Carew report finds economic pressure and buyer access are sales teams' top challenges for 2026

Carew International's new research report says economic pressure and buyer access are the biggest sales challenges heading into 2026, based on responses from professionals across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. The findings suggest economic conditions, leadership effectiveness and relationship-building matter more than AI for sales performance right now.

Why it matters: - Economic pressure and difficulty reaching buyers are shaping sales performance across industries in 2026. - The report suggests sales teams are dealing with more than one problem at once: tighter budgets, shifting priorities and weaker buyer engagement. - The findings point to leadership and coaching as practical levers sales organizations can still control.

What happened: - Carew International released The Challenges Shaping Sales Performance in 2026. - The report asked sales professionals one question: “What is the single biggest challenge facing sales teams today?” - Responses came from sales professionals, sales leaders, consultants, executives and business professionals across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. - The report identified five recurring themes that are shaping sales performance in 2026.

The details: - Economic Pressure led the list at 37%. - Respondents linked that pressure to pricing volatility, budget freezes, freight costs, raw material scarcity and general market uncertainty. - Prospecting and Buyer Access ranked second at 33%. - That challenge included getting appointments, reaching decision-makers, breaking through to buyers already committed elsewhere and turning outreach into real conversations. - Change Management and Shifting Priorities accounted for 11% of responses. - Sales Management, Coaching and Accountability made up 9%. - Mindset, Motivation and Sales Culture represented 7%. - Very few respondents named artificial intelligence as their primary challenge, despite the attention surrounding AI. - The report says the sales environment is being driven more by economic conditions, buyer behavior, leadership effectiveness and relationship-building than by AI. - One respondent in the nursery and agriculture industry said, “Customers feel they have to skimp like crazy. The economy is going in the trash - that's for everyone.” - A sales consultant in the horticulture and nursery industry said, “The greatest threat to sales culture is apathy. In the marketplace, in work, in our culture - driven by short-form content and short-burst dopamine.” - Anna Luther, director of marketing at Carew International, said people in different industries, countries and roles described the same challenges. - Luther said the report is intended to identify problems and help sales leaders start better conversations with their teams. - The report also includes practical actions sales leaders can implement immediately, discussion questions for team meetings and recommendations for addressing each of the five themes. - The full report is available as the complete State of Sales Leadership 2026 report.

Between the lines: - The results suggest sales organizations are less focused on new technology than on fundamentals such as access, discipline and adaptability. - The cross-industry consistency makes the findings look less like a niche complaint and more like a broad commercial pattern. - Coaching and accountability remain a notable weak point, which could limit how well teams respond to economic pressure.

What's next: - Carew International is positioning the report as a tool for sales leaders to use in team meetings and planning sessions. - Sales organizations can use the five themes to benchmark their own challenges against the broader research. - The report's recommendations may help leaders address buyer access, morale and shifting priorities before those issues worsen.

The bottom line: - In Carew International's view, 2026 sales performance will be decided less by AI hype and more by how well teams handle pressure, reach buyers and stay disciplined.