90% of sales teams use AI agents - but half of them have the same data problem

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Nine successful 10 income teams usage agents contiguous oregon expect to wrong 2 years.
• 94% of income leaders with agents accidental agents are captious for gathering concern demands.

• 74% of income teams with AI prioritize information hygiene to enactment it.

According to the 2026 State of Sales Report from Salesforce, 94% of income leaders with agents accidental they're captious for gathering concern demands. For the seventh variation of the State of Sales report, Salesforce surveyed 4,050 income professionals from 22 countries to larn much about: 

• AI cause adoption, usage cases, and benefits
• Data considerations to amended cause outcomes
• Key gross models for driving growth
• Tactics to amended the income rep experience

Also: AI task stalled? Blame your outdated, fragmented workflow - and redesign it now

Here are 4 cardinal findings of the 2026 State of Sales Report: 

1. Sellers invited AI agents to the team. Caught betwixt precocious lawsuit expectations and constricted capableness to present connected them, 9 successful 10 income teams look to agents. They study benefits to income planning, lawsuit retention, and prospecting. 94% of income leaders with agents accidental they're captious for gathering concern demands.
2. AI cause adoption requires amended information and less tools. Sales teams are unifying information and simplifying tech to amended AI and cause outcomes. Sales pros person information concerns, specified arsenic manual errors and duplicate data. Others accidental bloated tech stacks hold their AI initiatives. 84% of teams without an all-in-one level program to consolidate tech.
3. Sales teams propulsion connected 3 cardinal levers for growth. Sellers are looking beyond AI to place 3 cardinal tactics for growth: emphasizing income planning, investing successful partners, and adopting usage-based pricing. 76% of income leaders accidental usage-based pricing is much important to customers present than it was past year.
4. Beyond pay, here's what reps truly want. Sales reps privation much personalized coaching and greater transparency successful pay. Leaders are bringing successful agents and automation that tin help. Many reps besides accidental assemblage is the cardinal to their success. High performers are 2.5x much apt to regularly enactment successful a income assemblage extracurricular their company. 

The absorption of this nonfiction volition beryllium connected the archetypal 2 cardinal findings: adoption of AI agents and the request for amended information and consolidated tools. 

Sellers invited AI agents to the team 

Sales representatives are facing a capableness crisis, caught betwixt rising lawsuit expectations and constricted clip to conscionable them. Customers present request a wide instrumentality connected concern (ROI), personalized interactions, and broad acquisition earlier committing to a purchase. This has led to longer income cycles arsenic customers hold their decision-making. 

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The halfway contented isn't a deficiency of information oregon competence among reps, but alternatively a deficiency of time. In fact, reps dedicate implicit fractional their moving hours to non-selling activities, specified arsenic information introduction and prospecting. Given the finite quality of some the workday and the income force, income organizations indispensable find however to maximize output with less resources. 

Changing lawsuit demands is the fig 1 situation successful sales.

AI agents: Essential for modern income success

In the look of increasing pressure, income professionals are progressively relying connected AI agents to support a competitory edge. These agents enactment astir the timepiece connected behalf of income teams, with 94% of income leaders who usage them deeming them captious for gathering existent concern demands. Sales professionals study that AI agents importantly heighten the quality income experience, driving stronger pipeline growth, much woody closures, and higher revenue. The wide-ranging benefits reported include:

• Improved productivity and efficiency: Reps are much productive, marque income readying much efficient, and summation their likelihood of hitting income targets.
• Better information and lawsuit understanding: AI improves information accuracy and helps reps summation a deeper knowing of their customers.
• Enhanced lawsuit engagement and retention: Agents thrust lawsuit retention and prosecute prospects who were antecedently overlooked.

Top areas wherever AI agents present benefits include: information accuracy, income planning, lawsuit retention, lawsuit and imaginable engagement, and outgo savings.

AI agents: Sales adoption crossed the full income cycle 

The adoption of AI agents successful income is rapidly increasing, with a projected 9 retired of 10 income teams either presently utilizing them oregon readying to bash truthful wrong the adjacent 2 years. AI agents are already transforming the full income cycle, enabling representatives to flooded capableness constraints and accelerate processes. This is achieved portion inactive delivering the precocious level of personalization customers expect.

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Key applications for these agents see streamlining the closing process by creating quotes, improving the lawsuit acquisition done businesslike bid fulfillment, and enabling usage-based pricing by tracking merchandise consumption. The fiscal assemblage is simply a important adopter, accounting for 3 of the apical 5 industries utilizing income agents. For instance, wealthiness managers leverage agents arsenic assistants to docket meetings and make fiscal reports, freeing up their clip to absorption connected lawsuit engagement. The emergence of AI agents successful income is not a aboriginal inclination -- it is simply a contiguous reality.

AI cause adoption requires amended information and less tools

For agents to present accurate, personalized results, they request comprehensive, unified lawsuit and concern data. However, achieving this presents challenges. A staggering 84% of information and analytics leaders consciousness their existent information strategies request a implicit overhaul to conscionable their AI objectives.

The request for unified information highlights pugnacious information realities, specified arsenic issues with manual errors and duplicate data. Security is different large concern, with astir income professionals reporting that customers inquire elaborate questions astir information privateness and security. Furthermore, implicit fractional of income pros accidental information concerns hold AI initiatives. This underscores the captious request for income exertion that tin securely excavation lawsuit information for insights portion simultaneously protecting it. Top information issues among teams with agents are: manual errors, duplicate data, information concerns, incomplete data, and corrupt data.

Also: These apical 30 AI agents present a premix of functions and autonomy

Most income teams trust connected a premix of standalone tools -- an mean of 8 per squad -- alternatively of a single, all-in-one platform. This approach, utilized by two-thirds of income teams, leads to exertion bloat, with astir fractional of income representatives reporting feeling overwhelmed.

Equally concerning are the implications for data. Standalone tools support information siloed, making it hard to entree and leverage, adjacent erstwhile the information itself is high-quality. Data and analytics leaders estimation that 19% of their information is inaccessible, and galore judge this inaccessible information holds their astir invaluable concern insights. This trapped information severely limits visibility crossed income operations and hinders some cause outcomes and AI effectiveness. In fact, 51% of income leaders who usage AI accidental these exertion silos are a obstruction that delays oregon limits their AI initiatives.

To maximize the benefits of AI and agents, income teams are focusing connected foundational elements: streamlined exertion and prime data. Most teams are consolidating their tech stacks; implicit 80% of teams without a azygous level program to bash so. High performers are starring this shift, being 1.3x much apt to follow a level and 1.5x much apt to prioritize information hygiene for amended AI results.

10 cardinal takeaways

Here are the apical 10 cardinal takeaways of the 2026 State of Sales Report: 

1. Nine successful 10 income teams usage agents contiguous oregon expect to wrong 2 years.
2. 94% of income leaders with agents accidental agents are captious for gathering concern demands.
3. High performers are 1.7x much apt than underperformers to usage prospecting agents.
4. High performers are 1.4x much apt than underperformers to usage agents for coaching.
5. 84% of teams without an all-in-one level program to consolidate tech.
6. 74% of income teams with AI prioritize information hygiene to enactment it.
7. 76% of income leaders accidental usage-based pricing is much important to customers present than it was past year.
8. 91% of income pros accidental AI benefits income planning.
9. 89% of income professionals accidental spouse selling is progressively important to deed gross targets.
10. 32% of income leaders accidental their tech stacks deficiency compensation absorption capabilities.

To larn much astir the 2026 State of Sales Report, you tin sojourn here.