How companies built their sales teams in October: the customers new roles sell to, where their leads come from, what they pay and the tools sales teams put on their websites.
4 findings · 2 tables · 6 charts · 16 companies named · 2 of 4 findings open · Free with an account · Published 26 October 2026
44.3%of sales postings that name a segment sell to small businesses or consumers
17.2%of sales postings that name a lead source work leads that come in
$144,000median on-target earnings in sales postings that state them
4.2websites added HubSpot for each one that removed it
A sales team is built in its job postings before it shows anywhere else: the customers a role will sell to, where its leads will come from and what it will earn. This edition reads those postings across the companies in the Fokals index, with the tools sales teams put on their websites beside them.
Every share is of the sales postings that state the measure, set against the two weeks before, across all companies and within each industry.
This edition at a glance
4 findings, by how common and how fast
Each finding is placed by how many companies do it and how fast that is growing. The bigger the point, the stronger the signal. How to read a report
Sales roles selling to small businesses or consumers rose from 41.5% to 44.3% of the postings that name a segment in two weeks, while enterprise roles fell below half.
Signal score7.2/10Clear signal
TrendRisingMore companies are doing it
How common44%of sales postings that name a segment
How fast+14%a month · Going mainstream
Strongest in
Real estate
Automotive
Travel and hospitality
Sales roles selling to small businesses or consumers, by industryShare of sales postings
30 days to 4 Oct
30 days to 18 Oct
Automotive76.9%+15.0 pts
Finance and insurance74%−2.2 pts
Telecom and utilities50%+0.5 pts
Health and wellness24.3%+3.5 pts
Professional services17.2%+6.2 pts
Software and SaaS10.4%+1.0 pts
All industries44.3%+2.8 pts
Share of the sales postings that name a segment, opened in each 30-day window, by the industry of the company.
Show the numbers
30 days to 4 Oct
30 days to 18 Oct
Automotive
61.9%
76.9%
Finance and insurance
76.2%
74%
Telecom and utilities
49.5%
50%
Health and wellness
20.8%
24.3%
Professional services
11%
17.2%
Software and SaaS
9.4%
10.4%
All industries
41.5%
44.3%
44.3%of sales postings that name a segment sell to small businesses or consumers
Of the sales postings companies opened in the 30 days to 18 October that say which customers the role sells to, 44.3% sell to small businesses or consumers, in high-volume, transactional deals. That is up from 41.5% in the 30 days to 4 October. Enterprise roles fell from 53.7% to 49.9%, and mid-market roles rose to 5.8%.
The shift holds within industries: at professional services companies these roles went from 11.0% of sales postings to 17.2%, at health and wellness companies from 20.8% to 24.3%, and at software and SaaS companies from 9.4% to 10.4%.
In the week to 18 October, 48.2% of new sales postings that name a segment were high-volume roles, the highest share of the four weeks.
Who’s doing it
Hevo Data
Opened an associate account executive role selling to small businesses in the United States
HealthVerity
Opened an account executive role for commercial accounts in Philadelphia
CIBC
Opened mortgage and financial advisor roles in Toronto and Mississauga
Desjardins
Opened client financial services and wealth management roles
Gables Residential
Opened leasing professional roles
What it means
For sellers
Sales teams built for high-volume deals buy tools for volume: dialers, sequencing, self-serve trials and lead scoring.
For investors
A shift in sales hiring toward smaller customers is a read of where companies expect their next revenue, measured in the roles they open each week.
RisingHiring
Inbound Joins Outbound
Outbound prospecting still drives most sales roles, but postings that work leads coming in rose from 12.0% to 17.2% in two weeks.
Signal score5.2/10Moderate signal
TrendRisingMore companies are doing it
How common17%of sales postings that name a lead source
How fast+86%a month · Going mainstream
Strongest in
Software and SaaS
17.2%of sales postings that name a lead source work leads that come in
Of the sales postings opened in the 30 days to 18 October that say where the role's leads come from, 82.8% describe outbound work: the rep prospects and builds their own pipeline. That share is falling: it was 88.0% in the 30 days to 4 October.
Roles that work the leads a company brings in rose in its place. Mixed roles, prospecting as well as working leads provided, went from 7.9% to 10.9%, and inbound roles from 4.1% to 6.2%.
At software and SaaS companies, mixed roles rose from 12.8% to 16.2% of the sales postings that name a lead source.
Where sales postings say a role's leads come fromShare of sales postings
Outer ring 30 days to 18 Oct · inner ring 30 days to 4 Oct
Outbound82.8%−5.2 pts
Mixed10.9%+3.0 pts
Inbound6.2%+2.1 pts
Share of the sales postings that name a lead source, opened in each 30-day window.
Show the numbers
30 days to 4 Oct
30 days to 18 Oct
Outbound
88%
82.8%
Mixed
7.9%
10.9%
Inbound
4.1%
6.2%
What it means
For marketers
A sales role that works inbound leads depends on marketing to bring them: a company hiring for it is investing in demand generation too.
For sellers
Teams that route inbound leads need routing, scheduling and enrichment at the moment a lead arrives: the moment to offer them.
RisingThe B2B Website Stack Fills Out4.8
RisingBooking Links on the Website4.1
Tables2 tables: How companies sell · Who companies sell to
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Sales postings are the sales roles companies opened on their own career sites, each with the customers it sells to, where its leads come from and the pay it states. Shares are of the sales postings that state the measure, opened in the 30 days to 18 October 2026; growth compares them with the 30 days to 4 October and is stated a month. Pay is on one annual US-dollar scale.
Technologies are those found on each company website. Growth compares the websites that added a technology with those that removed it over the three weeks to 18 October, against those already running it.
How a company sells and the size of customer it sells to are as each company website stood when last read in October 2026.
Each finding's signal score, out of 10, states the strength of its evidence. The full methodology is shared on request.
Every finding is read the same way: its trend, its signal score, and where it stands by how common it is and how fast it is growing. How to read a report · Methodology overview
Cite this report
Quote and chart any figure in this report. Credit Fokals and link to this page, or to the finding itself.
Fokals, Sales Teams Report, October 2026. https://www.fokals.com/reports/sales-2026-10