By Gertrude G. Van Horn, SVP & CIO at Cien.ai

Intro

A disciplined GTM  year-in-review becomes both a strategic asset and a source of competitive advantage.  It serves as a strategic lens through which leaders understand the structural and behavioral forces influencing their growth engine. Too many organizations limit this exercise to top-line metrics—bookings, pipeline generation, win rate, CAC, and churn—without unpacking the  underlying behaviors, trends, and bottlenecks that produced them.

The companies that will outperform in 2026 are those that mine the real value hidden in past performance—moving beyond surface metrics and applying consistent, data-driven rigor to how their go-to-market engine actually operates.

As the CIO at Cien, an award-winning AI-native GTM analytics company, three insights consistently emerge when leaders conduct a disciplined review of the factors that truly drive sales and growth performance—especially when supported by platforms designed to analyze the full revenue engine end to end.

Data Quality Is No Longer Optional

Across many B2B organizations, 20–40% of CRM records contain missing, inconsistent, or duplicated information. This isn’t just an operational nuisance—it directly undermines forecasting accuracy, attribution models, and sales productivity. When leaders debate the validity of their data, confidence wanes and strategic conversations stall.

According to the 2025 State of RevOps Survey, a staggering 71% of companies reported that poor data quality negatively impacts the success of their go-to-market activities.

High-performing organizations addressed this challenge by making data quality measurable and visible. Platforms like Cien’s GTM Suite automatically assess, clean, and standardize CRM data across duplication, completeness, consistency, activity capture, and AI confidence—before any performance analysis takes place. Instead of relying on manual cleanup or one-off fixes, teams gain a continuously improving foundation for insight.

Insight for 2026: Data governance is not an IT project; it is the fuel that drives the revenue engine. GTM leaders who trust their data move faster, align better, and make data-driven  decisions with renewed confidence.

Pipeline Quality Matters More Than Pipeline Volume

In 2025, many organizations reported a growing pipeline alongside declining win rates. This is not a contradiction—it’s a signal. Volume alone obscures the structural issues in targeting, qualification, and deal progression.

The strongest-performing teams shifted their focus to pipeline quality. Using tools like Cien’s GTM Suite, leaders analyzed pipeline by segment, source, creator role, and AI-predicted propensity to win —revealing which deals were structurally likely to convert and which were consuming resources with little return. Armed with these insights, organizations that prioritized quality over quantity improved win rates by 3–7 points while achieving healthier, more predictable revenue outcomes.

Message for 2026: A smaller, higher-quality pipeline consistently outperforms a bloated one. Cien’s GTM Suite enables leaders to see—and act on—that difference early.

Rep Productivity Varies Widely—And Predictably

Across most sales organizations, the top 20% of reps generate 50–70% of bookings. What changed in 2025 was not the distribution but the clarity around why it exists.

Advanced GTM analysis shows that top performers consistently spend more time in discovery, focus on higher-propensity accounts, and engage economic buyers earlier. Cien’s GTM Suite surfaces these patterns by analyzing time allocation, deal progression, account quality, and behavior—not just outcomes. This allows leaders to move from generic activity targets to targeted coaching, smarter coverage models, and behavior-based enablement.

Insight for 2026: Rep performance gaps are not mysterious—they are measurable. The right analytics turn top-performer behaviors into scalable execution standards.

Looking Ahead to 2026

A disciplined year-in-review can mine the gold in your sales and growth engine. It answers not only “What happened?”but “Why?” and “What should we do differently?” Companies that ground these reflections in clean data, pipeline quality, and behavioral insight enter 2026 equipped with clarity—not guesswork.

What would your 2026 plan look like if you could fully trust the insights hidden in your past GTM performance?

With Cien’s GTM Suite, we help leaders mine those insights—and turn them into gold.”

At Cien, we’ll show you how.

About Us

Cien helps B2B revenue leaders uncover and close hidden growth gaps in their go-to-market engine. Powered by the TrueAI platform, Cien’s GTM Suite automatically cleans and enhances CRM data, then analyzes pipeline quality, rep behavior, and deal outcomes to reveal what is really driving—or limiting—revenue performance. Trusted by enterprise teams, consultants, and investors, Cien enables faster, more confident decisions by turning imperfect GTM data into clear, actionable insight.

Interested in uncovering the growth insights hidden in your GTM data? Reach out to learn how Cien can help you plan for 2026 with confidence – Contact Us.

About the Cien.ai Growth Essentials Series

This article is part of our Growth Essentials Series, inspired by our work with B2B executives, GTM consultants, and PE operating partners. These articles focus on the non-technical aspects of improving GTM performance. If you want to dig into the technical details of how to measure the concepts we use here, check out our Practical RevOps Analysis Series.