What's the shape of rep performance against quota?
№ 148 · Quota attainment distribution
Definition
MetricShare of reps at or above 100% of quota, and the shape of attainment across the team
Unit% of reps at or above quota, plus distribution shape across attainment bands
Histogram of percent-to-quota across the team. Spread reveals plan quality; clusters above 100% suggest sandbagged quotas; left-skewed means too aggressive. Healthy is bell curve around 100%. Example: 32% over 100%, 24% at 80-100%, 28% at 50-80%, 16% below 50%.
Benchmarks
| Bottom 30% | Median | Top 30% |
|---|---|---|
| 30% or fewer of reps at or above quota | 45% to 50% of reps at or above quota | 65% or more of reps at or above quota |
B2B SaaS and B2B AI, quota-carrying AEs, North America weighted, 2024 to 2026 data. Measured as the share of reps reaching 100% of quota, not as average percentage of quota attained. · Two different metrics are commonly reported with similar-looking numbers and they must not be conflated. Share of reps at quota is what this card measures: Bridge Group 2026 reports 48%, RepVue reports about 42% of US AEs and 41% of enterprise AEs. Average attainment as a percentage of quota is a different figure: RepVue's Q2 2025 Cloud Sales Index reports 42.69% average attainment across roughly 47,000 reps. The two happening to land near 42% is coincidence, not agreement. Ebsta sits well below both at 22% of sellers hitting quota, which reflects a pipeline-derived dataset rather than a survey of revenue leaders, and ICONIQ's 2025 figure of 58% for enterprise AEs sits well above, reflecting a venture-backed sample. The honest read is a range of roughly 22% to 58% depending on sample and definition, with survey-based medians clustering in the mid-forties. Bridge Group 2026 also notes the distribution shape is deteriorating: fewer companies in the 50% to 90% range and more in the 0% to 30% band.
| Category | Bottom 30% | Median | Top 30% |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDR | 45% | 60% | 75% |
| SMB and mid-market AE | 30% | 42% | 58% |
| Enterprise AE | 28% | 41% | 55% |
| Public sector AE (Federal and SLED) | 33% | 45% to 46% | 60% |
When it looks bad
The distribution is bimodal with a cluster above 100% and a heavy cluster below 40% and almost nothing in between, so the number is being carried by a few reps while the rest are structurally short rather than temporarily behind.
Fourteen reps: three above 120%, two between 60% and 99%, and nine below 40% attainment.
What to do about it
- Separate the ramp problem from the fit problem in the bottom cluster before acting. With average ramp at 6.2 months per Bridge Group 2026, any rep under seven months tenure belongs in a different chart, and most organisations conflate the two groups and then mismanage both.
- Rebuild quota bottom up from current segment win rate and cycle length. Win rates fell to 19% from 29% in Ebsta's 2025 dataset and cycles lengthened, so a quota built on a 2021 conversion baseline books permanent under-attainment into the plan before the year starts.
- Read the shape, not just the percentage. A team where the top 20% is well above 100% and the middle sits at 50% to 60% has a coaching gap. A team where even the top 20% is at 80% has a pipeline or quota-setting problem that no amount of coaching will close.
- Raise AI workflow adoption across the team rather than in pockets. Bridge Group 2026 found organisations in the top AI engagement tercile reported 57% of reps at quota against 39% in the bottom tercile. This is observational data with self-selection acknowledged by the authors, so treat it as directional rather than causal.
Sources
- The Bridge Group 48% of reps at quota, down from 51% in 2024. Median AE OTE $200K. Median AE quota $960K at 4.6x quota-to-OTE. Average ramp 6.2 months, highest in study history. Required experience at hire 3.7 years, up from 2.7 in 2022. SaaS median quota $875K. bridgegroupinc.com ↗
- RepVue Median AE OTE $200,000. Top performers earn $502,796 or more. About 42% of AEs reach or exceed annual quota. repvue.com ↗
- RepVue Median Enterprise AE base $140,000 and OTE $280,000, a 50:50 design. Top performers $673,749 or more. About 41% of Enterprise AEs reach or exceed annual quota. repvue.com ↗
- RepVue Cloud Sales Index (reported via QuotaPath) Average quota attainment 42.69% in Q2 2025, meaning 57.31% of reps missed target. quotapath.com ↗
- RepVue Individual contributor quota attainment clusters between roughly 40% and 58%, rising with seniority. Moving from SMB to mid-market to enterprise roughly doubles OTE while the share of reps hitting quota falls at every step. Federal and SLED AEs carry the highest attainment across all AE types at 46% and 45%. repvue.com ↗
- Ebsta and Pavilion Average win rate 19%, down from 29% the prior year. 78% of sellers missed quota, up from 69%. Top performers close 11x faster than bottom performers, up from 8.9x in 2024 and 4x in 2022. Top 14% of sellers generate 80% of revenue. Engaging 6 or more stakeholders early moves win rate from 12% to above 40%. Channel velocity: partner and referral 1.3x, organic 1.2x, outbound 1.05x, events 0.78x, paid 0.68x. Expansion is 52% of new revenue. 46% of SaaS and tech companies moving to full-cycle sales. joinpavilion.com ↗
- Ebsta (PR Newswire release) 78% of sellers missed quota in 2025 versus 69% in 2024. Deal values up 54% year over year. Top-to-bottom seller velocity gap widened to 11x from 8.9x. prnewswire.com ↗
- Everstage Reports ICONIQ Growth State of Go-to-Market 2025 showing 58% attainment among enterprise AEs year to date, and Salesforce State of Sales 2024 showing 67% of reps not expecting to hit quota with 84% having missed the prior year. everstage.com ↗
- The Bridge Group 60% of SDRs at quota, lowest on record. Median SDR OTE $80K at 68:32 base to variable. Pipeline per SDR $3.78M, with 50% of respondents between $1.9M and $6.4M. Monthly held-meeting quota median 10 at Stage 0 and 6 converted at Stage 1. Ramp 3.0 months. Attrition 40% median, 21% to 57% interquartile. 4.1 quality conversations per day on 112 total daily activities. bridgegroupinc.com ↗
- SaaStr Suggests $500K to $1M ARR per sales rep at scale, ramp of 3-6 months at $20K-$80K ACV and about 60 days below $10K, 70-80% of reps hitting quota as healthy, pipeline coverage of 3x to 4x, and win rates of 20-30%. saastr.com ↗