Semir Jahic is a sales leader and founder who previously worked at Salesforce and Clari before moving into founder-led sales at Salesmation. He gradually grew into sales from consulting and sales engineering, drawn by the proximity to customers, revenue, and real business impact.
He believes that by 2026, human connection will be the key differentiator in B2B sales. While AI can support research and outreach, trust, negotiation, and handling complex sales cycles will remain human strengths. He advocates for high-quality, well-orchestrated outbound over high volume, values curiosity and continuous learning, and sees conversational intelligence as a game changer. As a leader, he believes in hiring carefully, staying resilient in the face of rejection, and keeping sales simple rather than overcomplicating tools like CRM systems.
How do you see B2B sales changing by 2026, and what skills will matter most for top performers?
I think handling complex situations with back and forth. AI can help do research, draft emails and so on, but if you’re in a live interaction the game changes and it’s all about the human interaction. For instance, negotiations, objection handling and managing a sales cycle forward, especially in enterprise sales.
What will human salespeople still do better than AI in 2026?
I think handling complex situations with back and forth. AI can help do research, draft emails and so on, but if you’re in a live interaction the game changes and it’s all about the human interaction. For instance, negotiations, objection handling and managing a sales cycle forward, especially in enterprise sales.
Do you think outbound sales will be stronger or weaker in 2026, and why?
I slowly drifted into sales. I was a consultant at first, then became a sales engineer and leader. I was so close to business building and deals that it was inevitable to end up in a sales function, and now doing founder-led sales every day of course at Salesmation. I really like GTM overall. It’s close to customers, it’s close to revenue and it’s the lifeblood of any company. To me that’s much more exciting than supporting functions or being more removed from revenue.
Was there a moment in your career when sales truly “clicked” for you?
Not yet, haha. But I enjoy learning every day about sales, how selling is different across different countries, cultures, industries. It’s truly a job where you always will be learning and have to stay curious.
What’s the hardest lesson sales has taught you as a leader?
Even if you do your best and execute perfectly, you will still face rejection. No matter if it’s outbound emails, deals, or churn. It’s a complex world and not everything is down to how you do things.
What sales technology has had the biggest impact on your results, and why does your team actually use it?
Conversational intelligence has been key over the last years. Having a deep understanding of each conversation that’s happening and not having to take notes. Seems so normal now but when I started it was a truly different world.
What’s one sales tool most companies misuse or overcomplicate today?
The CRM is an obvious one. Too many complex workflows, fields, reports, rules.
How do you decide whether a new sales tech is worth adopting or just adds noise?
I always like to try things and test it for my personal sales motion. That’s the best way to find out. By now I have also developed a bit of an intuition on what might be helpful. As always the key is to start with the problem you want to solve in mind and then think if it’s worth it. But most recently I also experiment a lot with AI to build our own tools quickly to move faster. It’s a very exciting new trend.
If you were building a sales team from scratch today, what would you do differently?
Experience is a great teacher, I’d hire slower and fire faster. The worst thing I’ve seen happen is hiring and keeping an underperformer for too long that drags down the entire team.
