2025 Workplace trends: Redefining the future of work

The state of sales: What drives modern sales teams in 2025

What do modern sales pros really care about? We surveyed seasoned revenue leaders to uncover their goals, their challenges, and what they wish more brands understood. From full-cycle selling to AI curiosity, dive into the data shaping the future of sales.

Much like marketing leaders, sales folks are curious about what other sales leads are up to across industries. How are they approaching their roles, and what do these roles entail within the modern revenue and sales landscape?

Morning Brew, Inc. was curious, too. So ahead of the launch of Revenue Brew, we decided to get the lay of the land on the state of the revenue world. We turned to our trusty insights community, The Breakroom, to get the 411 and gather key insights from a sales-focused audience.

Some background on our respondents

63% are managers or above, and nearly half (49%) have 10+ years in sales/revenue roles. This is a senior, seasoned audience with influence over buying decisions and internal strategy. 48% are ages 18–34, and 52% are 35+, meaning the audience spans emerging leaders and practiced vets united by a shared focus on revenue-driving impact.

Some overarching gold nuggets of wisdom they shared with us?

“It’s not personal; it’s a roller coaster.”

“Always be learning. If you’re not growing, you’re fading.”

Think like a doctor—your service is valuable, and people are lucky to have you.

With these thoughts in mind, let’s dive into the full findings.

Sales professionals play offense and defense simultaneously

A dominant 69% work full sales cycles, not just pre- or post-sale—indicative of end-to-end ownership in revenue generation. 49% focus on new business while 40% prioritize retention, showing a balanced emphasis on acquisition and long-term client value.

This reveals a cohort tasked with both net new growth and long-term customer value, a dual mandate that demands agility, empathy, and strategic depth.

Advertisers targeting this audience should recognize that these professionals are decision-makers and influencers in both acquisition and retention strategy, making them powerful levers in B2B growth.

Execution, not ideation, is the obsession

When it comes to areas of focus they want to learn more about, there’s limited interest in product-led growth (12%), hiring (10%), or fundraising (6%). Instead, topics like lead gen (34%), customer success (36%), and sales enablement (29%) dominate.

This is a community of operators, not architects—aka pragmatic professionals looking to scale smarter, not just theorize about the future.

With this in mind, advertisers can position themselves as partners in performance, not just vision.

Sales pros feel ready to win, but are their voices being heard?

Despite high self-reported support from managers (87%) and confidence in customer readiness (70% feel they are adequately trained), 39% feel their feedback is ignored.

They feel equipped to succeed but don't always feel heard by their organization.

These professionals are under-leveraged reservoirs of insight and innovation, meaning they’re an audience that appreciates being heard and empowered. Advertisers can win by positioning themselves as allies who elevate, not just equip.

87%

believe they have adequate support from their manager/team to succeed in their role.

70%

say they were provided sufficient training to meet customer needs effectively.

39%

say the feedback they give to internal teams is often ignored or deprioritized.

The real bottleneck isn’t external. It’s internal.

While external pressures like lead generation and market noise are clear challenges, internal silos (69%) and misaligned KPIs (71%) are seen as even greater threats to success.

These professionals feel that the real drag comes from within the walls, not outside them. This makes them uniquely receptive to solutions that promise clarity, collaboration, and speed.

There are key messaging opportunities for advertisers offering SaaS, sales enablement, and rev ops tools.

Tech satisfaction is lukewarm, and leaders feel the drag more

Though 67% are satisfied with their tools, only 11% are truly enthusiastic (very satisfied), and team leads are much more likely to feel slowed down by their tech stacks.

Leadership bears the brunt of inefficiencies, signaling an appetite for streamlined, intuitive solutions. 52% of team leads agree that their company’s tools slow them down, compared to only 38% of individual contributors.

Those managing across functions seem to bear the brunt of tech drag. For tech vendors, this can be fertile ground: Pitch usability and time to impact, not just features.

They live in the inbox and love the scroll

Newsletters (64%) are sales folks’ top way of staying informed (well, would ya look at that? 💪), followed by social (54%). Long-form PDFs and static white papers, however, fall flat.

For Revenue Brew, for example, this means the format is perfectly aligned with habits. As for advertisers, this audience is already primed to engage, not just glance.

AI curiosity is sky-high, but it’s still just a tool, not a savior

Seems AI is, in fact, everywhere.

38% want to learn more about AI and emerging tech, and tools like ChatGPT (10%) and broader AI applications (9%) were named as favorites.

AI is no silver bullet, though. It’s part of a larger tool kit that includes Salesforce, LinkedIn, and Notion.

Sales professionals are excited by AI but crave integration, context, and real productivity outcomes. This offers up a clear lane for smart, AI-enhanced tools to make their mark.

Salespeople are their own best coaches, and they’re hungry to learn

Open-ended responses highlight themes of self-motivation, continuous learning, and systems building. Sales professionals value curiosity, coaching, and craftsmanship.

Messages and content that speak to growth, mastery, and mentorship can deeply resonate. This is a growth-oriented audience primed for thought leadership and toolkits, not just clickbait.

Here are our respondents’ most popular verbiage when answering this question: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone in your role?

Putting the rev in revenue

Revenue leaders and professionals feel equipped to succeed, and they’re hungry for the green light to make their voices heard.

They have the tools, the talent, and the tenacity, but what they want now is permission to lead with impact. Their priorities are loud and clear: less theory, more traction. They’re leaning into lead generation, customer success, and enablement, all practical levers that drive performance.

This is an audience dialed into execution. They’re not just open to learning; they’re hungry for it. What they need is the infrastructure to accelerate: smarter tools, smoother workflows, and partners who don’t just promise growth but also unlock it.

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