Why Sales Is Broken

Why Sales Is Broken—and What We’re Building at SecondBody to Fix It

I’ve been thinking a lot about a recent episode of the Topline podcast. It's a goldmine of insights—AJ Bruno, Asit Zaman, and Sam Jacobs in conversation with Guy Rubin of Ebsta, unpacking some cold, hard truths about B2B sales right now. I don’t usually shout out podcast episodes, but this one hit. Hard. Not because it was surprising, but because it validated something we’ve felt in our bones at SecondBody: the way we build and scale revenue teams is fundamentally broken.

Let me explain.

The Data That Should Rattle You

Guy Rubin shared something that should stop every sales leader in their tracks: 14% of reps are generating 80% of new revenue. Last year, that number was 20%. And here's the kicker—78% of sales reps have already missed quota in 2025.

Let that sink in.

This isn’t a dip. It’s a decline. And Rubin’s not blaming reps—he’s holding up a mirror to leadership. And I agree.

This isn’t a people problem. This is a systems problem.

What SecondBody Sees

SecondBody was built from the belief that our current systems don’t help people grow—they sort and discard. We believe the next generation of high-performance teams won’t be built on gut feel and top-heavy bets on “A-players.” They’ll be built by cultivating durable behaviors across a wider base of people.

That requires visibility. It requires insight. And it requires real-time feedback loops that actually reflect how work is getting done.

Ebsta’s report analyzed 650,000 sales opportunities. Add that to their survey of 2,000 CROs and VPs of Sales, and the message is clear: organizations that win are data-structured, not just data-informed.

This is what we’re building into SecondBody from day one. A system that learns how people win—and teaches others how to do the same. That’s the mission.

AI Won’t Save You (Yet)

There’s this fantasy floating around that AI is going to turn mediocre reps into closers. What Rubin said on the podcast really landed with me: if your foundation is chaotic, AI just scales the chaos.

At SecondBody, we’re not interested in building more dashboards or activity trackers. We’re interested in capturing what works—and embedding those patterns into your workflows in ways that guide, not distract.

AI is only useful when it’s pointing at the right problems. Otherwise, you’re just measuring noise.

Consistency > Talent Hoarding

This one might be controversial. There's this romanticism in tech about “hiring only A-players.” But the reality is, great sales orgs aren’t great because they only hire the best. They’re great because they make the average rep better than average.

Rubin showed how organizations that enforced structure—multi-threaded engagement, qualifying rigor, strict stage-gating—saw 87% improvements in win rates. With the same reps.

At SecondBody, we call this “unlocking second bodies.” That part of a person that can stretch further, think more critically, operate more consistently—but only if you give them the tools to do it.

It’s not about replacing people. It’s about activating more of them.

Full-Cycle Selling Is Back. Are You Ready?

One big shift Rubin called out is the rise of full-cycle selling. 46% of companies now expect reps to prospect, close, and manage post-sale expansion. The reason? Customers want continuity. And fragmented handoffs kill trust.

But here’s the thing: this only works if you reduce complexity, not pile on more. Reps are overwhelmed. Tool sprawl is real. The job scope is bloated.

SecondBody is focused on simplifying this. Our system doesn't just track what reps do—it learns how they win. Then we guide them to repeat those behaviors, consistently. It’s like giving every rep their own personal ops team that helps them work smarter, not harder.

Volatility Isn’t the Problem. Indecision Is.

There was optimism going into 2025: win rates up 19%, deal sizes up 54%, expansion up 45%. Then volatility returned. Some leaders panicked. Others got focused.

Here’s what Rubin's data shows: most orgs waste too much time chasing dead deals. One company had 250+ deals in pipeline for over 180 days with a 2% close rate.

Why?

Because they didn’t know what “dead” looked like.

SecondBody is about clarity. We help you see, in real time, what’s alive and what’s dead. Who’s gaining momentum and who’s stuck. We don’t believe in forecasting hope. We believe in forecasting behavior.

The Leadership Wake-Up Call

Here’s what I took away from this entire conversation: leadership matters more than tooling, more than process, more than product. Not in the abstract sense. In the day-to-day trench work of setting standards, codifying what good looks like, and creating a culture where people can actually improve.

That’s what happened at Ebsta. Same team. New leadership. Tighter process. Outcome? Deal size grew 10x. Revenue up 68%.

We believe every company has this potential—if they build the right feedback loops.

SecondBody is that feedback loop.

If You Remember One Thing

It’s this: the sales organizations that will win in the next five years won’t just hire better people. They’ll make their people better—consistently, systematically, and intentionally.

They’ll do it by turning data into action. By focusing on consistency over heroics. By scaling behavior, not just headcount.

That’s what we’re building at SecondBody. And if that sounds like the future you want to build, too—we should talk.

Want to see how SecondBody can help your team work smarter and win more? We are not hard to find.