Dear SaaStr: How Long Should New Account Execs Get to Make Quota?
It depends on your sales cycle and the segment you’re selling into.
For SMBs with shorter sales cycles (e.g., 30 days), a new AE should be closing deals within their first sales cycle and ramped to quota by the second.
That means they should be hitting material revenue targets by day 60, assuming strong onboarding, training, and a decent lead funnel.
For mid-market deals ($20k-$50k) or so with 60-120 days sales cycles, same. Just they may need 60 days to put some points on the board.
There typically are enough leads and deals overall at this deal size that a new rep has to put some points on the board their first 60 days. But it may take 5-6 months to truly scale-up for all but the best.
For enterprise, where sales cycles are longer (e.g., 6-12 months), it’s fair to give them more time—typically 6-9 months to fully ramp. But even in these cases, you should see some early wins within the first few months at least. Some real deals moving down the pipe at least.
If they’re not closing *anything* by then, it’s a red flag. You’re not just losing time, you’re wasting leads that could’ve gone to someone who can close.
The key is to set realistic, incremental milestones early on. For example, in the first 30-60 days in the enterprise, focus on smaller quotas or activity-based goals—like booking meetings or closing smaller deals. This gives them a sense of progress while you evaluate their potential.
If you’re not seeing real progress by 1.5 sales cycles, it’s usually time to move on.
Excuses like “the product isn’t ready” or “the leads aren’t good enough” might have some truth, but the best reps will still find a way to close deals despite those challenges.
