Somewhere an enablement leader just opened a spreadsheet with 23 tabs labeled SKO 2027. Planning is officially underway for one of the largest investments of the year.

Between travel, hotels, venues, employee time away from customers, and the countless hours spent planning, the total investment in a Sales Kickoff (SKO) can easily reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yet too often the learning and excitement wear off faster than the jet lag.

We continue to treat SKO as the event that will drive change and “make this year better than the last,” rather than one part of a larger effort to improve performance. Preparation is squeezed into an already chaotic end of year, and post-event reinforcement largely falls to frontline managers who are already stretched thin.

 

SKO: Same Kickoff, Obviously?

Preparation and reinforcement aren't new ideas. Enablement leaders know they matter; finding the capacity to execute them consistently is another story. Enablement teams are buried in planning and content development, sellers are trying to close the year, and frontline managers are already struggling to find time to coach.

But we don’t have to accept a Groundhog Day fate. AI is making it possible to close the gap between what we know works and what we actually have the bandwidth to execute. AI Trainers and Coaches make it practical to deliver personalized preparation and ongoing reinforcement without adding a mountain of work to everyone's plates.

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The SDR role is changing.

AI tools are shifting the workflow. Pipeline contribution is under pressure. And leadership teams are watching cost per qualified opportunity more closely than ever. That raises a practical question: What does a high-performing Sales Development model actually look like today?

Our SDR Models & Metrics research is designed to answer exactly that.

For nearly two decades, we’ve surveyed revenue leaders to understand how sales teams structure the SDR role and what performance actually looks like in the field. We’ve now launched the 11th edition of the study, and we’re inviting leaders to participate.

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Every two years, we ask a simple question: how is the AE role changing?

For 2026, the answer is: in many ways. The market hasn't snapped back to the 2021/early-2022 peak. AEs are carrying more responsibility, selling into harder-to-move buying committees, and increasingly relying on self-sourcing, role consolidation, and AI-assisted workflows to make the number.

Kyle Smith and I preview the key findings in the video below. The full report draws on responses from 158 B2B companies and marks the 10th biennial edition of our AE research.

 

Here are a few standouts.

Quota attainment is under significant pressure

48% of reps achieved annual quota in 2026, down from 51% in 2024 and well below the long-term trend. The distribution has also shifted with fewer companies sitting in the 50–90% range, while more are in the 0–30% danger zone. That combination points to something more than a mild productivity dip: a fundamental mismatch between market conditions and the operating model.

 Review the complete findings, methodology, and research limitations.

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The Account Executive role is changing.

AI tools have entered the workflow. Sales cycles are under pressure. And leadership teams are watching pipeline efficiency more closely than ever. That raises a practical question: What does a high-performing AE model actually look like today?

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