Teams and quotas

A forecast without a quota is just a total. Teams and quotas are what turn pipeline into a question you can answer: are we on track, and who is not?

Teams also do a second job — they are the unit that territories and performance reporting hang off.

Who this is for

Sales managers and admins responsible for structure and targets.

Before you start

• Permission to manage teams and quotas.
• Your people already invited to the workspace.
• Agreed targets — this reflects a decision, it does not make one.

Set quotas you will actually review
A quota nobody looks at is worse than none, because it makes the attainment figure misleading for everyone reading the forecast. Set targets for the period you genuinely review on, and update them when the plan changes rather than leaving last quarter's number in place.

Set it up

1. Create your teams
   Group people the way you actually manage them. If you never look at a grouping, it does not need to exist.
2. Assign a manager
   A team with a manager is one someone is accountable for. It also decides who sees the team's performance.
3. Set quotas
   Assign targets against the people or teams carrying them, for the period you review on.
4. Read attainment against the forecast
   The weighted forecast shows quota attainment alongside it, so the pipeline number is read against the target rather than in isolation.
5. Revisit each period
   Roll quotas forward deliberately. Stale targets quietly corrupt every attainment number that follows.

What you get

• A structure that matches how you actually manage the team.
• Forecast numbers read against a target rather than in a vacuum.
• A clear owner for each team's performance.
• A basis for territories, which route work by the same structure.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need teams if we are small?

Not really. Teams earn their place when you have enough people that you manage groups rather than individuals, or when you want territories.

Can one person be in more than one team?

Model it the way you manage. If someone genuinely reports into two groupings, reflect that; if not, keep it simple.

What happens to quota history when I change a target?

Update targets when the plan changes rather than leaving old numbers in place — attainment is only meaningful against the target that actually applied.

How do teams relate to territories?

Territories route leads, companies and deals to the right group. Teams are the structure that routing points at.