A 30-60-90 day plan for sales is a one-page plan that splits a new hire's first three months into three phases: learn in the first 30 days, practice and sell in the next 30, and own a full pipeline in the last 30. Each phase has goals, activities and a number to check.
This guide gives you the template, the table for each phase, filled-in versions for an SDR and an account executive, and a way to measure ramp every week with a call score. It works for the manager writing the plan for a new hire, and for the new hire writing their own. The plan is one piece of sales onboarding. For the goals inside it, see our guide to SMART goals for sales.
What should a 30-60-90 day plan for sales include?
A good plan has three parts in every phase: a goal, the activities that get the person there and a metric that shows whether it happened. The goal changes from phase to phase. In the first 30 days it is learning, in the next 30 it is selling with help, and in the last 30 it is selling alone.
Days 1 to 30: learn
Product, buyers, the sales method and the tools. Shadow calls before taking them.
Days 31 to 60: practice
Run real calls with a coach listening and feedback after each one.
Days 61 to 90: own
Build and work a full pipeline with weekly numbers against target.
Here is the plan as a table, with the goal, the activities and the metric for each phase. The numbers are examples for a B2B software team. Replace them with what your own last three hires reached.
| Phase | Goal | Activities | Metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Know the product, the buyer and the method | Product training, 10 shadowed calls, 3 role plays, read 5 recorded wins and 5 recorded losses | Passes the product quiz and scores 60 or more on a role play by day 30 |
| Days 31 to 60 | Run calls alone and get feedback on every one | 10 live calls a week, one reviewed call a week with the manager, one role play a week | Call score on the team scorecard rises each week and reaches 70 by day 60 |
| Days 61 to 90 | Own a pipeline and make it move | Full prospecting and meeting schedule, own deals through to the next step, weekly forecast | Pipeline created at the agreed pace and a call score of 75 or more |
Three details make the table work. First, every activity is something the person controls, such as calls run and role plays done. Second, each phase ends with a check that the manager and the new hire agree on in advance. Third, the plan has an owner on each side: the manager owns the training and the feedback, and the new hire owns the practice.
What changes in a plan for a new hire versus a new manager?
The three phases stay the same, but the audience changes the activities. A new salesperson spends the first month learning to sell your product. A new sales manager spends it learning the team: listening to calls, meeting every person and reading the pipeline before changing anything. In both cases, the second phase is where the new person starts to act, and the third is where results show. The manager version has its own table in our 30-60-90 day plan for a sales manager.
What does a 30-60-90 day plan look like for an SDR?
An SDR's plan centers on activity and call quality, because pipeline comes from the volume and skill of the first conversations. Here is a filled-in version for an SDR at Corvane, a fictional software company that sells to heads of sales.
| Phase | Goals | Activities | Metric to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Explain what Corvane does in two sentences; know the five buyer roles | Product and persona training; shadow 10 cold calls; write and practice a 30-second opener | Opener scored 3 of 5 or better on a role play |
| Days 31 to 60 | Hold real conversations and book first meetings | 40 dials a day in two blocks; review one recorded call a week; practice one objection a week | First meetings booked; call score up each week |
| Days 61 to 90 | Book meetings at the team's pace | Full outbound schedule; own the follow-up on every no-show; add a second channel to each touch | 12 qualified meetings held in the month |
The two skills worth practicing by name are the opener and the first objection. Our guides on common sales objections and sales talk examples give the lines and the sample conversations to rehearse against.
What does a 30-60-90 day plan look like for an account executive?
An account executive's plan moves from learning the deal process to running deals alone, and it adds the skills that only show up on longer cycles. Here is a filled-in version for an AE at Brightline Dental, a fictional company selling software to dental clinics.
| Phase | Goals | Activities | Metric to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Run a full discovery call on the method, with help | Shadow 8 discovery calls and 4 demos; learn the qualification method; 3 discovery role plays | Role play scored 70 or better on the discovery scorecard |
| Days 31 to 60 | Run discovery and demos alone and move deals to a next step | 6 discovery calls a week; one call reviewed a week; build a mutual action plan for each deal | Every call ends with a dated next step; score 70 or better |
| Days 61 to 90 | Own a pipeline and a forecast | Work 12 open deals; write the forecast every Monday; run one proposal conversation with the buyer | Pipeline coverage at the agreed multiple; one deal in proposal |
If your team qualifies on a named method, put it in the plan by name and score it. Our guides to GPCT and to MEDDICC call scoring show how to turn each part of a method into something you can hear on a call.
How do you measure ramp in a 30-60-90 day plan?
Measure ramp with one habit number and one skill number every week. The habit number shows the work is happening, such as calls run or role plays done. The skill number shows the work is getting better, and the best one is a score on the calls themselves.
Most plans stop at habit numbers and a final quota check. That leaves a gap of two months in which a new hire can make every call and still sell badly, and nobody finds out until the first quota month. A weekly call score closes that gap. Score one recorded call a week on the same scorecard the team uses, and write the number in the plan.
Every week
- Calls run
- One call scored
- One role play
Day 30, 60 and 90
- Phase goal met?
- Call score trend
- Plan for the next phase
Day 90
- Pipeline at pace
- Time to first deal
- Write down what to change for the next hire
Here is what a weekly score looks like for a new AE at Brightline Dental on a 100-point discovery scorecard:
| Week | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Call score | 48 | 52 | 61 | 60 | 66 | 71 | 69 | 74 |
Real scores zigzag. The manager watches the direction over three or four weeks, and the single step that dropped. A dip in week 4 might mean the new hire started running calls alone. Score the same step on the next call before deciding it is a problem.
To pick what to coach, look at the scorecard line that is lowest across the new hire's calls. Our guide to sales call scoring shows how to build a scorecard and calibrate scores across managers. To see how much of your team's calls you can score today, try the call scoring calculator.
How do you run a 30-60-90 day plan as a manager?
Run it in a weekly one-on-one, with the plan open, and keep the cadence the same for all 13 weeks. The plan is only as good as the feedback behind it, so the manager's work is a short loop every week and a longer check at each phase boundary.
- Before day one, write the plan with the new hire's start date and the three phase dates on it. Book the weekly one-on-one and the day 30, 60 and 90 checks the same day.
- Every week, review one call together. Pick one recorded call, play the two minutes where the call turned and talk about what to try next. Our guide to AI sales coaching versus traditional coaching covers how to coach every call without spending more manager hours.
- At each phase boundary, compare the plan to what happened. Ask if the goal was met and, if not, whether the plan or the new hire needs to change.
- Give the next phase's goal in writing before it starts. A new hire who knows on day 28 what day 31 expects arrives ready.
- Close the loop at day 90. Write what you would change for the next hire, while you still remember.
Plan on paper only
What many teams do:
- A document written on day one and not opened again
- Quota is the only number checked
- Feedback arrives at the 90-day review
Plan run weekly
What makes ramp shorter:
- The plan opens every one-on-one
- A call score and a habit number each week
- Feedback after every reviewed call
For the way to set this up as part of onboarding, watch the session hiring and onboarding with Triple Session. Tools can carry part of this routine: see sales onboarding software for what to look for. To spend the first weeks where they pay most, apply the 80/20 rule in sales to the skills and accounts that drive the result. If you want the onboarding course for the team that does the training, the Onboarding Triple Session course walks through the setup.
How do you write your own 30-60-90 day plan when you start a sales job?
Write it in your first week, show it to your manager and ask them to change it. A plan you wrote yourself shows how you think, and it gives your manager a place to say what matters most to them. The best version is short and uses their words for each phase.
Start with three questions for your manager on day one:
- What does a good first 30 days look like to you?
- Which number will you look at first?
- Which calls or deals should I learn from?
Then write the plan in their terms. The learning phase should name the things you will read, shadow and practice. The middle phase should name the calls you will run and when you want feedback. The last phase should name the pipeline you will own. Add one line of your own in each phase: the thing you want to get better at, such as discovery or handling price. Our guide on how to learn sales gives a skills ladder you can pull from.
What are the most common mistakes in a 30-60-90 day plan?
Most failed plans fail the same way: they are written once, they are too long or they measure only the end. Check yours against this list.
For how the habit and skill goals inside the plan fit the quarter's targets, see our guide to sales goals.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a 30-60-90 day plan be?
One page. List three or four goals per phase, the activities behind them and the one number that shows each goal is met. A plan that runs longer than a page stops being read after the first week, and the person it is for stops checking it.
What goes in a 30-60-90 day plan for a sales manager?
The same three phases, aimed at the team. Days 1 to 30: listen to calls, meet every person and read the pipeline. Days 31 to 60: set the scorecard, start weekly one-on-ones and fix the biggest gap. Days 61 to 90: show results from the changes, and agree a plan for the next quarter with your own manager.
How long does it take a new salesperson to ramp?
It depends on the length of your sales cycle and the price of the deal, so published averages are weak guides. Measure your own last three hires: the weeks until each one first held a full pipeline and the weeks until each hit quota in a month. Use that range as the target for the next hire.
Where to start
Copy the table closest to the role you are hiring for, replace the numbers with your last three hires' results and put the week-1 one-on-one and the day 30, 60 and 90 checks on the calendar today. Then pick the scorecard you will use on every call from week 2. For the full program around the plan, read our guide to sales onboarding, and for the sales skills the plan trains, see sales techniques.