Your 2027 Sales Target Is Also a Hiring Plan

Setting ambitious sales targets is exciting. More clients, bigger projects and a growing business are all things worth working towards. But before you commit to those numbers for 2027, there is one important question to ask: does your team actually have the capacity to deliver the work?

It is easy to focus on how much revenue the business wants to generate. It is a little harder to work out whether you have enough people, time and the right skills to turn that revenue into reality.

The UK government's latest Small Business Survey highlights just how relevant this is. Around 71% of SME employers aim to increase sales over the next three years, while 44% plan to recruit additional staff over the same period.

That tells us something important. Many businesses are planning for growth, and a significant proportion recognise that achieving it could mean expanding their teams.

But how do you know whether you need to hire, and how many people will you actually need?

Let's break it down.

Step 1: Work out how many hours your team really has

First, you need to understand your team's available delivery capacity.

Let's imagine you have a team of 10 people. If each person works 220 days a year, at 7.5 hours per day, your team has a theoretical total of 16,500 working hours annually.

Sounds like plenty, doesn't it?

Not so fast.

Those hours do not all go towards client work. Meetings, administration, internal projects, training and other non-billable activities all take up valuable time.

For this example, let's assume your team operates at 75% billable utilisation. This means that 75% of their available working hours can be allocated to client delivery.

That leaves you with:

• 10 people working 220 days a year

• 7.5 working hours per day

• 16,500 total annual working hours

• 12,375 hours available for client delivery at 75% utilisation

Already, the picture looks a little different. Your team might work 16,500 hours in a year, but only 12,375 of those hours are available for billable work.

This is why understanding utilisation is so important when planning for growth. Your team's total working hours are not the same as its delivery capacity.

Step 2: Subtract the work you have already committed to

Next, look at the work your team will need to carry into 2027.

This could include ongoing client retainers, support agreements, projects that will run beyond December and other existing commitments.

Let's say all that work will require 5,000 hours of delivery time during 2027.

Your calculation now looks like this:

12,375 available delivery hours minus 5,000 committed hours equals 7,375 hours remaining for new work.

That is your starting point for understanding how much additional work your team can realistically take on.

It is also a good reminder that the new year does not necessarily mean a fresh start. Your team could already be carrying a significant workload before the first new project arrives.

Without a clear view of existing commitments, it is easy to overestimate how much additional work the business can accept.

Step 3: Put your sales target to the test

Now for the big question. Can your team deliver the revenue you are planning to sell?

Imagine your target for new business in 2027 is £900,000 in billable delivery revenue.

If your average billing rate is £95 per hour, you would need approximately 9,474 delivery hours to generate that revenue.

However, your team only has 7,375 hours available for new work.

That leaves a shortfall of roughly 2,100 hours.

At 75% billable utilisation, one full-time team member working 220 days a year provides approximately 1,238 billable hours annually. Your shortfall is therefore equivalent to around 1.7 additional people, assuming they have the right skills and can contribute throughout the year.

In other words, your sales target might be achievable, but your current team may not be able to deliver it on its own.

And this is exactly the kind of gap you want to identify before the work lands on your team's desks.

Discovering a capacity problem halfway through a project is much more stressful than spotting it during the planning stage.

Step 4: Look beyond the number of people

There is another important factor to consider: having enough hours does not automatically mean you have the right capacity.

Imagine your team has plenty of available hours, but most of your new projects require senior consultants. If you only have two senior consultants, they could quickly become a bottleneck.

Meanwhile, other team members might have capacity available but lack the experience or specialist knowledge required to complete the work independently.

This is why resource planning needs to go beyond simply counting people and hours.

Consider the following questions:

• Which skills will your upcoming projects require?

• Do you have enough senior people to lead the work?

• Are particular team members already stretched across multiple projects?

• Will you need specialist expertise that your current team does not have?

• Could training or upskilling help close the gap?

• Are there periods during the year when demand will exceed available capacity?

Looking at capacity by role, skill set and project timeline gives you a much more realistic picture of what your team can deliver.

It also helps you avoid putting too much pressure on a small number of key people while other resources remain underused.

Step 5: Decide how you will close the gap

Once you understand the difference between your available capacity and the work you expect to sell, you can make informed decisions about what needs to change.

Depending on your business, there are several options to consider.

Hire additional team members

If you expect demand to remain high, recruiting could be the right long-term investment. However, remember to account for recruitment lead times, onboarding and the time it takes for a new employee to become fully productive.

Bring in contractors

Contractors can provide additional capacity for specific projects, specialist skills or temporary peaks in demand. This can be particularly useful when you need flexibility without committing to permanent headcount.

Adjust project timelines

If your team is already close to capacity, you might need to stagger project start dates or renegotiate delivery schedules. This can help protect both delivery quality and employee wellbeing.

Review your sales targets

Sometimes, the numbers simply do not align. If additional resources are not available or financially viable, it may be necessary to revisit your growth targets or prioritise the opportunities that offer the greatest value.

Improve how you use existing resources

You may have more capacity than you realise. Better planning, clearer priorities and improved visibility of workloads can help reduce bottlenecks and make better use of the people you already have.

The right approach will depend on your business, your financial position and the type of work you deliver. The important thing is to make that decision with reliable information rather than assumptions.

Step 6: Give yourself visibility before the year begins

Capacity planning should not be a once-a-year exercise.

As new opportunities enter your pipeline, projects change and priorities shift, your resource requirements will change too.

Having a clear view of current commitments, upcoming demand, team utilisation and available skills makes it easier to spot potential problems early.

It also helps sales, delivery and leadership teams work towards the same goals.

Sales can understand when the business has room to take on new work. Delivery managers can plan projects around realistic resource availability. Leadership can make better decisions about hiring, investment and growth.

When these teams work with different information, the result is often familiar: overcommitted people, delayed projects, rushed recruitment and difficult conversations with clients.

Better resource visibility helps you move away from reacting to problems and towards planning for them.

And you do not necessarily need to add more tools to achieve this. Sometimes, the biggest improvement comes from connecting the systems you already use and making sure the right information is available to the right people.

Your sales target is only part of the picture

Growth is a great ambition, but revenue targets need to be supported by a realistic delivery plan.

Before committing to your 2027 targets, take the time to understand your available hours, account for existing work, calculate the capacity required for new business and identify any gaps in people or skills.

You might discover that your current team can comfortably support your plans. You might find that you need to recruit, use contractors or make better use of existing resources.

Either way, you will be in a much stronger position to make decisions before the pressure builds.

Because winning more work is only half the job. You also need to deliver it well, keep clients happy and make sure your team can sustain the pace.

Planning to grow in 2027? Let's make sure your team is ready for it.

At mutherboard, we help businesses improve resource management, project delivery and the systems that support their operations.

Book a free call with our team to discuss how better visibility and smarter planning can help you turn your growth targets into a realistic delivery plan.