What Sales Leaders Need to Champion in 2026 (a six-part series)

By Sergio Armani, Founder & CEO, ACG-Clinical

Part 1: The Framework for Cross-Functional Sales Leadership

2026 isn't starting with a clean slate. The economic signals are mixed at best. Federal policies continue shifting in ways that impact not just funding streams, but public perception of clinical research itself. AI promises are everywhere, but actual implementation remains spotty. And if you talk to any research site coordinator, they will tell you the same thing: we are drowning in technology we were never properly trained to use.

For sales leaders in the clinical research vendor space, this complexity creates a temptation to retreat into what feels safe. Focus on activity metrics. Chase more leads. Emphasize relationship selling. Hope that being "nice" and "consultative" will be enough to weather whatever 2026 brings.

It will not be enough.

But here is what makes the challenge even harder. In growth companies especially, there is a dangerous disconnect. Business development chases one strategy. Marketing pushes a different message. Product builds what they think matters. Inside sales tries to make it all work in front of customers and the client is left even more confused than before. The result is missed opportunities and sales teams left to patch together a coherent story from misaligned organizational pieces.

I see this constantly. Too often in growth companies, and frankly in large companies more often than not, these critical functions operate in silos. Each team optimizing for their own goals without a coordinated view of how the company actually wins.

The best sales leaders in 2026 will not be the ones who simply manage their teams better. They will be the ones who champion cross-functional coordination. The ones who ensure that business development, marketing, product, customer success, and sales are all working in a coordinated fashion toward outcomes that actually matter to customers.

I have spent 17 years in this industry, including leading sales teams through multiple economic cycles, policy shifts, and technology disruptions. What I know is this: complexity does not make strategic partnership less important. It makes authentic partnership the only sustainable path forward. But getting there requires sales leaders who are willing to step beyond their functional boundaries and champion what the organization needs to hear, even when it is uncomfortable.

This is Part 1 of a seven-part series. Today I am introducing the six priorities that sales leaders need to champion across their organizations in 2026. Over the next six weeks, I will publish a detailed exploration of each priority—one per week. These are not tactical sales priorities. They are strategic imperatives that require cross-functional alignment, and sales leaders are uniquely positioned to drive that alignment because you live closest to the customer's reality.

Some of these priorities will challenge your current approach. Good. That is the point.

The Six Priorities Sales Leaders Need to Champion in 2026

Priority 1: Navigate Economic Uncertainty by Deepening Partnership Value

When budgets tighten, shallow vendor relationships get cut first. I have watched this play out repeatedly. The "nice" vendor who shows up quarterly with donuts and asks how things are going gets dropped without a second thought. The strategic partner who has demonstrably reduced site burden, improved data quality, or accelerated enrollment timelines becomes non-negotiable.

Economic pressure does not kill partnerships. It exposes which relationships were never partnerships to begin with.

As a sales leader, you need to champion this understanding across your organization. Marketing needs to message partnership value, not product features. Product needs to build capabilities that deliver measurable customer outcomes. Business development needs to target buyers who value strategic partnership over transactional vendor relationships.

In Part 2 of this series, I will show you how to assess whether your organization is truly delivering partnership value or just maintaining pleasant vendor relationships, and how to drive the cross-functional changes required to make the shift.

Priority 2: Understand the Shifting Trust Landscape

Federal and geopolitical policies do more than impact funding. They reshape how the public views clinical research, which in turn affects sponsor priorities, site capabilities, and the entire ecosystem you sell into. Your buyers need partners who understand this broader context, not just product features.

This is not something your sales team can solve alone. Marketing needs this context to position your solutions appropriately. Product needs to understand how policy shifts create new customer requirements. Leadership needs to factor these dynamics into strategic planning.

Sales leaders see these patterns first because you are in customer conversations every day. You hear the anxieties, the shifting priorities, the new constraints. You need to champion this intelligence back into your organization so everyone is operating with the same understanding of the landscape.

In Part 3, we will explore what this actually looks like in practice and how to develop this capability across your organization, not just within your sales team.

Priority 3: Become an Educator, Not Just a Solution Provider

Your customers do not always know what they actually need. They know their pain points, but they often misdiagnose the root causes or grasp for solutions that address symptoms rather than underlying problems. The vendors who win in 2026 will be those who help customers understand their true needs and how specific solutions genuinely solve their problems.

This requires alignment between sales, marketing, and product. If sales is educating customers toward one understanding of their needs, but marketing is messaging something different and product is building toward yet another vision, you create confusion instead of clarity.

Sales leaders need to champion a unified educational approach across the organization. This is not about being condescending or positioning yourself as smarter than your customers. It is about bringing insight, context, and diagnostic capability that helps your buyers make better decisions.

In Part 4, we will dig into what this looks like beyond surface-level discovery questions and consultant-speak, and how to build this capability across your customer-facing functions.

Priority 4: Invest in Your Customers' People, Not Just Their Processes

Here is what most technology vendors miss: your solution is only as good as the people using it. Sites are not struggling because they lack technology. They are struggling because they are drowning in poorly implemented technology that no one was properly trained to use.

This applies to everything from new EDC systems to AI-powered site monitoring tools. Everyone is talking about AI in clinical research. Almost no one is helping sites actually implement it effectively. The same pattern holds for any new technology. The gap between promises and reality is where strategic vendors will build competitive advantage in 2026.

But solving this requires more than a better customer success team. It requires product to think about user adoption from the beginning. It requires marketing to stop making implementation sound effortless. It requires sales to set realistic expectations and business development to target customers who value genuine partnership over quick deployment.

Sales leaders need to champion the hard truth: technology without capable, confident users is worthless. The vendor who solves for training, adoption, and change management builds competitive advantage that feature improvements alone cannot match.

In Part 5, we will dig into what this looks like beyond surface-level customer success programs and how to drive organizational commitment to customer enablement.

Priority 5: Keep Your Eye on the Prize - Making Sites' Lives Easier

I have a thesis that should drive every technology company in clinical research: if you make research sites' lives easier, sponsors and CROs will ultimately win by getting therapies and devices to market faster. This is not theoretical. The data supports it.

But here is what happens. Technology companies get distracted. Product chases competitor features instead of solving real site burdens. Marketing emphasizes technical sophistication over practical value. Business development pursues deals that do not align with the mission. Sales ends up selling solutions that overcomplicate rather than simplify site operations.

The vendors who stay ruthlessly focused on reducing site burden will dominate in 2026 and beyond. But maintaining this focus requires a sales leader willing to champion it across the organization, even when it means pushing back on shiny distractions.

In Part 6, I will show you how to maintain this organizational focus when everything around you is pulling in different directions, and how to align every function around the mission that actually matters.

Priority 6: Transition from Relationship Selling to Strategic Partnership

This is where everything comes together. The "relationship selling" playbook that dominated clinical research vendor sales for the past decade has been diluted into meaningless corporate speak. Long sales cycles got confused with deep partnerships. Consultative approaches became excuses for failing to drive real strategic value.

2026 requires something different, especially for enterprise-wide technology companies. But this transition cannot happen in sales alone. Marketing needs to attract buyers who value partnership. Product needs to build partnership-enabling capabilities. Leadership needs to measure and reward partnership outcomes, not just activity metrics.

In Part 7, I will lay out exactly what authentic strategic partnership looks like, how it differs from traditional relationship selling, and the specific cross-functional shifts your organization needs to make. More importantly, I will show you how to champion these changes as a sales leader, even if you do not have direct authority over every function.

How to Use This Series

This is Part 1 of a seven-part series. Today you have the overview of all six priorities. Starting next week and for the following six weeks, I will publish a detailed exploration of each priority—one per week.

These are not theoretical frameworks. They are based on patterns I have observed working with sales leaders across the clinical research vendor landscape, combined with my own experience building and leading sales organizations in this space.

Each weekly installment will include specific frameworks, real-world examples, and actionable guidance you can implement immediately. You can read them in order or jump to the priorities most relevant to your current challenges. But I encourage you to engage with all six, even the ones that feel less urgent. The sales leaders winning in 2026 will be those who champion cross-functional alignment across all these areas, not just the ones that feel comfortable.

If you are a sales leader who recognizes that the old playbook is not working anymore but are not sure how to drive change beyond your direct team, this series is for you. If you are a founder or CEO watching your organization struggle with misalignment between sales, marketing, product, and strategy, this series will give you a framework for what your sales leader should be championing.

And if you are skeptical that any of this matters because you have been successful doing things the way you have always done them, I especially encourage you to keep reading. The market is shifting faster than you think, and the sales leaders who wait too long to champion these changes will find themselves managing teams that can no longer compete.

What Comes Next

Next week in Part 2, we will tackle Priority 1: Navigate Economic Uncertainty by Deepening Partnership Value. I will break down the difference between vendor relationships and strategic partnerships, show you how to assess where your organization currently stands, and give you a framework for championing the transition across business development, marketing, product, and sales.

Here is what I need from you:

If this framework resonates and you recognize your organization is stuck in the old playbook, do not wait seven weeks to take action. The sales leaders who will dominate in 2026 are the ones making changes now, not passively consuming content and hoping things improve.

I work with sales leaders and organizations in the clinical research vendor space to build authentic partnership capabilities that drive sustainable growth. If you are ready to champion the transition from activity-based selling to strategic partnership development across your organization, let's talk. Email me directly at sergio@acg-clinical.com.

And if you are not ready for that conversation yet, make sure you are following this series. Subscribe to my LinkedIn newsletter or check back at www.acg-clinical.com each week. The insights in the coming installments will challenge how you think about sales leadership in clinical research. That discomfort is the point.

2026 will separate the sales leaders who champion organizational alignment from those who just manage their teams better. Which side do you want to be on?

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or regulatory advice. Readers should consult with qualified professionals for advice specific to their situations.