For more than half of companies, the estimated cost of poor planning exceeded their annual revenue growth
The quality of a company’s revenue plan is the strongest predictor of whether it will beat its revenue target, according to new research from Varicent, a leader in Sales Performance Management (SPM). Statistical analysis showed that plan quality was a stronger predictor of success than seller experience, industry, prior growth, company size, or any other factor measured.
What it found: for more than half of companies, the estimated losses associated with poor planning exceeded their total annual revenue growth.
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When companies miss their revenue targets, leaders often point to sales execution, pipeline, seller performance, or changing market conditions. The research suggests they may be looking too far downstream.
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For its 2026 Market Spotlight Report, Nobody Outsells the Plan, Varicent surveyed more than 1,000 senior revenue leaders and analyzed dozens of variables associated with revenue performance. What it found: for more than half of companies, the estimated losses associated with poor planning exceeded their total annual revenue growth.
“For years, SPM has focused on helping companies execute their revenue plans more efficiently. This research shows how true transformation comes from improving planning itself,” said Marc Altshuller, CEO, Varicent. “With AI, companies can finally learn from past decisions, improve how they plan, and turn those learnings into durable competitive advantage. The future of SPM is more than managing performance. It’s designing for it.”
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Other findings include:
- Only 4% of companies can identify which past planning decisions worked and which didn’t. 96% lack a way to apply learnings to future planning.
- Companies that use AI in revenue planning are 46% more likely to exceed target, suggesting that advantage comes not just from using AI, but from where companies apply it.
- Companies that perform well across five dimensions of revenue plan quality outperform their peers by 58%. The dimensions measure whether planning decisions are grounded in strategy, made as a connected system, evaluated against results, and improved as conditions change.
- 75% of revenue leaders say the revenue plan structures the many decisions sellers make every day. This includes which accounts they pursue, where they spend their time, and which targets they prioritize.
The 2026 Market Spotlight Report, Nobody Outsells the Plan, introduces a five-dimension framework to help revenue leaders evaluate plan quality, identify where planning decisions put performance at risk, and determine what to repeat, change, or leave behind. The survey was fielded in July 2026 among 1,055 senior revenue, sales, and finance leaders at b2b companies with $100M+ in annual revenue.
