Planning to scale in 2025? Start now - you’re already late
Will you be adding quota carriers in 2025? As budget season takes over, sales leaders are deep in the endless cycle of budget iterations: how many new hires, how quickly, at what quota, and with what support? No matter how you’re answering these questions, if you expect to add even one rep, you need both a realistic plan and you must start executing now - even if the plan is not yet final. Here are three critical considerations that I’ve learned (the hard way).
Start hiring now. While obvious, internal processes are likely your biggest blocker. Get approvals for requisitions, secure budget for recruiting, and engage the internal talent team to publicize these roles. The talent you want is currently thinking about their 2025 plans, and the best time to connect with them is before they’ve mentally committed to next year’s plan in their current role.
Start building pipeline now. Depending on your sales cycle and demand, it may already be late to meet a 2025 target. Deploy SDRs and pipeline development resources now, and build a structure to manage pre-pipeline activities and early calls—leverage managers, player-coaches, or solution consultants. By seeding the pipeline early, new hires will have something tangible to work on from day one, which accelerates learning, onboarding, and time-to-quota.
Weigh pipeline production equally with hiring. Sales plans based solely on territory coverage work in stable markets with predictable buying cycles, where adding a headcount is proven to yield revenue. However, for most of the enterprise sales world, pipeline creation is critical - and not 100% predictable. 50% of the planning process should focus on this. Create a monthly pipeline model that tracks metrics at each stage—MQLs, SQLs, and conversion rates—and monitor progress closely to catch shortfalls early.
An example:
Be realistic with sales cycle math. If you’re selling a high-value solution ($100K+) with a 6-9 month cycle and aren’t displacing an existing budget, budget approvals alone can add 6-12 months. In this context, a rep starting fresh on January 1st in a cold territory will excel if they achieve 50% of their annual quota. Use historical data to anchor your plan, and resist pressure to follow arbitrary benchmarks or investor expectations that don’t align with your actual sales dynamics.
Make a realistic plan, and start hiring and pipeline product now. Your December (or July) 2025 self will thank you!
