Your B2B Sales & Marketing Wrapped

From: Selling Signals Newsletter

Date: January 6, 2026

Jan 06, 2026

Selling Signals Wrapped: Our 2025 year in review

Every year, I look forward to one thing almost as much as the holidays themselves: Spotify Wrapped. It’s part nostalgia, part validation, and part “Oh wow, I really listened to that a lot.”

So, to kick off 2026, I wanted to do the same thing for Selling Signals.

This issue is our B2B Sales & Marketing Wrapped, a look back at what drove the most engagement across the newsletter in 2025, paired with what those signals are pointing to for 2026.

Think of it as a year-in-review meets early forecasting, without the spreadsheets.

Over the past year, a few key themes resonated with you:

How AI and algorithms shape visibility.
How buyers move through increasingly self-guided journeys.
Why emotional storytelling still matters in B2B.
Why practical, actionable guidance consistently outperforms hype.

I also spent time at LeanData’s 2026 GTM Predictions & Trends event, where many of these same ideas came up from a different angle, especially around AI governance, data quality, and buying group complexity.

So, let’s rewind 2025, press play on 2026, and talk about what actually matters as you continue into Q1.

Sales Action

Your 2025 selling wrapped → What to do next

Sales engagement patterns in 2025 made one thing clear: Buyers didn’t disappear. They changed how they buy.

At LeanData’s 2026 GTM Predictions & Trends event, the message was consistent: Buying has become more complex, not simpler. Buying groups are larger, decision paths are harder to see, and sales teams are often entering conversations later in the journey.

Here’s what that means for sales teams heading into 2026 and how to act on it.

🎧 Most Replayed: Forecasting still matters
Forecasting is evolving, not going away. AI-assisted forecasting is also gaining traction, but it only works when the underlying data is reliable.

What to do now:

Review pipeline stage definitions and exit criteria.
Clean up stalled or miscategorized deals.
Use AI insights to spot patterns, then validate them with rep input.

🔁 On Repeat: Buying groups over single champions
Relying on one champion is increasingly risky. Deals now depend on multiple influencers and decision-makers.

What to do now:

Identify at least three roles involved in each active opportunity.
Track who influences, who approves, and who blocks deals.
Tailor follow-ups to support group decision-making, not just one contact.

⚠️ Skipped Too Often: AI guardrails
AI agents and automation can support research, prioritization, and follow-up, but governance matters.

What to do now:

Define where automation is allowed and where human review is required.
Monitor AI-driven outreach for tone, relevance, and timing.
Correct bad signals early before they scale.

📈 Trending Up: Self-guided buyers
Many prospects now arrive already educated through AI-driven search, summaries, and content.

What to do now:

Ask what they’ve already researched.
Skip introductory pitching when it’s unnecessary.
Focus conversations on clarification, tradeoffs, and decision support.

🎯 Wrapped summary: The strongest sales teams in 2026 won’t chase every signal. They’ll focus on the ones grounded in real buyer behavior, supported by clean data, and aligned across GTM teams.

Sales Signals

🤖 12 predictions for the 2026 AI reckoning — The honeymoon is over - Forbes outlines why 2026 will be a turning point for AI in business, shifting from experimentation to accountability. A useful read for sales leaders thinking about where AI adds real value versus where governance, data quality, and trust will become non-negotiable.

🧠 B2B buyers are human too: Understanding the psychology behind B2B marketing - A reminder that even in complex deals, buyer decisions are shaped by psychology, emotion, and cognitive bias. This piece breaks down why social proof, authority, and familiarity still matter and how sales teams can apply those insights in real conversations.

🔮 Forrester’s 2026 B2B marketing, sales, and product predictions - Forrester’s official outlook on what B2B teams should prepare for in 2026, including increased buying group complexity, AI adoption pressures, and tighter alignment between sales, marketing, and product. A strong big-picture read to pressure-test your Q1 plans.

Marketing Movement

Your 2025 marketing wrapped → What to double down on in 2026

Looking back at 2025 engagement across Selling Signals, one pattern stood out: The content that performed best wasn’t flashy. It was practical, educational, and designed for buyers who wanted answers on their own terms.

If marketing had a Wrapped, here’s what it would tell you to carry into 2026 (and what to leave behind).

▶️ Most-played insight: Buyers want help, not hype
Guides, frameworks, and explainers consistently outperformed promotional content.

Do this in January:

Turn one high-performing blog into a checklist or planning guide.
Create content that answers “what should I do next?”
Reduce campaign language that assumes urgency.

🔁 Repeat on loop: Visibility is algorithm-shaped
Search, social, and AIO results often surface content without context.

Do this in January:

Rewrite intros and headlines to provide greater clarity on your content.
Make positioning explicit in the first few lines.
Audit content for AI readability, not just SEO.

⏩ Skip button pressed: Tool-first AI adoption
The strongest teams didn’t adopt the most tools in 2025. They defined how AI fits their strategy.

Do this in January:

Document where AI supports creation, analysis, or distribution.
Set clear rules for what should remain human-led.
Prioritize data hygiene before scaling automation.

🎧 New favorite track: Content that supports decision-making
Buyers increasingly use marketing content to validate choices they’re already considering.

Do this in January:

Publish comparison guides or tradeoff explanations.
Create content that supports buying groups, not individuals.
Align content topics with sales objections and FAQs.

Marketing in 2026 is less about demand capture and more about decision confidence. The teams that win will design content for discovery, clarity, and trust, not just clicks.

Marketing Signals

📊 Data-driven B2B marketing: Lessons from Spotify Wrapped - A smart breakdown of why Spotify Wrapped works and how B2B marketers can apply the same data storytelling principles to make insights feel personal, memorable, and actionable.

✍️ 5 newsletter growth trends we're taking into 2026 - Our look at what actually drove newsletter growth and engagement in 2025, with clear takeaways for marketers planning audience strategy, content cadence, and value delivery in the year ahead.

📈 2025 demand gen report year in review special reports - A comprehensive recap of 2025 B2B marketing research, highlighting shifts in buyer behavior, content preferences, and demand strategies that will shape planning for 2026. An excellent curation of resources if you’re tired of searching the internet for marketing trends and challenges.

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Mixed Signals

2025 gave us better questions, sharper conversations, and stronger alignment between sales and marketing. As we head into 2026, the opportunity isn’t to chase every new trend, but to build on what actually worked.

If you want to revisit the signals that shaped the year, and all of the noise that tried to get in the way, you can explore the full 2025 Selling Signals newsletter archive.

Meet Our Writer

Faithe J. Day, Ph.D.

Senior Staff Writer

Faithe has spent more than a decade helping people understand the tools that move business forward. With a Ph.D. in Communication Studies, she breaks down project management, office tech, and social platforms into practical insights for sales and marketing teams.