magic quota"

[keannu]

Mary Kantarian was achingly close to making her million-dollar sales goal - only $1,000 short. If she made the goal by the end of the year, it would mean a fat $60,000 bonus check, and a happy trip to the bank to finance a dream home she'd recently found. Other sales reps' also were close, and one had already made the bonus. The books would close in just a few days, but at the end of the year her clients weren't in a buying mood.
Still, Mary had one hope : inner-city Lincoln High School. Its students, who often had to share textbooks, could really use her company's multimedia educational aids, but Lincoln had no discretionary budget for new teaching materials. What if Mary donated the money to this needy school for the purchase, and put herself over the magic quota?

What does this "magic quota" mean?

 

[emsr2d2]

It's the "million-dollar sales goal" mentioned at the start of the first paragraph. We're not told exactly what the goal is, only what her bonus will be if she reaches it. She needs the inner-city school to make a purchase so that she reaches her sales goal (the magic quota). She is considering giving them the money herself so they can use it to buy teaching materials from her.

 

[JMurray]

not a teacher

Further to emsr2d2's post.
Sometimes "magic" is used informally to refer to something that effectively produces a desired result.
"At our house, I usually find that eight people is the magic number for a good dinner party".
"Our team has a lot of good players but we just haven't found the magic combination to win consistently".

Here, in a similar sense, "magic" refers to the quota's ability to release the $60,000 for her, once it is met.

Definition, adjective #1.1: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/magic

 

[keannu]

When you say "the books", does it usually mean "accounting book" or "sales result book" or whatever?

The books would close in just a few days, but at the end of the year her clients weren't in a buying mood.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes.

 

[keannu]

Which did you mean?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Either.

 

[keannu]

Does this just mean "achieve the magic quota" or any metaphor of "put oneself on fortune or something"?

put herself over the magic quota?

 

[MikeNewYork]

There was a number that she had to exceed. That is the magic quota.