How long should a sales rep ramp schedule be?

It depends on the role and deal complexity. SDRs typically ramp in 2-3 months, mid-market AEs in 3-4 months, and enterprise AEs in 5-7 months. Use your actual time-to-first-deal and time-to-full-productivity data rather than industry benchmarks.

Should ramping reps count toward the revenue plan?

Yes, but at their ramped capacity - not full quota. A rep at month 2 of a 4-month ramp should carry 50% quota. Excluding ramping reps entirely overstates your capacity gap, while counting them at 100% inflates your revenue forecast.

Optimizing Rep Ramp Schedules: Data-Backed Approaches

Most ramp schedules are invented in a conference room. Someone says “three months feels right,” leadership agrees, and that number gets baked into every headcount plan for the next three years. Meanwhile, actual data shows your enterprise reps take six months to hit full productivity and your SDRs ramp in eight weeks. The gap between assumed ramp and actual ramp silently wrecks your revenue forecast.

How to Measure Actual Ramp Time
Ramp Benchmarks by Role
Common Ramp Mistakes
Building a Data-Backed Ramp Model
Key Takeaways

How to Measure Actual Ramp Time¶

Forget the schedule you published in the onboarding deck. Measure what actually happens:

Time to first deal: How many days from start date to first closed-won opportunity?
Time to full productivity: When does a new rep’s monthly bookings consistently reach 80%+ of the team’s median?
Quota attainment by month: Track each cohort’s attainment percentage at month 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Pull this data for every rep hired in the last 24 months. Group by role type and segment.

Ramp Benchmarks by Role¶

Here is what the data typically reveals:

Role	Month 1	Month 2	Month 3	Month 4	Month 5	Month 6
SDR	30%	65%	90%	100%	-	-
MM AE	15%	35%	60%	85%	100%	-
Enterprise AE	0%	10%	25%	50%	75%	100%

These are attainment percentages against full quota, not activity metrics. Your numbers will differ - the point is to use your data, not a generic template.

Common Ramp Mistakes¶

Mistake 1: One-size-fits-all schedules. An SDR and an enterprise AE have fundamentally different ramp curves. Using the same 3-month ramp for both means you are either over-crediting the enterprise rep or under-crediting the SDR.

Mistake 2: Ignoring the sales cycle. If your average enterprise deal takes 120 days to close, a rep who starts in January cannot possibly close a full-cycle deal until May. Their ramp must account for deal velocity, not just onboarding completion.

Mistake 3: Treating ramp as binary. Many plans assign 0% quota during ramp and 100% after. This creates a cliff that pressures new reps to close deals before they are ready and inflates their first full-quota month.

A good ramp schedule is a gradient, not a switch. Graduated monthly targets give new reps achievable milestones and give you a more accurate capacity model.

Mistake 4: Never updating the schedule. If your ramp assumptions are two years old but your product, market, and sales process have changed, your ramp schedule is fiction. Recalculate every 6-12 months.

Building a Data-Backed Ramp Model¶

Export attainment data for all reps hired in the trailing 24 months
Group by role (SDR, MM AE, Enterprise AE) and segment
Calculate median attainment at each month post-hire
Smooth the curve to eliminate outlier months
Set each month’s ramp percentage to the median attainment value
Apply this schedule to all future hires in your capacity model

This approach grounds your headcount plan in reality. When the CFO asks why you need 4 more hires to hit the number, you can show exactly how ramp capacity is calculated.

Key Takeaways¶

Measure actual time-to-productivity, not assumed ramp timelines from onboarding plans
Segment ramp schedules by role type - SDRs, mid-market AEs, and enterprise AEs ramp at very different rates
Account for sales cycle length when setting early-month ramp percentages
Recalculate ramp assumptions every 6-12 months using fresh cohort data