SaaS AE metrics & data
The Bridge Group is a SaaS sales consulting firm that we hold in high regard. They release outstanding sales data which can be found at their site, bridgegroupinc.com. We recently reviewed their “SaaS AE Metrics & Compensation Report” which compiles data from 253 executives at SaaS companies with median revenue of $22mm and median ACV of $38k. It’s worth the read and below I summarize the findings.
33% of pipeline is from Marketing. This includes inbound SDR support but excludes outbound. If your ACV is $5k to $25k, the share from marketing ranges between 48% and 58%. The larger your ACV, the less of your pipeline will come from marketing, but it is still very significant (at a $250k+ ACV, 25% of pipeline is from marketing).
You need SDRs. 81% of companies use SDRs, even smaller ones. “The inflection point for SDR support is driven by ACV. Somewhere between $515K ACV companies move from we can’t afford SDRs to we can’t afford not to have them. Laggards are more than twice as likely to not deploy SDRs.”
Expansion doesn’t sit with the AE. Only 27% of companies rely on AE’s for expansion. CSM’s and account managers were used by 46% of companies. Everyone else did a blend. High growth companies are less likely to rely on AE’s for either expansion or renewal.
As you mature, you have distinct sales roles. “59% of companies support the customer lifecycle with at least three distinct sales roles — SDRs, AEs, and CSMs (AMs, Renewal Reps, etc.). When we remove companies under $5M in revenues, that number rises to 67%. Companies above $50M are 1.8X as likely to segment engage, land, and expand into 3+ distinct roles “
Your team needs software. Excluding the CRM, the median spend on other technologies for AE’s is $300 monthly. The median sales stack has a CRM plus 5 additional tools.
Remote is in. 37% of open roles are fully remote, 47% are a blend, and only 5% are in the office full-time.
AE’s are slightly less experienced. Average experience prior to hire is now 2.7 years. This is down from the typical average of 3.0 years. “Notably, fewer companies require 3+ years’ experience — down from 42% in 2020 to 32% in 2022.” Additionally, “Respondents with ACVs over $100K require nearly 1.7X more experience than those with ACVs below $25K.”
Ramp time is up. “Average ramp times sits at 5.3 months. This is a significant increase over 2020’s result of 4.3 months.”
Average tenure is 2.2 years. So after ramp, you have roughly 22 months of productive sales from a new hire. “This is down from 26 months in 2020’s report. Considering lower experience requirements — which correlate with shorter tenure — and an overall fall in average tenure, this isn’t surprising. Median time at productivity now sits at 22 months.” Median annual turnover is 32% whether voluntary or involuntary. Only 12% is involuntary turnover.
64 activities per day. On median there are 18 phone activities, 25 emails, 13 Linkedin actions, and 8 other.
Quotas and achievement. Median quota is $740k annual. 66% of AE’s achieve quota. “There has been remarkable consistency around this metric over the years. Two-thirds of reps achieving quota seems to be the natural equilibrium.”
Median earnings. On target median is $167k split 54/46 between base and commission. “Continuing a decade+ trend, median OTE rose to record highs in 2022. While quotas have increased at roughly 2% annually, OTEs have risen at more than 5% CAGR over that same period.” Regarding commissions, “at 100% of quota, the median commission rate is 10.3% of ACV.”
Teams are small. The median number of reps reporting to a leader is 7. Managers make $173k, Directors make $253k, VP of Sales make $296k on median.
