WBS SEH State of Sales 2025 Report: Key Findings-WBS SEH State of Sales 2025 Report

WBS SEH State of Sales 2025 Report

Pdf Summary

The State of Sales 2025 report says sales remains an important and viable career, but it is still not widely respected. Most respondents (72%) would recommend a sales career to their younger selves, up from 2024, and 81% see sales as critical to their organisation. However, only 36% believe it is a highly regarded profession.<br /><br />The report highlights major challenges facing the profession. The biggest issues are human rather than technical: a shortage of talent and a lack of trust in salespeople. To succeed in the future, salespeople will need a “hybrid” skill set that combines emotional intelligence and relationship-building with AI competence and data fluency.<br /><br />AI is now seen as unavoidable in sales. Compared with 2024, when its impact felt speculative, 2025 respondents believe sales skills must evolve, AI will reshape the sales role, and it may also reduce the number of sales jobs.<br /><br />For UK sales organisations, economic uncertainty and talent constraints are now the most significant barriers to hitting targets.<br /><br />Overall, the report argues that sales is becoming more complex and demanding, requiring a new type of salesperson who is both consultative and digitally capable.

Keywords

State of Sales 2025

sales career

sales profession

AI in sales

hybrid skills

emotional intelligence

data fluency

talent shortage

trust in salespeople

economic uncertainty