As we enter the fall of 2009, we’re beginning to see signs of economic recovery, which, though small, are clear indications that the recession is lifting.  Companies in the United States will respond in different ways to these signs. Some will be proactive, and start to hire sales people before they actually see revenue growth; others will be reactive – waiting until they see very specific revenue growth numbers on their bottom lines.

The companies that are proactive (especially software and technology companies) will achieve some crucial advantages over their reactive counterparts. First, as we all know, the sales cycle in software/technology tends to be 6 – 9 months, so if a company is looking for revenue growth from a new sales staff in 2010, they need to hire by the summer or fall of 2009.

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Second, for many smaller or mid-sized companies it is very difficult to attract “A level” or “superstar” sales personnel.  In a recession it may be a bit easier, but there is a limited supply of these top performers, and the window on their availability will be very short.

Two things happen to the reactive companies: They miss much of the economic recovery and quickly fall behind their competitors; and when they do start the hiring process, they discover that a lot of the “A level” talent is already engaged in making money for other companies.

Last month we reposted the largest 15 markets in the country to sell software and technology (determined by the number of Fortune 1000 companies in each market). So for those companies that are taking advantage of the economic recovery, these are the typical number of enterprise sales reps we see in various sized companies. Keep in mind this excludes inside, business development and channel reps.

(1)  0 – 25 million, 3- 7 reps

(2)  25- 50 million, 7-10 reps

(3)  50-200 million, 10 -15 reps

(4)  200-500 million 15-25 reps

(5)  Billion +             25- 100 reps