Sales quota calculator: the demos it takes to hit your target

Every sales target comes down to three numbers: how many demos you hold, how many of them you win, and what each win is worth. This sales quota calculator puts those three side by side with your target, so you can see in seconds whether your current pace gets you there and, if it doesn't, exactly what has to change. If you want to measure your win rate properly first, our guide to proposal win rate shows how.

How the calculator works

• Deals a month = demos held a month × win rate.
• New ACV a month = deals a month × your average deal size.
• Demos needed = (target ÷ average deal size, rounded up) ÷ win rate.

Each way to close the gap moves one number and holds the others where they are. Real teams usually move a little of each.

A worked example

Take a made-up sales team at Tallyfox, a fictional scheduling-software company. They hold 20 demos a month, win 25% of them, and their average deal is $12,000 a year. Their target is $200,000 of new ACV this quarter.

At that pace they sign 5 deals a month, or 15 in the quarter: $180,000. That's 90% of the target and $20,000 short. To hit $200,000 they need 17 deals, which at a 25% win rate means 68 demos in the quarter: about 23 a month, or roughly 5 a week.

They could close the gap three ways:

• Hold 3 more demos a month.
• Lift the win rate from 25% to about 28%, about one more win in every 36 demos.
• Raise the average deal to about $13,300, for example by leading with your fuller package.

And with a 30-day sales cycle, any demo after day 61 of the quarter will most likely sign next quarter, so the extra demos need to happen in the first two months.

What good inputs look like

Use the last two or three quarters, not your best month. Count demos that actually happened, not ones that were booked. Take the average deal size from won deals only. And if your products sell very differently, run the calculator once per product: one blended number hides the slow one behind the fast one.

How to use the result

Start with the gap, not the target. "We need $200,000" is a wish. "We need 3 more demos a month, or a 28% win rate instead of 25%" is a plan someone can act on this week.

Pick the cheapest lever. More demos usually means more prospecting and more of your time. A few points of win rate often comes from what happens after the demo: a proposal the buyer's team can read without you, a business case for the person who signs, and a follow-up that lands while the deal is warm.

Plan demos early in the period. The calculator shows the last day of the quarter a demo can still sign in it. Everything after that day is building next quarter.

Turn it into a weekly number. A weekly demo count is easier to steer than a quarterly revenue target. Split it across your sellers and each person knows what this week needs.

Make every demo count

The quickest way to hit the same target with fewer demos is to win more of the ones you hold. AfterDemo turns each demo into one interactive proposal page, built from what the buyer said on the call, that their whole team can read, share and accept in one click. You see who's engaged and what to do next. See a live example, or start free for 30 days.

Questions people ask

How do I calculate how many demos I need to hit quota?+

Divide your target by your average deal size to get the deals you need, rounded up. Then divide those deals by your win rate. With a $200,000 quarterly target, $12,000 deals and a 25% win rate, that's 17 deals and 68 demos in the quarter, or about 23 a month.

What win rate should I use?+

Use deals won divided by demos held over the last two or three quarters, so one good or bad month doesn't skew it. Count only demos that actually happened. Keep the same definition every quarter, or your targets will move without anyone noticing.

What's ACV?+

Annual contract value: the value of one year of a contract. A $12,000-a-year deal signed for two years is $12,000 of ACV. Targets are usually set on ACV so deals of different lengths compare fairly.

Why does the sales cycle matter?+

Because a demo doesn't turn into revenue on the day it happens. If deals take 30 days to sign, demos held in the last month of a quarter mostly sign in the next quarter. Plan your demo volume early in the period.

Is this a sales forecast?+

It's a pace model: what your current demo volume and win rate produce if they hold. A forecast for this quarter would also count the deals already in progress. Use both: the forecast says where you'll land, and the pace model says what to change.