Methodology

How QuotaBird's numbers work

Name: QuotaBird quota-to-OTE working ranges
Creator: Mark Flournoy

Where every range and benchmark on QuotaBird comes from, how strong the evidence is, and when it was last checked.

Last reviewed November 2026. Maintained by Mark Flournoy.

Three kinds of numbers

Every number on QuotaBird is one of three kinds, and the site says which.

Published data. A figure from a named study with a sample and a date, such as Bridge Group's 2026 report on 158 B2B companies or RepVue's Cloud Sales Index. QuotaBird quotes these as reported and links the source.
Common rule of thumb. A planning convention practitioners widely use, such as 20 to 30% over-assignment or accelerators of 1.5 to 2×. These are useful defaults, not measured averages.
QuotaBird working range. A range derived from how comp plans are built and from plans Mark Flournoy has seen across cloud providers, SaaS companies and their partners. No public survey covers these, and QuotaBird says so rather than inventing one.

Quota-to-OTE working ranges

Quota Check divides quota by on-target earnings (OTE) and compares the multiple with the range for what the quota is measured on.

Verdict	Bookings (new ARR or ACV)	Run rate (consumption growth)	Whole book
Low	under 3×	under 8×	under 20×
Favorable	3 to 4×	8 to 15×	20 to 40×
Standard	4 to 6×	15 to 30×	40 to 80×
A stretch	6 to 8×	30 to 45×	80 to 120×
Aggressive	8 to 12×	45 to 60×	120 to 160×
Crazy	over 12×	over 60×	over 160×
Evidence	Working range built on published data	QuotaBird working range	QuotaBird working range

Where the bookings range comes from

Bridge Group's 2026 study of 158 B2B companies reports a median quota-to-OTE of 4.6×. Its 2024 study of more than 170 B2B SaaS companies reported a median of 4.2×, with the middle half of companies between 3.2× and 4.8×. QuotaPath describes about 5× as the standard it observes across SaaS plans. QuotaBird's standard band of 4 to 6× covers that published middle and leaves room for enterprise roles, which run higher.

Where the run-rate and whole-book ranges come from

One identity ties quota, pay and commission rate together: quota ÷ OTE equals the variable share of OTE divided by the commission rate at 100% attainment. It follows from the definition of a commission rate, so it holds for any plan.

With a 46% variable share, the 54:46 pay mix RepVue reports for AWS Account Managers:

Measured on	Typical rate on the number	Implied quota ÷ OTE
Bookings	about 8 to 12%	about 4 to 6×
Run rate (consumption growth)	about 1.5 to 3%	about 15 to 30×
Whole book	about 0.6 to 1.2%	about 40 to 80×

The bookings rates are published: summaries of Bridge Group's 2024 report put the median commission rate at 11.5%. The consumption and whole-book rates come from plans Mark has seen at cloud providers and their partners, not from a survey. Quota Check shows your own implied rate (variable ÷ quota), so you can compare your plan with these ranges directly.

Where the other numbers come from

Number	Kind	Source
48% of AEs hit quota in 2026 (51% in 2024, 66% in 2022)	Published data	Bridge Group, 2026 and 2024
$960K median AE quota, $200K median OTE, 4.6× quota to OTE	Published data	Bridge Group, 2026, 158 B2B companies
6.2 months for a new AE to ramp	Published data	Bridge Group, 2026
Attainment and pay for all, enterprise, federal and SLED AEs, and AWS and Microsoft roles	Published data, self-reported	RepVue, September 2026 snapshot
43.8% of sellers hit quota across 272 software companies	Published data	RepVue Cloud Sales Index, Q4 2025. It covers software sellers, not cloud-provider consumption sellers.
20 to 30% over-assignment	Common rule of thumb	Mostly Metrics and planning practice
1.5 to 2× accelerators above quota	Common rule of thumb	QuotaPath and comp plan guides
Coverage needed = 1 ÷ win rate	Arithmetic	No source needed
Discount bands (5, 15 and 25%)	QuotaBird working range	Practitioner experience across real deals

Two different numbers both get called attainment: the share of reps who reach 100% of quota, and the average share of quota reps reach. Bridge Group and RepVue report the first. QuotaBird labels which one it means.

How the tools calculate

Quota Check: quota ÷ (base + variable), judged against the range for what the quota is measured on. Implied rate = variable ÷ quota.
Quota Case: on a run-rate or whole-book number, the evidence is the current run rate plus new pipeline × win rate. On a bookings number, it is the stronger of last year's bookings (minus one-time deals, scaled by ramped headcount) and pipeline × win rate. The gap is the quota minus the evidence, and the new pipeline to close it is the gap ÷ win rate.
Pipeline Check: coverage needed = 1 ÷ win rate. A 20% win rate needs 5× coverage; 3× assumes a win rate of about 33%.
Discount Check: commission lost = list price × discount × your rate. Margin after the discount = 1 minus cost ÷ discounted price, because cost doesn't fall with the price.
Pay Check: variable paid = variable × attainment up to where the accelerator starts, plus variable × each point past it × the accelerator rate, limited by any cap, and zero below any threshold. Total pay = base + variable paid.
Offer Check: a normal year = base + variable × the attainment you enter. Year one also counts the ramp: during ramp months you earn the guarantee if there is one, and otherwise half your normal attainment, an assumption the page states.
Commission Check: your credit = deal × your share of the credit × any product multiplier. Commission = credit × your rate, minus the withholding percentage you enter. A planning estimate, not tax advice.
Commit Check: projected spend = spent so far + current monthly spend × months left. The monthly spend needed = (commit minus spent so far) ÷ months left.
The question checks (Deal, Rep, Territory, Account, Competition, Risk, Partner, Talent Review, Brief and Comp Plan) weight five yes, sort of or no answers into a score. They are structured judgment, not statistics.

What QuotaBird doesn't model

Crediting rules, marketplace fees, co-sell quota retirement and multi-year crediting differ by company and change often, so QuotaBird doesn't guess at them. Check your own plan document.

Updates and corrections

Published figures are rechecked when Bridge Group releases a new report and each quarter for RepVue. If a number looks wrong, or your plan sits well outside a working range, tell Mark. The ranges change when the evidence does.