Forbes asked me to weigh in on the future of sales. Here's what I told them.
April 7, 2026 by Angelica Kopec
When Forbes Business Development Council invites you to contribute, it’s because the conversation happening in boardrooms needs a clearer voice. This is mine.
There’s a question I keep hearing from CEOs, CMOs and founders right now: should we just hire more salespeople?
It’s the wrong question. And I’ve been saying so for years.
Forbes asked me to put that perspective on record, because the shift from pipeline-based growth to ecosystem-based growth isn’t a trend. It’s a structural change in how business development actually works. And most companies are still building for the old model.
“Outbound is getting harder. Buyers are more informed. Trust is expensive. You can increase activity without increasing conversion — and that gap is where customer acquisition costs quietly creep up.”
The piece I wrote for Forbes walks through the framework I use with clients — the distinction between building a pipeline and building an ecosystem, why most partnership strategies fail before they start, and the four steps that actually create compounding commercial leverage.
The core argument is this: sales teams aren’t going anywhere. But the companies that win the next cycle will be the ones who stopped treating partnerships as a side conversation and started treating them as architecture.
One well-structured partnership can outperform months of outbound effort because leverage beats labour. Every time.
Read the full piece on Forbes: Are Partnerships Replacing Sales Teams? A New Framework For Growth
If you’re a CEO or CMO currently questioning your growth model, whether outbound is feeling more expensive, whether your sales team is carrying more than they should, or whether you’ve got untapped distribution sitting in the market already, this article was written with you in mind.
And if you want to take it further than the article does, that’s what strategy sessions are for.
WORK WITH ANGELICA.
Let’s map your ecosystem and build growth that compounds.
If your revenue model is still running outbound alone, we need to talk. Book a strategy session and let’s redesign your approach to growth.
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