1. Marketing and Sales Intersect
The rise of hybrid selling has blurred the lines between marketing and sales, forcing these two departments to work closely together to optimize the omnichannel experience for customers.
- “Marketing-izing” Sales: Sales teams are finding great success by adopting strategies from the marketing playbook, such as leveraging social media and customer stories.
- Data Integration: Instead of operating in silos, leading organizations now prioritize sharing strategies and data between the two departments, helping sales reps think like marketers to build high-quality pipelines and optimize revenue.
2. Social Selling: When Sales Reps Are Marketers
B2B sales communication now takes place primarily in the digital realm. According to HubSpot, social media delivers 42% response rates, nearly double that of email.
- The Core: Social selling is about public visibility, consistent value sharing, and building trust before the first conversation even happens.
- Action: Sales teams should leverage LinkedIn to share thought leadership, engage with networks, and start to build trust. Adopting a marketing “rulebook”—such as building a content calendar and optimizing posting times—is essential for maximum impact.
3. Mitigate Burnout for Your Sales Team
An uncertain environment combined with pressure from AI and new workflows is leaving sales reps overwhelmed.
- The Reality: Gartner estimates that the number of “organizational change initiatives” increased by 67% between 2016 and 2024. Simultaneously, employee willingness to support those initiatives dropped from 74% to 44%.
- The Solution: According to Gartner, CSOs must prioritize training in core seller skills and offload less impactful activities from their teams’ workload. Building a resilient salesforce is key to sustainable performance.
4. Prepare for a Different Buyer’s Journey
Due to generative AI (genAI), the B2B buying process is becoming more streamlined and proactive.
- The Shift: Two out of three buyers now prefer engaging with salespeople only in the later stages of their buying journey (up 17 ppt from 2025).
- The Pressure: Marketing must ensure products are discoverable and recommended when customers conduct their own research on review sites or via AI. Sales reps serve as information validators rather than just product presenters.
5. The Rise and Risk of AI Agents
While AI agents offer the ability to execute specialized tasks autonomously, rapid adoption without control can lead to significant legal and financial risks.
- Customer Sentiment: According to Salesforce data, AI adoption has skyrocketed 282%. However, users still prefer to use AI for research but need to validate results with a human to ensure trust.
- Strategy: According to the Chief Research Officer at Forrester, B2B leaders must embrace a more disciplined and evidence-driven approach to AI, prioritizing trust and tangible value for buyers.
6. Sales Enablement Tools to Support Modern Teams
Sales enablement tools generally help with three things: getting salespeople ready to sell, guiding their day‑to‑day execution, and measuring what works. Sales teams need to be equipped with four key categories:
- CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce): To store data and track omnichannel interactions.
- Marketing Automation (Marketo, ActiveCampaign): To manage emails and routine tasks.
- Content Creation (Loom, Seismic): To build training materials and sales assets (Webinars, Whitepapers).
- Social Selling Apps (LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Nimble): To convert followers into customers.
7. How to Build a Data-Driven Sales Process
In the era of AI, data-driven analytics make the difference. Instead of just introducing products, sales teams must use data to explain “why we are better than the competition” and address the customer’s exact “pain points.”
- KPIs: Sales by lead source, customer lifetime value (LTV), revenue percentage from existing/new customers, and cost of selling as a percentage of revenue generated.
- Implementation Roadmap: * Get clear alignment on goals between senior leadership and sales teams.
- Audit existing data and fill information gaps.
- Establish a process for translating data insights into action.
Source: US Chamer of Commerce
