The Bridge Group puts together an annual survey of software sales teams. The 2024 survey includes data from 172 B2B SaaS companies with median ARR of $42mm and median ACV of $47k. The report is well worth the read and available at their site (bridgegroupinc.com). Below we summarize some of the parts we found most insightful.
40% of AE’s pipeline is from marketing. This includes inbound SDR support and excludes outbound sales development efforts. That means the other 60% needs to be filled by outbound efforts of the AE and SDRs. Additionally, the survey found as ARR and ACV grows, marketing contributes a smaller fraction of pipeline. Note that the survey from 2022 reported 33% of pipeline was sourced from marketing, so the new figure of 40% is a material step up.
68% of AE’s are supported by an SDR team. Higher growth companies tend to have an even higher percentage of SDR’s supporting their AE’s; excluding companies below $5mm in revenue, the percentage of co’s supported by SDR’s rose to 74%.
Specialization of the sales effort. 59% of companies had specialized roles for SDRs, AEs, and CSMs. High-growth companies were more likely to “triple specialize” than laggards. However the use of “account managers” that own the renewal and the upsell is rising.
At hiring, the average AE has 3.6 years of experience and needs 5.3 months to ramp. Note that in 2022 those figures were 2.7 years and 5.7 months.
Tenure is only 2.8 years, but in 2022 it was 2.2 years. So after the 5.3 months of ramp, you get 28.3 months of quality production out of good reps. This is up from 26 months in the 2020’s reports.
Attrition. Median annual turnover sits at 30% split between 19% involuntary turnover and 11% voluntary turnover (aka quits). In 2022, the survey showed median annual turnover at 32% split between 12% involuntary turnover and 20% voluntary turnover.” Super interesting that the reason for turnover has flipped.
AEs average 17 dials and 23 emails per day. In 2022 the figures were 18 and 25. Win rates have declined to 19%, versus 23% in 2022.
Quota achievement is 51%. In 2022 this figure was a much higher 66%. Further, “we found the highest share of respondents with “<50%” of reps at quota in the history of this project.” Quotas are now $800k on median, up from $740k in 2022.
Quota to earnings is 4.2x. Median annual ACV quota is now $800K. Median on-target earnings are $190K with a 53:47 (base:variable) split. Continuing a decade+ trend, median OTE rose to a record. While quotas have increased at roughly 2% annually, OTEs have risen at more than 5% CAGR over that same period. At 100% of quota, the median commission rate is 11.5% of ACV. In 2022 it was 10.3%. So overall, reps are getting less productive but earning more. It’s good to be a rep.
Managers. Generally the median number of AEs reporting to a single first-line leader is ~7. Manager comp is $198k on median. VP comp is $331k.
The report is full of a lot more data and insights than presented in this blog. Their website is https://www.bridgegroupinc.com/ if you want to download the report directly. It’s the best sales we’ve found and it’s updated annually.
Thank you for the readership. Visit us at blossomstreetventures.com and email me directly at sammy@blossomstreetventures.com.