Jason M. LemkinCEO, SaaStr · Co-Founder of SaaStr AI, SaaStr Fund, Adobe Sign

The Myth of Owning a Full Quota while Managing 8 Sales Reps

2 May 2024 · 1 min

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Jason M. Lemkin argues that a sales leader cannot realistically own a full quota while managing eight sales reps. He recommends that most VPs of Sales (about 80–90%) should personally close deals when they start—typically for a quarter or two—then transition to assisting and joining deals with their team. The claim is grounded in practical limits on capacity and the need for early hands-on selling unless the leader already deeply knows the product or customer base.

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That doesn't work. You can't. Even in this day of side hustles and multi hustles and everyone running a real estate business on the side and courses on the side as a sales leader, you cannot own a full quota and manage eight reps. It's not possible. If you can't afford it, you can't afford it. So what I said years ago was, look, whether they should they hold a quota when they start or not. Sometimes, yes, but it can't last forever, right? And that is true today. But people somewhat misconstrued that to think it doesn't matter if they ever hold the bag. What I have learned is if they already know the product, if they're already a customer, if they've already sold it, sure, they could just be a manager. But I think 80% of VPs of sales today should close when they start. 80 to 90%. They got to close now. Ideally it's just a quarter or two and then they assist deals, they join deals with their team.