[bartozone]

I think think really depends on your business. Are you selling hardware, or SaaS? B2B can be $400 or $500,000 / yr per deal.

I've done half million dollar deals that take 8 months from first contact to close, and I have had deals of $30k / yr close without me ever talking to the customer. I sell Software and services to SMBs and Enterprise accounts.

The larger deal (with a F500 company) had contract negotiations with multiple levels of executives and stakeholders on their end. They decided our solution was right for them after about 3 months, and spend 5 on contract and implementation. This probably could have gone smoother, but would be impossible to automate IMHO.

We have a fairly low level of sales automation. It works for SMBs, but not for the larger clients. A lead, at this point, stays with the sales person until it's closed when it's handed off to an account manager.

The most tedious parts are the back and forth, waiting on legal to approve and redline a contract version.