Use CaseSales Capacity Planning

Know what your sales team can actually deliver

Build capacity plans based on real productivity, ramp times, hiring plans and performance, not just headcount and quota. Connect bottom-up capacity with top-down revenue targets to see whether you have the resources to hit the number, identify gaps early and determine the best path forward.

See Lative in action How it works

Capacity plan · FY27Mid-Market AEs vs revenue target

Live model

Revenue target$57.0M

Productive capacity$53.6M

Capacity gap−$3.4M

−$1.4M

−$2.1M

Q1Q2Q3Q4

Ramped reps Ramping reps Planned hires Target

Scenario · Pull 4 AE hires forward to May Q4 gap −$2.1M → −$0.6M

The ProblemHeadcount isn’t capacity

Your headcount plan isn’t your sales capacity plan

Having enough reps on paper doesn’t mean you have enough capacity to hit your revenue target.

What changes the maths

Productivity varies across teams
New hires take time to ramp
Hiring gets delayed
People leave
Performance changes throughout the year

Yet sales capacity planning is often built around static assumptions about headcount and quota.

Lative gives you a live view of the productive capacity of your sales organisation, so you can understand what your team can realistically deliver and what needs to change to achieve the plan.

What You Can AnswerSound familiar?

Answer the questions behind your capacity plan

Bring your data and planning assumptions together in one live model.

Do we have enough sales capacity to hit our revenue target?
Where are we over or under resourced?
How many reps do we actually need, and when?
Should we add headcount or improve productivity?
When will new hires start contributing meaningful capacity?
How does attrition affect our ability to deliver the plan?
What happens if hiring is delayed or ramp takes longer than expected?
What’s the most efficient way to close a capacity gap?

How It WorksCapacity Planning

Build capacity around how your team actually performs

Understand your true productive capacity

Move beyond quota capacity and understand what your sales organisation can realistically produce. Use historical and current performance to establish productivity baselines across teams, roles, segments and regions.

The outcomeAdapt as the business changesContinuously update capacity assumptions as hiring, attrition, ramp and productivity change.

Model hiring, ramp and headcount against plan

See when planned headcount will actually translate into productive capacity. Factor in hiring dates, ramp curves, attrition and productivity assumptions, then track headcount growth and ramping progress against plan as the year unfolds.

The outcomePlan hiring with confidenceUnderstand how much capacity you need, when you need it and when new hires need to be in seat to deliver it.

Identify capacity gaps before they become revenue gaps

Connect bottom-up capacity with top-down revenue targets to immediately see where your plan is over or under capacity, and how big the gap is.

The outcomeSpot risk earlierIdentify capacity shortfalls while there’s still time to respond, rather than discovering them when revenue starts to miss plan.

Test scenarios before committing resources

Run what-if simulations to compare hiring more reps, accelerating hiring, improving productivity or reallocating resources. Model the impact of strategic initiatives too, such as new product launches, technology investments or pricing changes.

The outcomeAvoid unnecessary headcountKnow when hiring is genuinely required, and when improving productivity or reallocating resources could close the gap more efficiently.

The ModelFrom target to plan

Turn your revenue target into an executable capacity plan

01Revenue target
02Productivity baseline
03Capacity plan
04Scenarios
05Execution

How it’s built

Start with the revenue target and establish what your existing organisation can realistically deliver. Model the additional capacity required, and test different ways of getting there.

How it stays current

As hiring, productivity or business conditions change, update the model and understand the impact immediately, rather than waiting for the next planning cycle.

Build a capacity plan you can actually execute

Connect revenue targets, headcount, productivity, ramp and hiring assumptions in one continuously updated model, and know what needs to change to stay on plan.

See Lative in action