E29: Building Sales Capacity: Bonfire VC’s Brett Queener on the Ratios Salesforce Used

In this episode, Bonfire VC partner Brett Queener, who was also the first sales ops and sales strategy person at Salesforce, shares insights on staffing ratios and building sales capacity. Brett unleashes his wisdom on driving alignment and setting sales quotas, forecasting revenue for new products, targeting existing customers vs. net new, the importance of sales enablement, expanding product offerings and TAM, the risks of predicting revenue for new products, long-term forecasting and investment, and avoiding an identity crisis. Supercharge financial operations with Maxio. Request a demo at www.maxio.com/runthenumbers for 10% off your first year. --- PSA: Run The Numbers has a new Spotify and Apple show link. Follow the links to subscribe and ensure you'll never miss an episode Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run-the-numbers/id1723787140 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0zQCkklNnVgMD364kCW5SV --- SPONSORS: Maxio | Tropic | Thoropass Maxio is the only billing and financial operations platform that was purpose built for B2B SaaS. They're helping SaaS finance teams automate billing and revenue recognition, manage collections and payments, and put together investor grade reporting packages. 🚀 Request a demo at www.maxio.com/runthenumbers for 10% off your first year. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how. Thoropass provides complete compliance management, continuous monitoring, and security audits through intuitive software and expert guidance – allowing you to do business with confidence. Learn more: https://bit.ly/Thoropass 🔒 --- LINKS: Brett's resources and templates for founders, strategy, and CFOs: https://www.bonfirevc.com/fuel --- FOLLOW US ON X: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @bqueener (Brett) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 00:19 Sales Strategy and Capacity Planning at Salesforce 01:28 The Shift to Salesforce and the SAS Model 02:34 Building Your Own Army: Salesforce's Growth Strategy 02:50 Staffing Ratios and Sales Capacity 03:57 Efficient Spending in Business 04:27 The Role of High Quality Developers and Account Executives 05:04 The Impact of Overfunding and Changing Goalposts 05:09 Understanding Business Economics and Balancing Growth 05:48 Staffing Ratios in Sales Organizations 07:07 The Role of Salespeople in Business Growth 08:06 Understanding Business Segments and Hiring Perspectives 08:42 The Role of Marketing in Different Business Segments 09:32 The Importance of Understanding Your Business and Its Segments 11:47 The Role of Sales Capacity in Business Growth 13:55 Forecasting in Business 15:28 The Role of Sales Rep Compensation in Business 18:52 Sponsor: Maxio | Tropic 20:12 The Role of Procurement in Business 21:15 Understanding the Ratio of Quota to OTE 25:21 The Importance of Growing Your Reps to Outrun Your Expenses 27:09 Understanding the Impact of Attrition in Business 30:19 Sponsor Break: Thoropass 30:52 Introducing a New Way of Doing InfoSec Audits 31:41 Exploring the Technical Side of the Business 32:26 Understanding the Importance of Developers and Salespeople 34:45 The Role of Product Management in a Tech Company 37:38 The Importance of a Strong Product Leader 41:41 Challenges of Launching New Products 49:16 Importance of Long-Term Forecasting 55:41 Understanding the Identity and Potential of Your Company 57:42 Wrap This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at [email protected].