Effective Metrics for AE Hiring and Capacity Planning Tips
Planning AE hiring for next FY. What metrics do you use to predict ramp time and capacity planning beyond closed deals? And any time saving hacks?
Planning AE hiring for next FY. What metrics do you use to predict ramp time and capacity planning beyond closed deals? And any time saving hacks?
I will refer to our friends at LeanScale, they gave up a free model on capacity planning and growth modeling that you can grow from and add channel Attribution as well as add SDR layer depending on your org. https://youtu.be/aCcS8tFl2zY?si=VYMIGx99RV1vK5qv
Vincenzo M. when it comes to "predicting ramp time" you'll want to start with what your onboarding program looks like. If you have a formalized sales playbook around ICP, Sales Approach, Sales Process, and Deal Management, then I like to keep the onboarding metrics relatively simple. Reps should generate $X of opportunities in the first 30 days, $Y by day 60, and so on. Reps should also close their first deal in the first Z # of days. These $s and days depend on your average deal size and your average sales cycle, and whether or not the rep is inheriting pipeline or starting from scratch. If you don't have a formalize playbook yet, and the rep with primarily be onboarding on their own, you can at least double the length of time it will take. I like to focus on pipeline and closed deals. Other metrics around sales activity or meetings don't really show the impact, and will need to happen anyways for pipeline creation or closed deals. Hope this helps but let me know if you any follow up questions.
Appreciate all the replies! Super helpful framing. What I’m still trying to unpack is: how do you actually calculate what 'good' looks like? Not just what to measure, but how you define those benchmarks in the first place. For example—how do you know that X opps in month 1 or Y deals by day 60 is realistic? Is there a model or formula you use, or is it mostly based on tribal knowledge and past cycles? I’m trying to shortcut the guesswork and ground my ramp and capacity assumptions in data, not just opinions from my client.
Vincenzo M. how many reps do you have now, and how long are their tenure(s)?
6 AEs, 2 x <501 EEs, 3 x 501-2000 + 1 x 2001+... Tenure varied <18months Tbf not a ton of historic data atm
Really depends on if youre doing SMB or ENT. Ramp time tends to be shorter for SMB. Also depends how skilled the reps are.. I would say 25% first month or 0% if you do more than a 2 week training 50% second month 75% third month or straight to 100% For ENT, I would be wayyy more conservative and focus on pipe gen. Stats: meetings booked, meetings held, opps generated, opps closed, its easiest to just have one metric though for the ramp up
