We're now 5 weeks into our semester and have officially shifted from high-end strategy into developing executable tactics and campaigns. The semester ends in early December with presentations of detailed plans to the CEOs of our host companies who determine 40% of the final grade. Definitely, everyone the course is hustling to an end point just the same as if they had a 4th quarter quota to reach...since they actually do.
This week we welcomed Cory Peterson, VP of Marketing & Sales for LED, to demo his highly integrated tech stack all woven into his HubSpot platform: instant real time data tracking leads, developing A/B testing while talking directly with his customized AI agent to provide instant assessments of specific marketing tactics...all in real time. Cory and his company are one of the very best examples I've experienced in their real time integration of data, tech, testing and automated decision making in both marketing and sales.
As I left that class for the long commute back to the NH beach, I reflected that as sophisticated in their use of technology and analytics as most marketing organizations-like Cory's-are today, the average sales organization has also now rapidly adopted the same disciplines of formal step-function processes, highly integrated tech stacks and rapid adoption of AI everywhere. It's our own estimate among our clients that AI is being used to some extent in 95% of sales processes today.
1. "The Science of Sales" is the title of my Tufts course that I launched 12 years ago resulting in 500+ of my alums now working in sales functions with companies ranging from Microsoft, Adobe and HubSpot to both mid-market companies and tiny startups. One of the attractions for my students is that Sales, as a profession, has finally evolved to adopting the discipline of a science and metrics with less focus on the black magic of "The Art of Selling". Today, we can move faster by instantly measuring what actually works (not what we think works) across thousands of interactions. This transforms sales from just an art to science-testing hypotheses about buyer behavior and using statistical significance rather than guessing using anecdotal "war stories."
2. AI Personalization! While AI is now being used everywhere for hyper-personalization, there's also an emerging tension in that buyers are becoming more sophisticated at detecting AI-generated outreach. The next frontier isn't just personalization, it's authentic personalization, which is developed at the level of one individual prospect-identified as one prospect-and that process is multiplied by hundreds of individual prospects in real time...all at the same time.
3. Sales Development in real time. Traditional "Sales Enablement" is in my estimation a failed, overhyped series of "training events" layered over some level of technology. AI transforms it into real-time coaching which is actually useful to the specific salesperson. Imagine: a rep on a call gets live suggestions in real time for immediate objection handling. The post-call analysis identifies specific skill gaps that took place on that call, and then personalized learning in a short-burst video is automatically queued.
4. The Skills Evolution What does a great salesperson look like in 2026? Less memorization, more tactical and strategic thinking. Less presentation delivery, more collaborative problem-solving. Less product expertise, more business acumen.
As you think about your own sales work today right at the beginning of the most important quarter of the year, give some thought to what strategies, what tactical plans, what changed processes and what AI technologies you're going to put in place for you and your team in your 2026 planning.
Have a great day selling today and enjoy what looks like spectacular weather this weekend!
It's time to begin your business planning for what lies ahead in 2026.
Think about taking a day out in October to tune up your business and sales plans. Here's our free how-to ebooks for a few ideas:
"Writing the Winning Sales Plan"
"Writing the Winning Business Plan"
"Writing the Winning Marketing Plan"
"The Marketing of Me"
We outline ideas on structure, models, process funnels, productivity tools and how to recruit, hire and onboard the best people. A few hands-on guides for real managers written by real managers with their fingers in the dirt.
Connect with me any time at jack@derbymanagement.com and let's discuss your own 2026 planning!
