Top sales leaders don’t wait for the next cycle to force change. They act now.
They run tighter operating rhythms, replace opinion with evidence, and turn culture into a system.
The payoff is control: predictable revenue, faster coaching loops, and executive trust when the board asks, “Are we going to hit the number?”.
So what are they doing to secure a strong and consistent pipeline in 2026?
What You’ll Learn From This Guide:
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How elite leaders tighten forecasting accuracy with weekly rhythms, stage criteria, and trust.
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How they build elite teams through coaching systems, standards, and cultural clarity.
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Why a modern compensation plan aligns behaviour with truth, not theatre.
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How hiring strategies evolve to assess judgment, reduce ramp time, and retain A-players.
What Are Top Sales Leaders Doing Now To Prepare For 2026?
1. Tightening And Improving Their Forecasting Accuracy
The best sales leaders treat forecasting as a leadership behaviour, not a spreadsheet. They operationalise three things: cadence, criteria, and culture.
So How Do You Do It?
We asked our sales experts Chris Lingenfelter and Nigel Arthur.
Cadence
Leaders run a weekly rhythm — not monthly panic. Monday pipeline inspection; midweek updates and roll-up; Friday variance review and coaching. As Chris Lingenfelter puts it: “Do it weekly, minimum. Sales moves too fast for monthly or quarterly forecasting.” Consistency reduces surprise and builds trust in the number.
Criteria
Opinion loses to evidence. Leaders require objective stage entry/exit criteria (champion access, economic buyer alignment, problem impact). Nigel Arthur is blunt: “If everyone uses their own gut, leadership forecasting becomes impossible. You need a uniform framework.”
Culture
Accuracy dies when reps fear telling the truth. Leaders eliminate sandbagging by rewarding forecast accuracy (closeness to reality) over showmanship. “Leaders who weaponise bad forecasts destroy transparency. Reps stop sharing the truth,” says Arthur.
Benchmarks
Elite teams target accuracy bands by segment: Enterprise ±10%, Mid-market ±15–20%, SMB ±20–30%. The number matters — but the trajectory matters more. If your variance is shrinking quarter over quarter, that’s leadership in action.
👉 Want to learn more about how top sales leaders are mastering sales forecasting accuracy ready for a successful 2026? We have a deep dive article here.
2. Building and Developing An Elite Sales Team
Top leaders don’t hope their teams get better; they coach them better — weekly, visibly, and against clear standards.
So How Do You Do It?
We asked our sales experts Catherine Olivier and Emily Bair.
From your performance leadership session, the pattern is consistent: elite performance is built on clarity, cadence, and coaching. Managers separate pipeline hygiene (clean data, correct stages) from performance coaching (skills, behaviours, outcome gaps).
They use short, repeatable loops:
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Weekly 1:1s on variance. What changed vs last week’s expectation? What signal did we miss?
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Team practice + enablement. Skills are rehearsed, not assumed.
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Role progression by consistency. As Emily Bair notes, readiness isn’t a feeling — it shows up in sustained performance and time management capacity.
Leaders also redefine “elite.” Catherine Olivier cautions against confusing luck with excellence: “Just hitting a big number isn’t necessarily elite. You still need the right behaviours and attitude — and help lift the team.” Elite performers elevate others; they don’t merely stack wins.
Motivation systems modernise too. Managers recognise three dominant drivers (e.g., money, growth, team/culture) and design incentives and recognition to match — while tying everything back to business outcomes. The culture becomes a flywheel, not a poster.
👉 Want to learn more about how top sales leaders are building an elite sales team & improving Performance ready for 2026? We have a deep dive article here.
3. Building a Successful Sales Compensation Plan That Works
A strong compensation plan doesn’t just pay sellers — it sets the rhythm for how they think, prioritise, and perform. When built with clarity, it creates trust and focus. When built poorly, it drives short-termism, confusion, and disengagement.
“You can’t coach accountability if your comp plan doesn’t reward it.” — Bryan Mulry
The foundation of any effective plan is alignment between incentives and the business model. When a company moves toward recurring revenue or multi-year contracts, its incentives must evolve too. Paying only for new business while ignoring retention or expansion encourages shallow relationships and inconsistent forecasting.
Leaders often break trust by reacting too quickly to missed quarters.
“Every tweak you make erodes trust. People stop believing targets mean anything.” — Tim Ogle
Consistency builds credibility; frequent change destroys it. The best organisations review plans regularly but only refresh them annually, so sellers can plan and perform with confidence.
So How Do You Do It?
We asked our sales experts Mike Pritchett and David Wilkins.
Reward What You Want Repeated
Top-performing teams reward the behaviours that create sustainable growth — disciplined pipeline management, margin protection, and collaboration — not just the final deal. Paying only on closed revenue invites corner-cutting and “end-of-quarter theatre.”
Revenue quality matters more than speed. Compensation should distinguish between activity that generates predictable profit and activity that only inflates short-term numbers.
Keep It Simple and Fair
Complexity confuses and demotivates. A rep should be able to explain their comp plan in minutes, not rely on a spreadsheet.
“The best comp plans fit on one page — if you can’t explain it in five minutes, it’s too complicated.” — Elaine Taylor
Transparent, easy-to-follow plans reinforce fairness — one of the biggest drivers of retention. When sellers understand how performance links to pay, engagement rises. When they doubt the system, motivation evaporates long before attrition shows up in HR data.
Make Compensation a Leadership Tool
Compensation isn’t an HR document; it’s a leadership lever. The best plans reward accuracy and integrity — reinforcing behaviours that strengthen forecasting, coaching, and culture.
“Good comp plans tell the truth — they show you where behaviour is aligned with growth.” — Tim Ogle
A plan that pays for accuracy, discipline, and profitable execution becomes more than a pay policy — it becomes a management system.
👉 Want to learn more about how top sales leaders are designing sales compensation plans that work ready for 2026? We have a deep dive article here.
4. Are Creating Strategies to Build, Assess & Retain Top Talent
Hiring is one of the most expensive decisions a sales leader makes — and one of the easiest to get wrong. With AI-written CVs, one-click applications, and thousands of lookalike candidates, quality has become harder to spot and time has become scarcer.
The leaders in this discussion agreed: great hiring starts long before the vacancy appears. The best teams build networks continuously so they’re never scrambling to fill seats.
“Always be recruiting. Even with no open req, keep meeting great people so your shortlist already exists when you need it.” — Tim Ogle
So How Do You Do It?
We asked our sales experts Tim Ogle, Bryan Mulry and Elaine Taylor.
Focus on Quality, Not Volume
High-volume hiring isn’t a success metric. In fact, most organisations now need fewer but better applicants. Tim warned that “one-click apply” has turned hiring into noise, while Elaine called it “a recycling bin for the same candidates.”
“Make parts of the application hard on purpose — you’ll lose 90 % of tire-kickers and keep the people who actually want the job.” — Tim Ogle
Small tests — such as short video intros or case challenges — filter for effort and intent. The leaders agreed that this friction saves time and signals seriousness. It also helps identify candidates who thrive under pressure and self-manage.
Hire for Coachability, Not Just Confidence
Many managers still default to gut feel or charisma. That’s a mistake.
“Great salespeople don’t automatically make great managers — and neither makes you a great interviewer. That’s a different skill entirely.” — Elaine Tyler
Coachability, curiosity, and accountability consistently outrank résumé credentials as predictors of success.
“I can teach methodology. I can’t teach attitude.” — Bryan Mulry
Structured scorecards keep interviews objective and fair. Defining what “excellent” looks like in advance reduces bias and ensures consistent evaluation across panels.
Build Diversity of Thought
Hiring identical profiles may feel safe, but it stunts creativity and culture.
“If everyone you hire looks and thinks like you, congratulations — you’ve built an echo chamber, not a sales team.” — Elaine Tyler
Leaders should measure candidate contribution not only by skills but by perspective. Diverse backgrounds create resilience, better decision-making, and higher adaptability — traits every modern sales team needs.
Retain Through Enablement and Process
Even the best hiring decision fails without structured onboarding.
“Without a defined process, you end up coaching the wrong hire and starving your best people of enablement.” — Bryan Mulry
A consistent 90-day onboarding plan — built around clear milestones, mentoring, and feedback — ensures new hires ramp fast and stay engaged. The goal isn’t just to fill seats; it’s to build bench strength that grows with the organisation.
What the Best Leaders Are Doing Differently (Right Now)
Across forecasting, performance, comp, and hiring, top leaders converge on the same operating system:
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Truth over theatre. Forecasts are unemotional. Numbers are inspected, not hoped for.
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Rhythm over heroics. Weekly loops beat last-week-of-the-quarter scrambles.
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Systems over slogans. Stage criteria, 1:1 structures, and RevOps checks are codified.
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Coaching over control. Variance becomes a syllabus, not a blame session.
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Alignment over silos. Sales, RevOps, and Finance share one version of truth.
The 2026 sales leader isn’t an optimist or a pessimist. They’re an operator. They know their number before anyone asks — because they’ve built the behaviours, systems, and culture that make the truth visible early.
