If 2025 demanded reinvention, then 2026 will demand capability at speed.
As the ‘new business’ landscape shifted rapidly throughout 2025, sales teams across nearly every sector I found myself in were struggling to keep pace with increasingly complex and frustrating buyer behaviour. And while pipeline volumes remained relatively convincing, sales conversion rates fell alarmingly…and in some cases, so did revenue – leaving many organisations questioning whether internal sales development methods and new ideas from leaders had finally reached their limit.
For many organisations, the biggest barrier to sales performance in 2025 wasn’t a lack of talent. It could have been many things, but it definitely wasn’t a shortage of capable sales talent. But it did seem that there were a lot of frustrated business leaders out there, scratching their heads over how to get the best out of their salespeople and close deals.
It seemed that everyone ran out of ideas at the same time. From this perspective, the pressure for sales only intensified throughout the year, whilst the support available to sales teams wasn’t able to keep pace. In short, I don’t believe that business strategies evolved quickly enough and internal mentoring couldn’t keep up with the demands of the modern selling environment.
In 2026, the shape and delivery of sales programs must start to look very different for companies, or they risk falling behind the rest of the market. With that in mind, let’s take a look at why the future must look a lot different and what high-performing teams are craving.
“Once a team gets a taste of learning that supports them in the moment, there’s no going back.” – Jamie K
1. On-Demand Learning Experiences
The days of waiting for annual sales training or internal strategy sessions to take hold are over. The market is shifting all the time and your salespeople need the ability to adapt and improve their sales skills on the fly…or they will starve while waiting to feast on new business.
Unfortunately, there are organisations out there that are simply unable to effectively drive their go-to-market initiatives and deliver consistent sales revenue underpinned by an effective strategy.
On-demand learning will provide teams with immediate access to the sales skills and coaching they will need, exactly at the moment when they are performing the work.
It’s the difference between learning something that might stick and learning something right when it matters. Sales teams that adopt this approach will build their team’s confidence faster, shorten the learning curve and create a sales culture that will benefit from a growth mindset.
2. Training That Fits into the Flow of Work
In my experience, salespeople aren’t short on willingness to learn; they’re short on time. Well, most will tell you that they are short on time.
High-impact sales enablement needs to be:
- short,
- practical,
- available at the point of need,
- directly tied to measurable outcomes and
- must integrate into their work, not disrupt it.
3. Real-World Training Scenarios
We forget sometimes that sales is a performance discipline. Sales must be one of the only professions in the world where people don’t actually practice their craft. It’s quite extraordinary when you think of the impact sales has on overall company performance. A lot of sales work tends to happen in real time, in high-pressure situations or when you are down on confidence. So, it makes sense to have skilled individuals present to help with real-world execution. Not in retrospect…it’s too late! We too often just throw our salespeople into the deep end and hope they swim.
Your sales mentoring must reflect real market scenarios and conditions.
This isn’t “training”, it’s adaptive intelligence – Client
Teams are moving toward gritty, uncomfortable, real coaching scenarios that mimic the pressure of the job.
4. Sales Simulations
High-performing sales teams will embrace sales and account management simulations because they’re the closest thing to practice without risking real revenue.
Simulations will help your salespeople:
- navigate tough sales conditions.
- test messaging.
- practice objection handling.
- refine negotiation strategies.
- build situational awareness.
- improve emotional intelligence under pressure.
This is the kind of training elite performers rely on and sales training should be no different.
5. An Exchange of Ideas:
The best insights rarely come from within – where silo’s, echo chambers, longevity and the HIPPO effect can come into play.
Salespeople today need structured spaces where they can:
- share their views and perspectives openly.
- challenge the status quo.
- compare strategies.
- deconstruct their world.
- be challenged, and
- learn from real expertise and experiences.
In conclusion
One thing is clear: The way sales teams learn is becoming just as important as the way they sell.
2026 will reward businesses who reinvent how they support their sales teams – not with one-off workshops or generic motivational sessions but with dynamic capability-building learning that can match the pace of real-world selling. This will need to be the new standard, or you will risk trying to outrun a market that keeps changing the rules and be at the head of an exhausted leadership team, scratching your head for answers.
The new world of capability training is instant; it’s a SPRINT!
To learn more about the Killer Consulting Sprint Training Model, visit our programs: https://killerconsulting.com.au/killer-event/sales-sprints/