# Work out how many sales reps I need next year

A sales capacity model that shows how many reps to hire, when, and what the plan looks like after ramp and attrition.

- Topic: Business Strategy & Startups
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Sales, HR & Hiring, Finance, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/work-out-how-many-sales-reps-i-need-next-year

## Prompt

```text
Help me build a sales capacity model for next year.

**Revenue target:** [AMOUNT, split new business vs expansion if possible]
**Current team:** [number of reps by role/segment and their quota]
**Realistic productivity per ramped rep:** [average attainment % or actual bookings per rep]
**Ramp time:** [months to full productivity, and % productivity in each ramp month]
**Expected attrition:** [% per year, and time to backfill]
**Hiring constraints:** [budget, recruiting capacity per month, earliest start dates]
**Support ratios:** [e.g. SDRs per AE, SEs per AE, managers per rep]
**Non-rep revenue sources:** [e.g. partners, self-serve, renewals handled by CS]

Steps:
1. Calculate effective capacity of the current team, using actual productivity rather than quota.
2. Apply attrition and backfill delay to show capacity lost during the year.
3. Work out the hires needed and the hiring month for each, given ramp, so capacity covers the target.
4. Add supporting roles using the ratios.
5. Show a base case and a conservative case (lower productivity, slower hiring).

Return:
- A month-by-month table: Month | Ramped reps | Ramping reps | Effective capacity | Cumulative capacity vs target.
- The hiring plan by role and month.
- The key assumptions, ranked by how much they move the answer.
- What happens if hiring slips by one quarter.

Do not invent productivity or cost figures; mark gaps as [ADD]. Validate cost and headcount with finance before committing.
```

## What to fill in

- AMOUNT, split new business vs expansion if possible
- number of reps by role/segment and their quota
- average attainment % or actual bookings per rep
- budget, recruiting capacity per month, earliest start dates
- e.g. SDRs per AE, SEs per AE, managers per rep
- e.g. partners, self-serve, renewals handled by CS
- ADD

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.