7 Proven Ways to Improve Sales Performance in 2026

Introduction

Your sales team is hitting their targets, the revenue is flowing in, and customer satisfaction is at an all-time high. Sounds like a dream, right? 

But what if I tell you that this scenario isn’t just for the top 1% of businesses? 

When a sales team consistently hits its targets, revenue increases, and the business becomes more sustainable. However, achieving this level of performance isn't always easy, and many team members struggle to meet their sales goals, even with the best efforts.

Sales Insights Lab Sales reports show that only 24.3% of salespeople exceeded their quota last year. 

That growth is steered by continuously improving sales performance. So, how do you improve your team performance? 

Improving sales performance isn’t a quick fix. It’s a structured process that involves clear goal-setting, customer-centric thinking, smart technology adoption, and continuous coaching. When done right, the results are huge. Increased revenue, better conversion rates, and scalable growth. 

In this guide, we’ll explore the most actionable strategies to improve sales performance and factors affecting it. 

What is Sales Performance?

Sales performance refers to how well a sales team or individual salesperson achieves their sales targets and objectives. It's a measure of effectiveness in generating revenue and acquiring new business. 

Sales performance management involves the strategies, processes, and technologies used to monitor, analyze, and improve sales team effectiveness. Sales performance evaluate key factors such as sales revenue, conversion rates, deal size, win rates, and quota attainment, as well as qualitative aspects like sales rep competency and customer satisfaction. 

What does a Good Sales Performance Look Like?

A good sales performance is consistent, measurable, and sustainable. It’s not just about hitting targets once,  it’s about doing it quarter after quarter. 

It isn’t about just closing the deals, but also about adapting the behaviors, systems, and strategies that lead to sustainable success. 

From a practical standpoint, good sales performance blends output metrics like revenue and conversion rate with quality indicators like customer satisfaction and retention. Hitting a revenue target means little if your churn rate spikes or if deals require steep discounts to close. 

High-performing teams share several traits:

• Consistently meeting or exceeding KPIs.
• Maintaining conversion rates above industry benchmarks.
• Demonstrating strong customer loyalty and repeat purchases.
• Adapting quickly to market and customer changes.

What Factors Affect Sales Performance? 

Before you start with these ideas to improve sales team performance, it’s important to consider the factors that affect it. Below, we’ve listed these factors in detail: 

1. Product Quality

No sales strategy, however brilliant, can consistently overcome a product that doesn’t deliver on its promise. A poor product quality doesn’t just lead to lost sales, it also damages your reputation and future pipeline. 

Also, 87% of customers believe that reviews left by common people in businesses have a much greater impact on their purchasing decisions. No matter how good your salespeople are, a good product quality is paramount. Even the best sales practices won’t be able to impact your sales performance. 

Since the sales reps often hear customer complaints or feature requests first, there should be a direct feedback loop or channel to connect with the product team. 

2. Pricing Strategy

 Pricing is one of the most sensitive touchpoints in a sales conversation. Around 58% of the customers want to talk about the pricing on the first sales call. 

So, get it wrong, and you either lose potential customers or leave revenue on the table. Research by Insivia suggests that even 1% increase in pricing can lead to an average 11% boost in profits.

While deciding the pricing isn’t a sales person thing, it can impact the sales performance. Thus, sales professionals should engage with stakeholders and seniors to determine if the pricing can be slashed. Or if there can be discounts for larger sales volume. 

3. The Quality of Salespeople

W. Clement Stone said: “Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect.”

Even the best product and pricing strategies can fail if salespeople lack the ability to connect with customers, and understand their needs. Hiring salespeople that don’t understand your industry can create bottlenecks and reduce sales process efficiency. 

Ideally, salespeople should not only understand the industry but also customer emotions to address their pain point. Sales leaders often focus on improving the soft skills along with the hard skills. 

It makes sense to hire salespeople who are not only skilled but adaptable to engage in consultative selling. Thus, a successful sales team consists of quality salespeople that know how to convince the customers. .

4. Market Conditions

Market trends, including economic, industry shifts, and competitive dynamics, can dramatically affect sales performance. When the market is favorable, sales teams experience shorter sales cycles and higher demand. 

However, during downturns or periods of uncertainty, buyer hesitation increases, closing deals becomes a challenge. 

Sales teams need to understand the economic climate and industry trends to adjust their approach. During difficult times, it’s essential to reframe sales tactics and focus on cost-effective solutions.

For instance, in a recession, a manufacturing equipment supplier might shift its messaging to highlight cost savings and long-term ROI, offering flexible payment terms to make the investment more appealing. 

5. Team Motivation

Motivation is what drives a salesperson to push through tough rejections and consistently seek new leads. Motivated salespeople are more likely to engage with prospects, maintain high activity levels, and close more deals. 

On the other hand, a lack of motivation leads to disengagement, lower sales productivity, and higher turnover. When employees feel motivated, their work performance improves by 20%. 

The motivation of your sales team hinges on how well they understand their goals, incentives, and purpose. Salespeople need to know why their work matters and how it directly contributes to company success.

7 Actionable Strategies to Improve Sales Performance

Based on these factors, let’s look at these strategies to improve sales performance. These sales performance methodologies will help you boost sales and improve sales revenue.

1. Set Clear and Achievable Sales Goals

Clear, measurable, and realistic goals are crucial to improve sales performance. Sales goals that keep teams focused and aligned with the business’s objectives. 

Not only these goals keep your team motivated, but they also provide a benchmark for evaluating progress. When goals are vague, it becomes difficult to track success or identify areas for improvement. 

Goal setting increases job satisfaction, with employees being 6.7 times more likely to feel proud of their organization. 

To set effective goals, sales managers should ensure that targets are aligned with both short-term and long-term objectives. It is also important to break down large goals into smaller, actionable milestones that can be celebrated along the way. 

2. Create a Customer-Centric Sales Process

A customer-centric sales process is crucial in building trust, improving engagement, and increasing conversions. A tailored sales approach that solves customer pain points rather than focusing on the product features results in more meaningful customer relationships.

According to Salesforce, 84% of business buyers expect sales reps to act as trusted advisors. Customer-centric selling works as a trusted advisor by establishing a long term relationship with the customers to identify their challenges. 

When salespeople focus on solving customers' problems, they feel more valued and are more likely to return for future purchases. 

Instead of entering into sales conversation with a question like “How can I convince the customers to buy my product?”, sales reps should ask questions like:

• What knowledge should I share with the customers to find their right solution? 
• How can my solution improve customer’s lives? 
• How do I improve the customer interactions at all touchpoints?

Lastly, it is also important that the marketing and sales teams work together to ensure that the customer experience is seamless and personalized across all touchpoints.

3. Optimize your Sales Strategy

Your sales strategy needs consistent optimization so that things don’t fall apart. Optimizing begins with analyzing your existing sales process. Evaluate where bottlenecks exist and where opportunities are being missed. Use sales data from your CRM to uncover trends and identify gaps.

An important part of optimization is sales pipeline analysis. This involves reviewing each stage in the pipeline to identify where prospects drop off and adjusting tactics accordingly. Also, adopting a more agile sales strategy allows teams to quickly adapt to changing market conditions. 

For instance, in a saturated market, narrowing the focus to niche segments can improve conversion rates and reduce wasted effort. That said, sales organizations should conduct regular sales performance evaluation and optimize the necessary strategies. 

4. Improve Sales Enablement with Effective Content

Sales enablement is all about equipping your sales team with the resources they need to succeed. Effective content such as product demos, case studies, whitepapers, and ROI calculators is a critical part of this.

In fact, 76% of leaders attribute improvements in sales performance to their investments in sales enablement. Content enables sales reps to engage prospects with relevant, timely information. It helps them address pain points, demonstrate the value of the solution, and move prospects further down the sales funnel.

When salespeople have the right content at their fingertips, they can engage prospects with relevant and timely information that speaks directly to their concerns. This not only helps in addressing customer pain points but also shortens the sales cycle by moving prospects down the sales funnel faster. 

Well-designed sales content can also help manage objections and make it easier for sales reps to demonstrate the value of a product.

5. Use Sales Automation Tools

Automation tools, such as automated email sequences, lead scoring, CRM integrations, and follow-up reminders creates a workflow to improve sales process. According to McKinsey, about one-third of all sales tasks can be automated. 

The same research also suggests that early adoption of sales automation can increase revenue by up to ten percent. This efficiency is crucial, as it frees up time for salespeople to focus on high-value activities like relationship-building and closing complex deals.

For example, using automated email sequences can ensure that leads are consistently followed up without requiring salespeople to manually send each email. Lead scoring helps prioritize leads based on their likelihood to convert, allowing sales teams to focus their efforts on prospects with the highest potential.

Implementing sales automation tools not only reduces administrative burden but also ensures consistency in outreach and follow-up. This consistency helps build trust with prospects and keeps sales cycles on track.

6. Create Incentive Programs

Sales leaders should consistently reward the sales reps to improve their sales performance and strive them to work better. Thus, a sales incentive program is paramount for motivating sales teams. A well-designed compensation plan drives performance by rewarding behaviors that contribute to the company’s success.

Typically, a 50:50 or 60:40 split, where the base salary provides financial stability and commissions serve as performance incentives, works best. This balance encourages sales reps to work towards higher goals while maintaining financial security. 

A key aspect is aligning compensation with the company's strategic objectives, ensuring that top performers are rewarded not only for closing sales but for behaviors that support long-term growth, such as upselling and customer renewals.

It’s also crucial to set clear, achievable targets that motivate the sales team. These targets should be data-backed and based on historical performance to ensure they are both challenging and attainable.

Compensation plans should be simple, transparent, and easy to understand, and ensure that sales reps know exactly how their earnings are calculated. Tools like Everstage offer AI capabilities to automate compensation calculations. Features like real-time visibility, multi-stage approvals, and custom permissions allow for more flexibility into the incentive plan. 

7. Focus on Ongoing Training and Sales Coaching

Every salesperson, irrespective of their position, needs comprehensive coaching to understand the company culture. Furthermore, sales coaching also trains them for critical situations and improves their decision-making. 

However, only 53% of sales leaders utilize coaching solutions. Thus, your sales coaching programs should start  right from the sales reps onboarding.

Sales coaching mentors salespeople to identify their strengths for improvement and guides them through complex sales scenarios. This approach helps reps develop essential soft skills such as communication, negotiation, and relationship-building. 

Regular coaching sessions, such as role-playing scenarios, pipeline reviews, and post-deal debriefs, provide opportunities for salespeople to practice and apply feedback in real-time. These interactions allow managers to provide constructive feedback, while also motivating the team by celebrating wins and acknowledging growth.

Conclusion

Improving sales performance is an ongoing process that requires a strategic approach and consistent effort. By setting clear and achievable goals, and using sales automation tools, you can streamline operations and increase efficiency. 

Regular coaching and feedback further enhance individual skills, inculcating a culture of continuous improvement. The key is to align sales incentives with business goals, ensuring that motivation drives the right behaviors. 

Want to align your organization’s goals with commissions based incentives? Try Everstage for building your employee incentive programs.