Sales Operations Trends in 2026
The State of Sales Ops
Sales operations trends are not speculatory predictions. They are forecasts based on the trajectory of data.
Like a compass they provide a clear path forward for those seeking scalable revenue growth.
They share lessons and insights from peers. They share what works and what doesn't.
They provide data-driven guidance to improve sales processes, sales force productivity and sale opportunity conversions.
By understanding sales ops trends, you can take advantage of improvement opportunities, future proof investments, and make more informed planning decisions.
The 5 Most Powerful Sales Operations Trends
These 5 sales operations trends stand above all others in 2026. So, before you consider your next business development strategy or investment, consider how these insights may improve your planning, revenue execution and company growth.
Digital First Selling
A Gartner research study found that 75% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free selling experience.
The analyst firm goes on to advise that 80% of B2B selling interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur on digital platforms this year.
Also consider that about two-thirds of the buyer journey is complete before the buyer engages the company.
The trend is clear. The bulk of selling is digital.
Buyers are self-educating, evaluating solutions and identifying vendor shortlists on digital channels.
Therefore, sellers need more digital tools. They need third-party intent signals, social listening, website anonymous buyer detection, and automated response systems. More than anything, they need a digital selling platform.
A digital selling platform generally positions CRM at the core. It integrates the company's owned channels such as your website, blog and social media properties.
It consolidates data from multiple systems, channels and buyer touchpoints. That data then becomes manageable to support effective seller engagement.
Speed of information flow is important. Customers that engage in digital channels want full answers quickly. Sellers need real-time buyer insights to satisfy prospects and improve their sales outcomes.
A Shift in Investments
A follow-on effect from the prior trend is the increased investment in intangible assets.
Successful selling is no longer about pitching customers and managing salespeople. It's about enabling salespeople and managing systems.
Selling assets are increasingly digital. Or at least they should be.
To engage buyers in digital channels, sellers need digital assets such as buyer insights, customer intelligence and engaging content.
Recognize that intangible assets have become far more valuable than physical resources.
Research from Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake published in their book, Capitalism Without Capital, reveals that intangible assets deliver over 80% of firm value. These digital assets are the drivers for brand selection and purchase decisions. They influence customers to choose one product over another.
Similar research from the Marketing Accountability Standards Board shows the combination of intangible assets and brand value makes up 86% of shareholder value for S&P 500 companies.
Source: Marketing Accountability Standards Board
Artificial Intelligence Accelerates
According to the Salesforce State of Sales report, 81% of sales teams are investing in AI. However, about half are experimenting while the other half are beyond pilots and realizing the financial benefits.
The report also advises that the top 3 areas that AI is improving are sales data quality and accuracy, understanding customer needs, and personalization for customers.
But there are many other use cases. Below are some examples.
- AI can calculate lead scores using each lead's digital footprints, online behaviors and engagement level. This delivers a big improvement in staff productivity. When sellers avoid leads that will not be won, they can double down on the leads that can be won.
- AI takes the emotional guesswork out of the sales forecast. It applies prospect behavior, sale opportunity scores and like historical results. It even applies opportunity specific elements such as the proposed product and seller performance to calculate a measured likelihood of closure. Our clients that have implemented this have been surprised by the increased accuracy. Even better, we use the AI generated forecast as a learning tool with sellers. It often identifies important factors that sellers didn't fully consider. Those sellers can then shore up any weaknesses or blind spots to improve their sale opportunity conversions.
- Based on a Gartner Technology End User Buying Behavior Survey, the analyst firm advised that 90% of sales leaders that use AI-based sales forecasting say it helps them do their jobs more effectively. Improved forecasts also help managers with resource allocation and revenue planning.
- Other use cases include calculating opportunity scores, performing dynamic price optimization and delivering real-time hyper-personalized customer engagement at every step and touchpoint in the customer journey.
- AI agents are taking this technology to the next level. They perform outbound sales prospecting, inbound lead qualification, real-time sales coaching and many other tasks that were previously performed by people. We recently helped a client implement an agent that writes RFP responses. The agent completes about 83% of the RFP response autonomously.
- What makes agents different than prior AI technologies is that they can be self-operating. Agents perform tasks, converse with people and make decisions without human intervention.
Below are some additional examples that show how AI is improving seller productivity.
Sales Enablement is Mainstream
An increase in digital channels, customer data and AI creates a skills gap for some companies. The Sales Enablement function has stepped up to fill that gap.
Today, one in four members of the revenue team are in sales enablement roles.
These professionals improve seller productivity, conversions and speed while at the same time lowering the cost of sales.
They also yield much more value from the company's commercial assets and create a sales force multiplier impact.
According to sales enablement trends from Qwilr, companies with robust sales enablement teams report an 8% increase in quarterly revenue. That's more than double compared to companies without these programs.
The 10th Annual State of Sales Enablement Report revealed that these programs deliver 46% higher rep quota attainment and up to 3 times improved sales productivity.
Other sales enablement trends show higher staff productivity in 50-60% less time, increased win rates and decreased voluntary staff churn.
From Sales Ops to RevOps
Selling is becoming a more multifaceted team sport.
For example, tighter integration with marketing is needed to target the right customers and thereby increase sales win rates.
Tighter integration with customer service is needed to surface upsell and cross-sell opportunities. And to identify customers at risk of churn.
Tighter integration with R&D is needed to harvest customer feedback. You can also get product innovation ideas and white space growth opportunities.
These examples illustrate why Sales Ops is becoming a part of something much bigger.
Sales and RevOps trends show that Sales Ops is becoming a part of Revenue Operations.
Company growth is too often indirectly managed among loosely connected departments. Marketing, sales and customer service manage individual goals, processes and systems. They operate in silos.
Coordination and collaboration among them are more episodic than structured. Their collective contribution is less of an enterprise-wide data-driven calculation and more of a hopeful aspiration. Unfortunately, hope is not a valid business strategy.
RevOps is skyrocketing because it coordinates the customer journey across the revenue cycle. It eliminates clumsy departmental handoffs, fragmented customer experiences and customer friction points.
It accelerates revenue growth by synchronizing cross functional processes, systems and performance measures.
The More You Know the Faster Your Grow
These sales operations trends can be used as part of an insights-based growth plan. They become part of a roadmap to navigate in a time of transformative change.
They reveal opportunities to accelerate performance and reduce risk at the same time.
They show how companies can improve planning, avoid pitfalls, and adopt the lessons learned from those who went before them.
Most of all these 5 sales operations trends can help you stay ahead of the curve, and ahead of competitors.