Gartner CSO & Sales Leader Conference: Day 1 Highlights

We are bringing you news and highlights from Day 1 of the Gartner CSO & Sales Leader Conference, taking place this week in Las Vegas. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of the conference. 

On Day 1, we are highlighting how to redesign the sales manager role of the future, how CSOs can lead sales in the AI era and how to create a frictionless buyer experience. 

• Gartner Survey Shows 31% of Chief Sales Officers Cited Difficulty Proving ROI of AI-driven Tools as a Top Challenge for Sales Objectives in 2026
• Gartner Survey Finds AI Saves Sellers Nearly 5 Hours Per Week, Yet 72% of Sales Organizations Fail to Reinvest Time in High-Value Activities
• Gartner Survey Finds 69% of B2B Buyers Turn to Sales Reps to Validate AI-Generated Insights
• Gartner Survey Finds Sales Organizations That Provide AI-Enabled Next Best Actions Are 2.6x More Likely to Achieve Commercial Growth

Presented by Michael Katz, Sr. Director Analyst, Gartner

Frontline sales managers are often treated like the organizational “junk drawer” — the catch‑all role that absorbs everything from approvals and reporting to training, territory strategy, and last‑minute deal rescue missions. In his session, Michael Katz, Sr. Director Analyst at Gartner, made a direct case for redesigning the sales manager role, so it becomes a force multiplier and not a pressure valve.

• “You have managers focusing on the wrong tasks, and that dilutes their impact — or worse, it inhibits seller productivity.”

• “Role ambiguity creates variance in activity, overwhelmed managers, and enablement challenges.”

• “Over half of managers say their day-to-day responsibilities are completely different from their formal job description.”

• “The manager role needs to be redesigned by following a roadmap: reinvent the role’s purpose, audit manager activities, and rebuild the impactful future role.”

• "A lot of leaders still want managers to be super sellers: sixty-three percent of CSOs and senior sales leaders rank selling and closing as a top activity where managers should spend their time."

• "There needs to be a standardized purpose, so managers aren’t pulled in every direction by whoever needs something next. A mission statement for sales managers is needed, so they understand what the role is for.” 

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with Michael Katz by contacting Juliette Dixon at juliette.dixon@gartner.com.

Robert Blaisdell VP Analyst, Chief of Research, Gartner

Chief Sales Officers (CSOs) are facing pressure from various directions, including rising productivity expectations, faster transformation timelines, cost scrutiny, and a level of economic volatility that makes long-term planning feel like guesswork. In this session, Robert Blaisdell, VP Analyst, Chief of Research at Gartner, shared how CSOs must focus on three priorities to address this challenge.

• “There are three critical topics that CSOs must prioritize to make an impact in 2026:

  • Drive sales productivity by leading the creation of a sales-centric AI portfolio roadmap.

  • Enhance seller effectiveness and buyer engagement by transforming GTM motions aligned to buyer preferences.

  • Improve seller performance by maximizing the impact of the sales manager with role clarity and organizational support.”

• “A significant barrier to realizing AI's potential in sales is the limited level of knowledge and experience of CSOs in technology initiatives.”

• "While 70% of CSOs are accountable for driving an AI ROI inside the sales org, only 13% of CEOs think their CSO is strongly AI-savvy.”

• “The buyer journey is basically split-brain now — buyers want AI for the cold, factual evaluation, and they prefer sales reps for trust and validation. They’re delegating logic and craving connection at the exact same time.”

• “Your content strategy must be bilingual: you need data-rich, fluff-free collateral for the buyer's AI agent, and highly empathetic, relationship-driven narratives for the human buyer.”

   

  Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with Robert Blaisdell by contacting Juliette Dixon at juliette.dixon@gartner.com.

Presented by Alyssa Cruz, Director Analyst, Gartner 

Lengthening sales cycles and stalled deals are among the top threats hitting revenue targets today. In this session, Alyssa Cruz, Director Analyst atGartner, explained why pipelines are stalling and how to better engage buyers by implementing “frictionless” buyer experiences. 

• “Although two-thirds of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free experience, they still recognize the value of sellers in high impact moments. If sales leaders keep forcing early engagement, they’re building pipeline friction, not a pipeline.”

• “Seventy-three percent of buyers avoid suppliers who send irrelevant messaging, so if your pipeline strategy is ‘more touches,’ you may be training buyers to opt out.”

• “Buyer trust is the constraint: only 33% of buyers rank supplier-provided generative AI as trustworthy. Buyers trust your content more than your bots, so use AI to enable progress, not to ‘sell’ at scale.”

• “Poor digital experiences don’t just annoy buyers — they stall revenue. Fifty-seven percent of buyers hit multiple moments where they stopped making progress and unnecessarily delayed the purchase.”

• “When buying-group dysfunction is low, buyers are 13x more likely to report a high-quality deal — so sellers win by promoting group decision confidence, not by pushing harder.”

• “High-quality outcomes are measurable: when buyers experience value affirmation from sales reps, 75% report a high-quality deal. Verification beats persuasion.”

   

  Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with Alyssa Cruz by contacting Juliette Dixon at juliette.dixon@gartner.com.