Why target ÷ quota is the wrong model
Target ÷ quota gives you the FTE count you'd need if every rep was fully ramped and hit 100% of number on Jan 1. In reality only 43% of reps hit quota, the average attainment across a team is 60–75%, and a rep hired in April is barely productive until October. The result: teams built on target ÷ quota are chronically 30–40% under-hired and miss plan.
The productive-rep-equivalent (PRE) model
The honest number is Productive FTE = Target ÷ (Quota × expected attainment). PRE tells you how many fully-ramped reps at your team's real attainment you need. Then convert to headcount using a ramp adjustment: a mid-year hire at 6-month ramp counts as roughly 0.5 PRE in year one.
Sanity checks before you send the hiring plan
Three checks catch most bad models:
- • Is expected attainment below the last 3 quarters of actuals? If not, be more conservative.
- • Are you assuming ramp under 3 months? Only realistic for transactional SMB.
- • Does the plan implicitly assume 0% attrition? Add backfill hires equal to your last 12 months of departures.
When to fix productivity instead of hiring
If attainment is under 50% and pipeline coverage is above 4x, hiring more reps won't help — you have a conversion problem, not a capacity problem. Fix onboarding, ICP fit, or discovery first. Adding reps to a broken funnel just multiplies the wasted spend.
Related guides
Long-form playbooks on the same topic, written by the RevenueLab editorial team.
Sales Capacity Planning: Targets, Quotas, Ramp and Hiring
A monthly cohort model for sales capacity that accounts for expected attainment, ramp curves, and attrition — with a 12-month worked example and the four sanity checks that catch bad plans.
Read the guide10 Common Revenue Modeling Mistakes (And the Sanity Checks That Catch Them)
The ten revenue-model mistakes I see in every founder spreadsheet — confused gross vs net, ignoring churn, fixed conversion rates, missing taxes — and the back-of-envelope checks that catch them in 30 seconds.
Read the guideHow to Use Revenue Calculators Without Fooling Yourself
A practical guide to using online revenue calculators well — what inputs to trust, what defaults to override, when to use a 0.7× safety multiplier, and how to triangulate between three tools instead of trusting one.
Read the guideFAQ
What's the difference between quota and capacity?
Quota is what you assign a rep. Capacity is what you realistically expect them to deliver: quota × expected attainment. If your quota is $1M and attainment averages 70%, one rep's capacity is $700K.
How do I model ramp?
Use a monthly curve — 25% of quota in month 1–2, 50% by month 3–4, 100% by the end of ramp. Then integrate under the curve to get first-year productivity, typically 50–60% of a ramped rep.
Should attainment be the average or the median?
Median. Averages get dragged up by one or two overperformers and understate how much of the team is missing.
How far ahead do I need to hire?
Ramp length plus recruiting time. For a 6-month ramp and 8-week hiring cycle, hires need to start 8 months before you need the capacity.
What attrition rate should I assume?
Use your trailing 12 months. SaaS sales averages 25–35% but startups often see 40–60%. If you don't have historical data, use 25% as a floor.
Does this include SDRs / BDRs?
No — this models quota-carrying closers (AEs). SDR capacity is a separate model based on meetings-to-quota and SDR:AE ratio.
Can I model a mid-year hire freeze?
Set the ramp cohort to zero and re-run — the calculator will show the gap that a freeze creates in productive capacity 6–12 months later.
How does deal size affect this?
Indirectly — it changes sales cycle and win rates, which flow into attainment. A team moving upmarket usually sees attainment drop for 2–3 quarters.
How this calculator is built
Independently maintained
Written by Sam Doshi and the RevenueLab editorial team. We don't sell the data feeds this tool is built on.
Sourced from primary data
Benchmarks come from public AdSense / Stripe / IRS disclosures and reader-submitted data — never third-party "$X per view" claims. Full methodology.
Last reviewed
July 2026. We re-check every figure on the platform on a rolling quarterly cycle.
Editorial standards
See our editorial policy and disclaimer. Results are estimates, not advice.