by whether the right conditions exist when the buyer is ready to decide.
