Using the Power of Candela Scout to build a Scalable Sales Model for a High-Growth EdTech Client
A leading PE owned education technology company with a national footprint was preparing for a new fiscal year with ambitious growth targets. With increasing sales complexity resulting from a recent acquisition, the leadership team needed a structured, data-informed approach to determine how many reps they needed, what roles to hire, how to assign territories, and how to incentivize performance.
The data needed to make these decisions was housed in multiple systems that didn’t speak to each other
Existing territory sizes were inconsistent and not tied to quota or potential
Sales roles (hunters vs. farmers) were loosely defined and overlapping
Limited cross selling
Compensation benchmarks and quota expectations lacked external calibration
Leadership wanted to double down on key geographies — but needed data to justify the investment
Candela partnered with the executive and field leadership teams to deliver a holistic sales resourcing model built off the results of Candela Scout that delivered balanced sales territories, increased role clarity, future headcount planning and OTE/comp alignment.
Territory & Headcount Modeling
We built a top-down staffing model based on output from Candela Scout’s bottoms up SAM analysis, broken out by sales motion: net new, cross-sell, upsell, and renewals. Using win rate data, average quota expectations, and rep capacity assumptions, we estimated the minimum viable potential required per territory to justify a full-time rep
As part of this process, we defined distinct roles for Hunters (new logos and cross-sell) and Farmers (renewal and upsell)
Created a flexible headcount model to scale hiring decisions with investment levels by state
Aligned FTE needs by region, role, and territory saturation
Territory Design Rubric
Recognizing that sales resourcing is both art and science, we developed a rubric to triangulate on
Remaining potential by territory
Account volume and rep coverage limits
Historical win rates
Detailed market feedback from front line sales reps
Strategic priorities (e.g., states to overinvest in due to policy environment or institutional opportunity)
This rubric supported territory carving decisions and helped preserve institutional knowledge (e.g. maintaining existing account relationships where necessary).
Sales Compensation Benchmarking & Plan Component Re-Design
To ensure resourcing recommendations were grounded in reality, we benchmarked OTE, pay mix, and quota against industry comparables. Within the comp plans themselves, we added key components like:
Multi-year contract accelerators
and removed any commission caps
Multi-product SPIFFs
all elements increasingly common in high-performance SaaS orgs
Provided a rigorous, data-driven basis for territory assignments and rep coverage
Informed headcount expansion with flexible growth levers across strategic and non-strategic regions
Helped executive leadership align growth expectations with achievable, quota-based sales planning
Offered actionable compensation benchmarks to attract and retain top talent across roles
With this sales resourcing model in place, the company was able to scale smart — not just fast. Territory plans were justified. Hiring decisions had a rationale. And the team had confidence that its sales infrastructure could support the next stage of growth.
