The Two Paths to 2026: Aligning Your Team or Empowering Yourself?

By Alison Fell | Practice Partner, SalesStar

As we look toward 2026, the pressure for predictable, profitable growth is not only mounting, it’s a non-negotiable for every ambitious Manchester business. The pressure is on, especially given the current economic climate, to translate strategy into tangible revenue.

But here’s the critical insight: the path to achieving that growth looks fundamentally different depending on the internal architecture of your business. Stop wasting time with generic advice.

Through our intensive work partnering with dynamic North West and Manchester businesses, we consistently identify two distinct, high-impact “pain points” that act as concrete barriers to scaling revenue.

Path 1: The Misaligned Team

For established companies with customer-facing teams, the single biggest barrier to meaningful growth is almost always internal friction and lack of cohesion.

You, the leader, have a clear vision for 2026. But stop and ask yourself: Does your team of 6, 10, or 20 people truly understand and consistently execute that vision?

When sales, service, and leadership are not perfectly aligned, growth instantly becomes messy, expensive, and alarmingly unpredictable. You are losing margin and momentum simply because everyone is rowing in a slightly different direction.

Solution:

We have developed our Strategic Team Workshops specifically for this dynamic. Designed for leaders and their customer-facing groups (6+ members), these sessions are about getting everyone in the boat rowing in the same direction. We transform a collection of talented individuals into a unified, high-octane revenue engine.

Path 2: The Isolated Leader

On the other side of the spectrum are the ambitious founders, MDs, and Managing Partners who are personally driving the business forward without the support of a dedicated sales team. These leaders are wearing every single hat in the building.

The challenge here isn’t misalignment; it is the brutal reality of capacity and accountability. For these leaders, high-level strategy and vital sales development inevitably get buried under the relentless pressure of daily operations. They know what to do, but they have no structure to ensure it gets done.

Solution:

To solve this, we are launching the 90-Day Growth Cohort. This is a powerful, dedicated space for non-sales leaders to come together, step away from the daily grind, build a robust, actionable 90-day plan for success, and critically, hold one another accountable to execute it. It provides the high-performance structure and commercial discipline of a Sales Director, without the significant, immediate hire.

Which Path is Yours for 2026?

Whether you need to strategically align a team of ten or empower and structure a “team of one,” the ultimate goal for your Manchester business in 2026 remains the same: unwavering clarity and measurable, profitable results.

The time for waiting and hoping is over. You need a structured path to certainty.

• Are you struggling with team inconsistency? Path 1 is your mandate.
• Are you personally overwhelmed but desperate to scale? Path 2 is your immediate solution.

If you are looking to book a high-impact Strategic Team Workshop for your team, or secure a seat in our upcoming 90-Day Growth Cohort, please reach out today. Let’s discuss how we make 2026 your most profitable year yet.

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