Ramp time
Why it matters
Ramp time is the gap between paying a salary and seeing it earn its keep, so it decides how much cash a sales hire needs before it pays back. Underestimate it and the hire starts with the budget for two months of revenue, only for the first deal to land in month five. In B2B sales it depends mostly on how complex the product is and how long the sales cycle runs. A rep cannot ramp faster than one full cycle, because the first deals they start will not close until it has passed.
What it is
Ramp time is the gap between a rep's start date and the point they perform like an established member of the team. The usual marker is consistent quota attainment, though some businesses use the first closed deal or a set number of qualified meetings. Whichever marker is chosen, it needs writing down, because "fully ramped" means nothing until it is defined.
Common mistakes
- Judging a new rep against the full quota in the first quarter.
- Assuming a new hire sells like the founder did, when the founder had a network and product knowledge a new rep does not.
- Skipping onboarding because the team is busy, which lengthens ramp and costs more.
How to shorten it
- Work out your own sales cycle first. That sets the floor for ramp time.
- Budget the full salary through ramp, not just the months in which revenue is expected.
- Give new hires recorded calls, written answers to the common objections and a documented process, so they copy what works instead of inventing it.
- Set early milestones short of a closed deal, such as meetings booked or proposals sent, to tell a slow ramp from a stalled one.
- Review ramp time after every hire and feed the lessons back into onboarding.
