The extended period of economic growth since ~2009 has made selling easier, leading to a decline in fundamental sales skills and process discipline. Teams that have relied on a strong market rather than strong skills are vulnerable to a downturn when conditions tighten.

Success can be a trap for experienced salespeople. After reaching a high level of performance, they can develop a sense of being "too good" for the fundamentals, like deep discovery or call reviews. This abandonment of core practices, born from cockiness, inevitably leads to a decline in performance.

After a 12-year economic upswing, many B2B sales teams have become complacent, leading to atrophied skills. They've relied on an easy market rather than rigorous processes. When the market inevitably turns, these teams will be unprepared and get "walloped" without strong, dialed-in systems.

When tenured salespeople stop seeking new business, the root cause is a leadership gap, not individual laziness. Leaders must actively set the conditions, message the importance, and model the behavior of prospecting, as reps naturally gravitate towards easier, relationship-focused tasks.

Salespeople follow the money. If your compensation plan makes it easier or more lucrative to manage existing accounts than to land new ones, you are financially incentivizing them to stop prospecting. The reward for the difficult work of hunting must be significantly higher.

Momentum and a full pipeline are deceptive, creating the illusion that top-of-funnel activities are no longer necessary. This complacency is a primary reason for failure, as salespeople wait until their pipeline is empty to prospect again. Consistent outreach, even when busy, is the only way to prevent future famine.

Salespeople from hot companies with products that 'sell themselves' may just be order-takers. The truly skilled sellers are those hitting quota at tier-three companies. They have proven they can create demand, not just capture it from a market-leading brand.

A common, yet often unnoticed, sales killer is ceasing the very activities that built a strong pipeline. Reps prospect hard when they need business, then stop once they get busy serving new clients, creating a boom-bust cycle. A mid-year review should identify effective past activities that have been abandoned.

The optimal time to improve sales processes and skills is during periods of success, not during downturns. When business is good, teams are more receptive to change and have the resources to invest. Waiting until you're desperate creates a defensive, short-sighted mindset that hinders meaningful improvement.