Revenue leaders are always looking for ways to speed up onboarding and reduce the time it takes for new sales reps to reach full productivity. But if you're only looking at ramp time in hindsight—once a rep is already struggling—you're missing your most powerful opportunity to course-correct early and protect pipeline before it's impacted.
This post walks through how to use ramp time data proactively to identify enablement gaps and act fast—before they snowball into missed quotas or team churn.
What Is Ramp Time, Really?
Ramp time is the period from when a new rep starts until they are fully productive—usually defined as hitting or exceeding quota consistently. In practice, most companies define this as 90 or 180 days, depending on deal cycle length and sales motion complexity.
But ramp time isn't just a backward-looking metric. It's a leading indicator of how well your onboarding and enablement programs are working.
Step 1: Instrument Key Ramp KPIs
Start by breaking down ramp time into key milestones. Examples:
- First activity completed (e.g. first cold call, demo, discovery)
- First opportunity created
- First deal closed
- Time to first $X closed-won
- Time to quota
Track each of these by rep cohort (e.g. all reps hired in Q1) and compare actual vs. expected timelines. If reps are routinely hitting their first demo late or taking longer to generate pipeline, that's a sign the front-end of your onboarding flow may need fixing.
Step 2: Look for Outliers and Patterns
Look for reps who fall far below average in one area (e.g. took 2x longer to generate their first deal) and identify commonalities: same onboarding cohort, same manager, same territory, same product segment?
Use dashboards or even a spreadsheet to compare ramp curves. If you see one cohort taking 40% longer to generate pipeline, zoom in to see if they had a new manager, skipped enablement sessions, or didn't complete the LMS content.
Step 3: Connect Lagging Ramp to Enablement Gaps
Now connect the data to your enablement programs. Ask:
- Did reps complete key enablement content or certifications?
- Were managers doing weekly deal reviews or call coaching?
- Did the reps have clear step-by-step SOPs to follow?
- Were they using the CRM and templates correctly?
For example, if reps who skipped the discovery role-play workshop are taking longer to build pipeline, that's a clear signal to reinforce discovery enablement earlier.
Step 4: Shorten Feedback Loops
Use tools like Wizardly to accelerate how quickly you can identify and close gaps. Instead of waiting 90 days to see who ramped, implement lightweight onboarding wizards that show which steps reps completed and where they dropped off.
For example, build a "How to run a discovery call" wizard with:
- Video walkthrough of the CRM process
- Checklist of questions to ask
- Interactive guide with step-by-step screen captures
Then track usage. If low performers skipped it or dropped off, that's your fix. Iterate the wizard to make it shorter, more engaging, or clearer—and then use analytics to validate the improvement.
Step 5: Act Before It Hurts Pipeline
If you wait until pipeline generation drops or reps miss quota, it's too late. Use ramp time metrics as an early warning system. When new reps are off track in their first 30 days, it's your opportunity to intervene.
That might mean:
- Assigning a buddy for peer coaching
- Creating a wizard for a specific blocker (e.g. quote creation)
- Running a live refresher workshop
Conclusion
Ramp time is more than a trailing performance metric—it's one of your most powerful enablement diagnostic tools. By instrumenting key milestones, identifying patterns, connecting gaps to behaviors, and reacting quickly, RevOps and Enablement leaders can cut ramp time and ensure every new rep hits the ground running.
Want help turning your onboarding process into repeatable, data-driven wizards? Check out Wizardly and start streamlining sales enablement today.
