Ramp Curves

Definition

A Ramp Curve is a model that describes how a new sales hire's productivity increases over time, from 0% on day one to 100% (fully ramped) after several months of onboarding and experience.

Why Ramp Curves Matter

New hires don't produce at full capacity immediately. They need time to:

• Learn products, pricing, positioning
• Understand customer personas and pain points
• Build pipeline (prospecting takes time)
• Develop sales skills and objection handling
• Learn internal systems and processes

Without accounting for ramp:

• Revenue forecasts are overstated
• Quota targets are unrealistic
• Capacity planning fails

With ramp curves:

• Accurate capacity forecasting
• Realistic quota assignment
• Better hiring decisions

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Standard Ramp Curve

The most common ramp schedule for B2B Account Executives:

Month	Ramp %	What's Happening
Month 1	0%	Training, shadowing, learning products
Month 2	25%	First deals, light prospecting, building pipeline
Month 3	50%	Active selling, half quota assignment
Month 4	75%	Near-full quota, pipeline maturing
Month 5+	100%	Fully ramped, full quota

Time to full productivity: 5 months

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Ramp Curves by Role

Different roles have different ramp speeds:

SDR/BDR (Fast Ramp)

Month	Ramp %	Rationale
1	0%	Training, scripts, tools
2	50%	Simpler motion, faster ramp
3	75%	Pipeline building
4+	100%	Fully ramped

Time to 100%: 3-4 months

Why faster?

• Simpler sale (discovery, qualification)
• Scripted outreach
• Less product complexity
• Shorter sales cycles

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Mid-Market AE (Standard Ramp)

Month	Ramp %	Rationale
1	0%	Training, product learning
2	25%	First deals
3	50%	Half quota
4	75%	Near-full quota
5+	100%	Fully ramped

Time to 100%: 5 months

Why standard?

• Moderate complexity
• 30-60 day sales cycles
• Territory learning required
• Multi-stakeholder sales

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Enterprise AE (Slow Ramp)

Month	Ramp %	Rationale
1-2	0%	Training, enterprise process learning
3	15%	Shadowing senior AEs
4	30%	First enterprise deals (long cycles)
5	45%	Building strategic relationships
6	60%	Pipeline maturation
7	75%	First major closes
8	85%	Near-full productivity
9+	100%	Fully ramped

Time to 100%: 9 months

Why slower?

• Complex technical sales
• 6-12 month sales cycles
• Strategic account planning
• C-level relationship building
• Requires deep product/industry expertise

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Sales Manager (Very Slow Ramp)

Month	Ramp %	Rationale
1-3	0%	Team building, relationship building
4-6	25%	Coaching systems, pipeline review
7-9	50%	Team performance improving
10-12	75%	Full team productivity
13+	100%	Fully ramped team

Time to 100%: 12+ months

Why slowest?

• Managing people, not selling
• Team performance lags individual ramp
• Culture and process changes take time
• Inherited pipeline and team issues

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How to Build Your Own Ramp Curve

Step 1: Gather Historical Data

For the last 12-24 months of hires, track:

• Hire date
• First deal close date
• Monthly quota attainment % (Months 1-12)

Step 2: Calculate Average Attainment by Tenure

Month 1 Avg: Σ (All Month 1 attainments) / # of hires
Month 2 Avg: Σ (All Month 2 attainments) / # of hires
...
Month 12 Avg: Σ (All Month 12 attainments) / # of hires

Example data:

Tenure	Hire 1	Hire 2	Hire 3	Hire 4	Average	Ramp %
Month 1	0%	0%	5%	0%	1.25%	0%
Month 2	15%	20%	30%	25%	22.5%	25%
Month 3	45%	50%	55%	48%	49.5%	50%
Month 4	70%	75%	80%	72%	74.25%	75%
Month 5	95%	100%	105%	98%	99.5%	100%

Step 3: Smooth the Curve

Real data is noisy. Round to standard increments:

• 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% (most common)
• Or: 0%, 15%, 30%, 45%, 60%, 75%, 90%, 100% (more granular)

Step 4: Validate with Managers

Ask sales managers:

• "Does this match your experience?"
• "Are there seasonal differences?" (Q1 vs Q4 ramps)
• "Do onboarding improvements change ramp speed?"

Step 5: Codify and Communicate

Document the official ramp curve for each role:

• Use in capacity planning models
• Share with new hires (set expectations)
• Track actuals vs curve (identify at-risk hires)

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Using Ramp Curves in Capacity Planning

Example: Hiring 3 AEs in Q1

Scenario:

• 3 AEs hired, all starting Month 1 of Q1
• Annual quota: $1.2M per rep
• Ramp curve: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%

Quarterly capacity contribution:

Q1 (Months 1-3):
  Month 1: 3 reps × $100K × 0% = $0
  Month 2: 3 reps × $100K × 25% = $75K
  Month 3: 3 reps × $100K × 50% = $150K
  Q1 Total: $225K

Q2 (Months 4-6):
  Month 4: 3 reps × $100K × 75% = $225K
  Month 5-6: 3 reps × $100K × 100% × 2 = $600K
  Q2 Total: $825K

Q3-Q4 (Fully ramped):
  Each quarter: 3 reps × $300K = $900K

Key insight: 3 hires in Q1 only contribute $225K in Q1, but $900K per quarter once fully ramped.

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Variations in Ramp Speed

Factors That Accelerate Ramp

1. Better Onboarding
   • Structured training programs
   • Manager shadowing
   • Deal mentorship
   • Warm territory handoffs

Impact: Cut 5-month ramp to 4 months

2. Experienced Hires
   • Industry veterans
   • Competitive hires
   • Former customers/partners

Impact: Cut 5-month ramp to 3 months

3. Simpler Products
   • Fewer SKUs
   • Shorter sales cycles
   • Less technical complexity

Impact: Cut 5-month ramp to 3-4 months

4. Strong Enablement
   • Pre-built playbooks
   • Battle cards
   • Demo environments
   • CRM setup

Impact: Cut 5-month ramp to 4 months

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Factors That Slow Ramp

1. Poor Onboarding
   • "Figure it out yourself" culture
   • No structured training
   • Overwhelmed managers

Impact: 5-month ramp becomes 7-8 months

2. Inexperienced Hires
   • First sales job
   • Career changers
   • Wrong background

Impact: 5-month ramp becomes 8-12 months (or never)

3. Complex Products
   • Technical/enterprise sales
   • Multi-product portfolios
   • Custom implementations

Impact: 5-month ramp becomes 9-12 months

4. Weak Pipeline Inheritance
   • No territory handoff
   • Cold accounts
   • Competitive losses

Impact: 5-month ramp becomes 7-9 months

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Monitoring Ramp Performance

Individual Rep Tracking

Red Flags:

Month	Expected Ramp	Red Flag Threshold
2	25%	< 10% attainment
3	50%	< 30% attainment
4	75%	< 50% attainment
5	100%	< 75% attainment

Action: If rep is >25 percentage points below curve, intervene:

• Manager coaching
• Additional training
• Peer mentorship
• Performance improvement plan (if severe)

Cohort Analysis

Track ramp performance by hire cohort:

Example:

Cohort	Avg Month 3 Ramp	Avg Month 5 Ramp	Full Ramp Time
Q1 2024	45%	95%	5 months ✓
Q2 2024	48%	98%	5 months ✓
Q3 2024	35%	78%	7 months ⚠️
Q4 2024	30%	70%	8+ months ❌

Insight: Q3/Q4 cohorts are ramping slower. Investigate:

• Did onboarding quality degrade?
• Seasonal hiring challenges?
• Wrong profiles hired?

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Best Practices

1. Use Ramp Curves in Quota Setting

Don't:

"You're hired March 1. Your annual quota is $1.2M."

Do:

"You're hired March 1. Your Q1 quota is $75K (partial ramp), Q2 is $225K, Q3+ is $300K."

2. Update Curves Annually

Ramp speed changes over time:

• Product complexity changes
• Onboarding improves (or degrades)
• Market conditions shift

Review annually: Does the curve still match reality?

3. Segment by Role

Don't use one ramp curve for SDRs and Enterprise AEs. Build role-specific curves.

4. Account for Seasonality

Q4 hires may ramp slower (holidays, year-end chaos). Q1 hires may ramp faster (fresh budgets, kick-off energy).

5. Communicate Expectations

Share ramp curve with new hires:

"Month 1-2 is learning. You'll carry 50% quota starting Month 3, full quota by Month 5."

Sets realistic expectations, reduces anxiety.

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Common Pitfalls

1. Assuming Instant Productivity

Mistake: "We hired 10 reps in Q1, so we have 10 RRE of capacity in Q1."

Reality: Those 10 reps contribute ~2.5 RRE in Q1 (25% avg ramp).

2. Using Headcount Instead of Capacity

Mistake: "We're at headcount target, so we're good."

Reality: If 40% of team is ramping, you're well below capacity target.

3. Not Updating the Curve

Mistake: Using a 2020 ramp curve in 2025 without validation.

Reality: Your product, onboarding, and market have changed.

4. Ignoring Outliers

Mistake: One rockstar ramped in 2 months, so all reps should.

Reality: Plan for the average, not the exception.

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Related Terms

• Headcount vs Capacity - Why ramp matters
• RRE - Measuring capacity with ramp
• Capacity Planning - Using ramp in forecasts
• Recovery Lag - Ramp is part of recovery time
• Backfill Planning - Ramp schedules for backfills

References

• Standard practice in B2B sales capacity planning
• Ramp curves also called: Onboarding curves, productivity curves, time-to-full-productivity
• Typical ramp times: SDR (3mo), AE (5mo), Enterprise AE (9mo), Manager (12mo)