AI use is up. Quota clarity is down.
A new survey of 500 US sellers shows a simple truth: more AI isn't fixing broken sales planning. Teams are starting the year blind and losing time to admin that should be automated.
Nearly three-quarters begin the fiscal year without assigned quotas (71%). Almost a quarter don't have specific sales goals at all (23%). Only 29% get targets within the first week, while 42% wait a month or more.
What sellers are up against
- Sales cycles got longer for 49% of respondents.
- 90% faced obstacles to hitting targets: 52% cited economic shifts, 39% customer-side changes, and 31% internal org changes.
Frequent quota updates aren't fixing the stall at the start of the period
Target cycles are getting shorter. 49% of orgs now set or update quotas more often than three years ago, with 28% on quarterly cycles and 27% on monthly cycles.
Faster cycles can help-if they arrive on time and with clear rules. When targets show up late and then move fast, week one turns into catch-up instead of pipeline work.
How reps actually use AI (and why it stalls)
AI is in the workflow for 81% of sellers. Top use cases are customer research (43%), drafting emails (39%), and meeting transcription (35%). Most users (71%) say AI lifts productivity.
The drag: 26% say tools are too basic, 22% don't trust accuracy, and 20% lack training. If AI doesn't plug into your process with quality checks and clear SOPs, it adds noise instead of speed. For practical ideas on workflows and tools, see AI for Sales.
Measurement is stuck in the past
11% of sellers are still measured on activity counts like emails sent or calls made. With AI pumping out outreach at scale, activity volume says less about skill or intent.
Shift the scorecard to outcomes and quality: conversion by stage, meeting quality, multithreading depth, ICP fit, and forecast accuracy. Reward judgment and progress, not just motion.
Commission chaos is draining selling time
77% have experienced commission payout errors. That hits retention and trust: 31% left or considered leaving due to recurring issues, and 21% report lower motivation even if they stayed.
"Shadow accounting" is now normal-commissionable reps spend 1.6 hours per week calculating their own pay. At 500 sellers, that's 40,000+ hours of lost selling time a year. As CaptivateIQ's CEO Mark Schopmeyer put it, "Efforts to modernize mean nothing if reps have no clear direction… or if they are spending all their time calculating payouts instead of closing deals."
A practical playbook for sales leaders
1) Publish quotas on time, then adjust with rules-not surprises
- Set a clear publish-by deadline before day one of the period and hit it.
- Define change windows and thresholds (what can change, by how much, and why).
- Give every rep written rationale and a scenario calculator so they can plan.
- Log rep acknowledgment in your CRM or comp system for auditability.
2) Shorten cycles without causing whiplash
- Use capacity and coverage models to size monthly or quarterly targets.
- Freeze targets mid-cycle; use SPIFFs and overlays for market shifts instead of resets.
- Track the "lost first-week" metric and fix the bottlenecks that create it.
3) Make AI move revenue, not just workload
- Map AI to pipeline stages: research, account planning, email drafts, call notes, follow-ups.
- Ship simple SOPs: prompts, approval rules, and quality checks with human-in-the-loop.
- Train managers to coach on AI output quality, not just usage frequency.
- Measure impact with time-saved, meeting quality, stage conversion, and win-rate lift.
Need a structured approach for your team? Explore the AI Learning Path for Sales Managers.
4) Pay accurately, automatically, transparently
- Centralize plans, rates, and rules in one source of truth; kill spreadsheet drift.
- Automate calculations with clear audit trails from CRM to payout.
- Give reps a live earnings dashboard and a simple dispute process with defined SLAs.
- Run monthly reconciliation and sampling to catch edge cases before payroll.
5) Track what predicts revenue
- Stage-to-stage conversion and cycle-time variance by segment.
- Pipeline coverage by ICP fit and deal size.
- Meeting quality (agenda, next steps, stakeholder depth) and multithreading.
- Forecast accuracy delta vs. actuals, by manager and rep.
What this means for reps
- Ask for quota documentation, timing, and change rules in writing.
- Use AI for research, email drafts, and note-taking-then edit for accuracy and tone.
- Protect selling hours: log commission issues once, then escalate with evidence.
- Track your own conversion, cycle time, and ICP fit-then coach your manager on what you need.
Benchmark and context
For broader industry benchmarks on sales org structure and performance, see the latest Salesforce State of Sales.
The takeaway: AI can speed up the work. It can't fix late quotas, noisy metrics, or broken commission operations. Get the basics right, then let AI amplify a system that already runs clean.
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