Research Report

The State of Sales in 2026

HubSpot ran surveys and face-to-face interviews of 1,000+ sales leaders and relevant revenue professionals to learn how teams are navigating and evolving in a time of major business (and buyer) transformation.

Sales transformation is here. Are you ready?

The economy's always shifting. Buyers are harder to please than ever. The playbooks of the past aren't cutting it anymore. While teams see AI unlocking new strengths, they're also recognizing how it's revealed critical flaws or bottlenecks in their foundational tech and human-driven sales approaches.

Rather than asking, "how can technology fas-track sales in the AI era?", some leaders may want to take a big step back and ask an even tougher, more critical question:

"Are our sales floors even built for the AI era?"

What's Inside

Sales has transformed in 2026

HubSpot surveyed and interviewed 1,000+ sales and relevant revenue professionals (with a focus on sales leaders) across B2B and B2C to learn about the top trends, challenges, and technology driving sales pipelines today.

94%

of sales leaders say their teams use AI

AI is here, but is sales ready for it?

While it seems like everyone is using AI in some fashion, AI is still adopted at varying degrees amongst teams and use-cases.

Meanwhile, sales leaders identify the best ways to incentivize and train teams on how to balance the technology with the human-first skills it can't replace.

Buyers want more for less

The competitive and volatile business landscape has caused a key contract where buyer expect more, but are less willing to pull out their wallets. When prospects do want to buy, deal-making still takes longer than previous years -- and requires more thought and decision-maker input than ever.

Unclog your systems. Unblock AI. Unlock growth.

Dive into HubSpot's free report to get data, insights, and best practices from sales pros learning how to blend AI and human-first strategies to stand out among prospects.