Sales capacity

Sales capacity is how much your team can really sell with the people it has now. It counts ramped sellers fully and new sellers only in part. It answers a plain question: can this team reach the plan, or do you need more people or more time?

Nothing in the CRM shows capacity directly, so you build it from what is there. Take what each ramped seller has actually closed per month over recent months. Add new sellers at a reduced share while they ramp. Sellers on leave or doing other work count for less.

Use recent months when sellers had enough deals to work, and multiply by average deal size for a revenue plan.

3 ramped sellers and 1 new seller at half capacity, 5 deals per ramped seller a month. (3 + 1 × 0.5) × 5 = 17.5 deals a month, or 52.5 a quarter.

Check capacity when you set the plan and quotas, and again each quarter. The head of sales builds it, and the owner uses it for hiring and plan decisions. In the weekly rhythm you only watch whether the pipeline still fits what the team can handle.

Capacity changes two decisions. If the plan needs more deals than capacity, you hire, extend the timeline or lower the plan. If sellers hold far more open deals than they can actively run, they spread thin and deals stall. Then you split territories or add support.

Capacity sits next to ramp time, pipeline coverage and territory. Ramp time sets how fast a new hire adds capacity. Pipeline coverage shows whether there is enough work for that capacity. The hiring profile decides who you add when capacity runs short.

• Counting a new hire as a full seller from day one. They add capacity slowly while they learn. Count them at a reduced share until they close at the team's usual pace.
• Using quota instead of actual results. Quota is what you hope for. Base capacity on what ramped sellers have really closed over recent months.
• Ignoring time outside selling. Meetings, admin and service work eat into selling time. Example (invented numbers): a seller who spends a third of the week on admin has two thirds of the capacity.
• Hiring only when the plan is missed. A new seller needs months to ramp, so the hire comes too late. Check capacity against next quarter's plan before the quarter starts.

By Friday, the head of sales counts how many deals each ramped seller closed per month over the last three months. Add new sellers at a reduced share. Multiply by three months and compare the result with the deals next quarter's plan needs. If the gap is large, bring two options to the owner: hire earlier or adjust the plan.

A weekly meeting on stuck deals that ends with a decision and an owner for each.