January 31, 2026 | Read online
Why Top Sales Teams Win on Leverage (Not Hustle)
by Kevin 'KD' Dorsey
Let me start with a hard truth, y’all:
The gap between average sales teams and top performers isn’t effort.
It’s leverage.
Most teams are grinding. Top teams are engineering momentum.
Same reps. Same hours in the day. Very different outcomes.
Why?
Because the best teams aren’t trying to “work more deals.”
They’re letting systems do the heavy lifting between conversations.
The 20-Hour Blind Spot in Your Sales Motion
Let’s do some real math.
Your reps are in meetings maybe 3 - 4 hours a day. Even the busiest AEs cap out around there.
So what’s happening the other 20+ hours?
For most teams?
- Silence
- Waiting
- “Just circling back” emails
- Deals slowly bleeding out
For the best teams? The deal is still moving.
Buyers are still engaging. Signals are still being captured. Momentum is still compounding.
Without a rep being on a call. That’s the leverage gap.
AI Is Changing the Role of the Seller (Whether You Like It or Not)
We’re in the middle of a role shift.
The seller is moving from:
❌ Reactive meeting jockey
✅ Architect of buyer momentum
And before anyone panics - this is not about replacing sellers.
It’s about removing the parts of the job that never should’ve been manual in the first place.
AI-driven selling isn’t about “automation for automation’s sake.”
It’s about answering one question better than your competitors:
“What should happen next in this deal?”
And doing something about it faster.
Where Everyone Gets AI Completely Wrong
Here’s the mistake I see over and over again:
People think AI will fix their sales process.
It won’t.
AI doesn’t fix broken processes. AI amplifies whatever you already have.
- Messy process? → Faster mess
- No deal discipline? → Louder chaos
- Weak follow-up? → Automated mediocrity
But… If your process is dialed?
AI becomes a cheat code.
That’s the part nobody wants to admit. Because it means you still have to do the hard work first.
The Real Problem: Deals Don’t Die… They Drift
Most sellers don’t lose deals in dramatic fashion.
Deals don’t explode. They don’t get formally “killed.”
They just… stall.
And the scary part?
Sellers usually don’t see it coming.
Because drift happens between meetings.
- After the demo
- Before the internal buy-in
- During “evaluation”
- While the buyer is “busy”
This is where momentum either compounds - or evaporates.
And this is exactly where AI actually helps when used correctly.
The Teams Winning Right Now Are Doing 3 Things Differently
1. They Know Where Deals Actually Slow Down
Not vibes. Not gut feel.
They know:
- Which stage leaks momentum
- Where buyers disengage
- What signals precede a stall
This is impossible to see manually at scale.
AI surfaces patterns humans miss because humans are bad at pattern recognition across hundreds of deals.
2. They Use AI to Surface Intent (Not Replace Judgment)
This is key.
AI doesn’t “decide” for the seller. It augments them.
Think:
- Engagement patterns across stakeholders
- Content consumption signals
- Changes in buying behavior
- Silence that means something
Humans are still the decision-makers. AI just hands them better information, faster.
3. They’ve Redefined “Next-Best Action”
Most teams say this phrase.
Very few mean it.
“Next-best action” is not: “Follow up again”, “Check in”, “Just bumping this”
Real next-best action answers:
👉 What moves this specific buyer forward right now?
Sometimes that’s:
- An async demo sent to a new stakeholder
- A targeted insight tied to their role
- A recap that reframes value
- Silence (yes, sometimes doing nothing is the move)
AI helps identify which one matters, in this deal, at this moment.
Async Is the Secret Weapon Nobody Fully Uses
Let’s be honest.
Buyers don’t want more meetings. They want progress.
The best teams are using async to:
- Reinforce value after meetings
- Advance internal alignment
- Keep momentum without chasing calendars
This looks like short, role-specific demo clips, insight-led follow-ups (not recaps), and content that answers objections before they surface.
This is how deals move while you sleep.
(PS — yes, Consensus powers a big part of this. And for good reason.)
Why I’m Covering This Live at DEMOFEST Virtual
That’s why at DEMOFEST Virtual, I’m not just talking about AI.
I’m covering both sides of the equation:
- What a great sales process actually looks like
- How AI takes that process to the next level
Because too many teams are secretly hoping AI will save them.
It won’t.
You have to do it well first.
Then AI helps you do it at scale.
What I’m Going Tactical On (No Fluff)
This isn’t theory. This is what we’re actually doing in real deals.
We’ll break down:
- Where deals actually slow down (and why sellers miss it)
- How AI surfaces intent signals humans can’t see
- What “next-best action” looks like in live pipeline
- How async demos, insights, and follow-ups create momentum without chasing
If your deals are stalling and you’re not sure why… This one’s for you.
And if you’ve ever seen me present, you already know the deal:
I’m almost always bringing a gift.
Checklist, framework, template… something you can steal and use immediately 🔥
Final Thought
This moment in sales isn’t about working harder.
It’s about building unfair leverage in a world where speed wins.
The teams that figure this out now?
They won’t just win more deals. They’ll win them faster, with less stress, and more predictability.
See you at DEMOFEST.
