SaaStr

JUNE 9, 2025

Dear SaaStr: What is The Best Way to Set Sales Rep Quotas at Each Stage of a B2B Business? Setting sales rep quotas in a SaaS business depends heavily on your stage of growth and ARR. Quotas should be simple and achievable. For example, you might pay them 100% of what they close for the first few months. And Their Quota.

Quota 69

Quota B2B Pipeline Drivers/motivators 69

Search Engine Land

AUGUST 30, 2024

In B2B, that means prepping for the end-of-year push that comes from needing to hit quotas and engaging brands about to be flush with new yearly budgets. For B2B, the end of the quarter and the need to hit quota can leave room for limited-time promotions to test with your users. Many industries can have their own seasonal spikes, too.

A/B testing 79

A/B testing Retail Quota Promote 79

SaaStr

JULY 6, 2025

ARR—and have a couple of reps closing deals consistently. But at least, they’re hired themselves 2-3 reps that have hit quota. Your VP of Sales needs to be able to close deals themselves, especially early on. Your VP of Sales needs to be able to close deals themselves, especially early on. Don’t over-title someone.

Quota 88

Quota Sales Closing Sell 88

Sales Pop!

JUNE 13, 2025

As we wind down 2025’s second selling quarter, we can check our performance versus our YTD quota to see exactly where we stand. You’ll have a powerful improvement track to run on and to close the year strong. That’s the beauty of selling and the pay-for-performance lifestyle, isn’t it? There’s no mystery about where you stand.

Sell 130

Sell Territory Consult Quota 130

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2024

Then Mark Roberge , former Hubspot CRO, wrote The Sales Acceleration Formula with deep insights into quota structures. 3: Payback Periods + Quotas Have Jointly Increased The number of months required to recoup the cost of customer acquisition has increased by 12% on average, which is linear with the increase in sales cycles.

Go To Market 132

Go To Market Quota GTM Price 132

SaaStr

JULY 18, 2025

For example, if a rep closes a $5,000 annual deal, they get a percentage of that ACV as commission. For example: Pay 80% of the commission upfront when the deal closes. 15%-20%) in the early days on upsells or expansions since these are often more profitable and easier to close. Reward reps for growing existing accounts.

Commission 69

Commission Teamwork Quota Contract 69

SaaStr

JULY 23, 2025

For example, if marketing is driving leads that sales can’t close, or if customer success isn’t retaining customers, you’ll bleed revenue. Hire a Strong RevOps Leader Early By the time you have 15 sales reps, you’ll need a dedicated RevOps leader to handle training, onboarding, compensation, quotas, and more.

B2B 102

B2B Pipeline Quota Growth 102

Sales Gravy

MARCH 30, 2025

You Hit Quota You on track and right where you are supposed to be against your number You are in trouble You missed your number, are behind quota, and are feeling the pressure. It can also make life much easier if your sales plan and quota gets bigger in the back half of the year as many do. Quota isnt easy to achieve.

Quota 101

Quota Pipeline Sales Up-sell 101

SaaStr

JULY 14, 2025

A great VP of Sales should take the leads you already have and close more deals or drive higher deal sizes. If they’re not recruiting talent or the reps they hire aren’t hitting quota within a couple of months, that’s a problem. Closing Deals : Are they closing deals themselves? If they can’t sell, they can’t lead.

Pipeline 69

Pipeline Contract Quota Growth 69

SaaStr

JUNE 15, 2025

. "Never, ever hire a VP of Sales until you have 2 individual sales reps really closing. Hitting quota. Most of that is contingent on performance, and if they’re not closing deals, they’re not earning the bonus. Early-stage startups can’t afford to waste leads on someone who can’t close. And that early sales team?

Quota 95

Quota Up-sell Sales Closing 95

Veloxy

DECEMBER 9, 2024

Show your team how these features can do the following: Save time with AI for sales Close deals faster Improve their performance The more value they see, the more they’ll use it. How does it help them close more deals? When Salesforce helps close a big deal or streamline a complex process, celebrate it.

Objectives and Key Results 130

Objectives and Key Results Negotiate Outside Sales Follow-up 130

RingDNA

APRIL 11, 2025

What it Measures: The total number of attempts a rep makes to call prospects in a given day Value: Many sales organizations have a dialing quota since more dials can equate with more meaningful sales conversations and revenue. Value: More conversations each day virtually always correlates with higher quota attainment.

Quota 62

Quota Sales Pipeline Contact 62

SaaStr

JUNE 24, 2025

Companies with strong AI adoption across their GTM organizations are outperforming peers on virtually every metric: higher quota attainment (61% vs 56%), shorter sales cycles (20 vs 25 weeks), lower cost per opportunity ($8.3K The problem is happening much later in the funnel where sales teams are supposed to close deals.

GTM 77

GTM B2B SQL Quota 77

SaaStr

JUNE 5, 2025

If you dont have a repeatable sales process or at least two reps hitting quota, youre not ready. You need to figure out the basics yourself firstclose the first deals, build a small team, and hit some traction (ideally $1M ARR or close to it). Heres how to approach it: Timing is Everything Dont hire a VP of Sales too early.

Quota 98

Quota Sales Up-sell Closing 98

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 25, 2024

You sort of need to back into it based on your opportunity-to-closed deal ratio. So: if the quota for the rep is say $600k, your average Opportunity is $20k in size, and you have a 15% opportunity-to-closed ratio … your rep will need ~200 opportunities over the year to hit their quota, or about ~15 a month.

Quota 98

Quota Sales Follow-up Closing 98

SaaStr

MARCH 23, 2025

Dear SaaStr: What “Quotas” Should My VP of Customer Success and VP of Product Have? For a VP of Customer Success (VPCS), their “quota” or ownership should revolve around two key metrics: Net Revenue Retention (NRR) and Gross Retention Rate (GRR). In short: VPCS Quotas : NRR, GRR, TTV, and customer advocacy.

Quota 64

Quota Product Customers Growth 64

Hubspot

MARCH 13, 2025

According to a 2023 survey of over 450 sales leaders, 91% of their teams missed quota that year. This begins at the sales rep level but can become an enterprise-wide problem when sales staff, from reps up to SVPs, focus on their year-to-date (YTD) positions against quota. Why are revenue targets so hard to hit? Current pipeline.

Meeting 66

Meeting Pipeline Quota Sales 66

SaaStr

JULY 22, 2025

Until They Hit Quota : In the founder-led sales stage, you’ll need to be heavily involved. Move On Quickly from Poor Performers : If a rep isn’t closing deals, don’t hesitate to let them go. Focus on building a team of high performers who can consistently hit their quotas. Micromanage Early On.

A/B testing 69

A/B testing Quota Territory Negotiate 69

Sales Gravy

MARCH 13, 2025

You tap into your customers pain points and you close. P - Problem & Pain An eventual Yes stems from painpain from stalled business, lost revenue, or missed quotas. Your understanding will connect with the customer and start building your relationshipa relationship that leads to closing. They couldnt make quota.

Quota 57

Quota Pitch Sales Prospecting 57

SaaStr

JUNE 17, 2025

And increase the odds they close. A bit more on that here : How to Cope With Long Sales Cycles But there are plenty of things that help : Hire a VP of Sales with Enterprise Experience : A great VP of Sales who’s closed deals at your price point can shave months off your sales cycle. But you can’t do the impossible.

Quota 69

Quota Sales Trust Up-sell 69

Salesforce

NOVEMBER 14, 2024

Then, using your current team structure, churn rates, new hire plans, ramp times, quota, and average quota attainment to create a table or spreadsheet that shows you, for any given period, the output of your team. If your team regularly crushes their team and individual quotas, that’s a sure sign it’s time to increase sales quotas.

Growth 52

Growth Quota Territory E-commerce 52

Martech

JULY 17, 2024

As performance becomes harder to predict, Emma is caught in a whirlwind of soaring CPAs, long “gap-close meetings,” and the desperate need to meet ever-higher quotas. Scaling has become complex, with rising targets and an unclear ideal customer profile.

GTM 103

GTM Product Drivers/motivators Strategize 103

SaaStr

JULY 2, 2025

By 60 days, they should be generating pipeline and closing smaller deals. By 90 days, they should be fully ramped and hitting quota. Focus on Small Wins Early Don’t expect them to close massive deals right away. Instead, focus on smaller wins—especially closing a deal as quickly as possible, and building real pipeline.

Start-ups 56

Start-ups Objection handling Commission Pipeline 56

SaaStr

APRIL 30, 2025

Look at quota attainment, activity levels (calls, emails, demos), and conversion rates. Reps who get just three hours of coaching per month can increase close rates by 70%. Deal Quality and Close Rates : Examine the quality of deals entering the pipeline and the close rates at each stage. If so, why?

Cross-sell 73

Cross-sell Pipeline Legal Contract 73

SaaStr

JUNE 19, 2025

Companies want to see that you’ve consistently hit or exceeded quotas in your past roles. Founders want to see that you can close deals yourself, not just manage a team. If you’ve never owned a number before, you’re not ready for a VP role. Be ready to sell yourself. Practice pitching their product as if you’re already on the team.

Referrals 88

Referrals Quota Networking Pitch 88

Hubspot

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

Many organizations may closely meet your company’s ideal customer profile (ICP) criteria and warrant sales reps to proactively reach out to them. In my experience, lead data quality can help convert a lead into an opportunity and a closed deal — or it can scuttle your company’s chances of ever doing business with a prospect.

Territory 83

Territory Cold Call SQL Campaign 83

SaaStr

JANUARY 8, 2025

That meant weekly business reviews, measuring it at each segment, the team level, the individual level, and looking at bookings to revenue conversion more closely. But as she dug in, the real answer was too many sales reps were overbooking deals because of the pressure to hit their bookings quota.

Objectives and Key Results 117

Objectives and Key Results Growth Engineering Quota 117

Highspot

OCTOBER 29, 2024

In fact, 65% of high-impact sales organizations (75% or more of reps achieving quota) report that sales managers spend 20% or more time coaching. These assistants can analyze the conversation, offer suggestions for improvement, and provide relevant information or resources to help reps close deals. Book a demo today !

Objectives and Key Results 64

Objectives and Key Results Sales Pitch Objection handling 64

Hubspot

JUNE 16, 2025

Business development managers (BDMs), account executives, and anyone who can self-generate leads and close deals.” A seller who grasps industry trends, compliance challenges, and operational workflows can build trust faster—and close bigger deals. For example: “Navigated procurement processes in enterprise SaaS, closing $1.2M

Objectives and Key Results 50

Objectives and Key Results Pitch Sales Follow-up 50

Sales Gravy

APRIL 24, 2025

Are you hesitating at the close? Soft closes? The ultra-high performers Ive seen who get coaching consistently shorten deal cycles, multiply referrals, and close with precision. Youre missing quota again. Are you hesitating at the close? Soft closes? You need guidance. Weak discovery? You need guidance.

Sports 98

Sports Referrals Sales Pipeline 98

RingDNA

MARCH 26, 2025

LinkedIn is no longer a nice to have in 2025, whether you’re a CEO shaping your company’s vision, a COO optimizing processes, or an SDR hustling to hit quota. In B2B sales, it often takes north of six contacts to close deals. According to sales expert Colleen Francis , a referred lead has a close rate of 50%!

Closing 62

Closing B2B Sell Referrals 62

RingDNA

JULY 2, 2025

In this guide, we’ll break down the top certifications, who they’re for, and how they help you close more deals. The course emphasizes trust-building, persuasive communication, and consultative closing techniques. Top Sales Certifications Worth Earning in 2025 1. Duration: 6 weeks (self-paced with daily modules) Cost: ~$695 2.

Retail 62

Retail Technical Sales Consult CRM 62

Sales Gravy

JUNE 19, 2025

The quota clock is ticking, the pressure is mounting, and there's that relentless urge for a quick win. They close the deal, celebrate briefly, then immediately move on to the next prospect. Mary's competitors immediately launched into aggressive pitches and discount offers to David, the CFO, hoping to close the deal quickly.

Commission 72

Commission Cross-sell Manufacturing Pitch 72

Salesforce

MARCH 31, 2025

Consider the stats : 67% of sales reps don’t expect to meet quota this year, and 84% missed it last year. Drive pipe faster with a single source of truth Discover how Sales Cloud uses data and AI to help you manage your pipeline, build relationships, and close deals fast. Learn more 1. Salespeople dont need rah-rah hype.

Drivers/motivators 64

Drivers/motivators Quota Territory E-commerce 64

SaaStr

APRIL 2, 2025

They may not immediately hit quota (few do). But they find a way to close something relatively early. But you do need to see some deals closing within a standard sales cycle. Only the outliers will hit a full quota in their first quarter. But the others … the others can still close with those issues.

Quota 69

Quota Sales Gaming Closing 69

SaaStr

JUNE 19, 2025

They want an AI SDR to basically close deals itself, on autopilot. You wouldn’t expect a new SDR to be quota-crushing in week one, right? But most teams don’t. They want magic. They want to flip a switch and suddenly have AI SDRs booking 50 meetings a week with zero effort. That’s not how this works.

Objection handling 109

Objection handling Sales Legal Strategize 109

Highspot

OCTOBER 22, 2024

Consistently hitting your sales goals can sometimes feel like a game of darts – you’re trying to hit the target and close every deal, but it can be easy to miss the mark. This will help you understand where each rep is excelling and where there are gaps to close – which you can then work to eliminate through ongoing coaching.

Process 52

Process Objection handling Quota Sales 52