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Sales teams in the middle market are finding it harder to generate net new business as buyers become more selective and traditional hunting motions lose effectiveness. OMG sales competency data shows a steady decline in hunting proficiency over the last three years, even as commitment levels remain strong. This article examines why hunting has become more difficult, how sales technology has raised the bar for relevance, and what separates sellers who continue to create pipeline in saturated markets from those who stall.

What the Data Reveals

Middle market sales teams are operating in one of the most competitive environments in recent memory. Buyers are harder to reach, differentiation is more difficult to articulate, and familiar hunting motions are producing diminishing returns¹.

Yet buyers have not disappeared. What has changed is the level of precision required to earn attention and create new opportunities.

OMG’s sales competency data, combined with third-party research on buyer behavior and sales technology, points to a clear conclusion: hunting is becoming more difficult, and fewer salespeople are proficient at it than even a few years ago.

The Hunting Reality Check: Proficiency Is Declining

Across OMG’s sales competency data, hunting proficiency has steadily declined over the last three years.

• In 2023, 65% of salespeople were proficient in hunting for new business
• In 2024, that dropped to 63%
• In 2025, proficiency declined further to 61%²

This downward trend is reinforced by changes in average competency scores:

Average Hunting score:

• 72% in 2023
• 70% in 2024
• 68% in 2025³

These shifts matter because hunting is a foundational selling capability. When hunting weakens, pipeline quality deteriorates, sales cycles lengthen, and revenue targets become harder to achieve even when activity levels remain high.

It is also important to clarify what hunting means in this context. Hunting is not simply outbound activity or prospecting volume. It reflects the ability to consistently create net-new opportunities in accounts that were not already warm, through relevance, persistence, and value creation.

Why Hunting Is Getting Harder in Saturated Markets

Declining proficiency reflects a shift in selling conditions, not a lack of effort.

Buyers Are Avoiding Generic Outreach

Third-party research confirms that buyers are increasingly controlling how and when they engage with sellers.

Gartner reports that 61% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free buying experience, and 73% actively avoid suppliers that deliver irrelevant outreach⁴. In saturated markets, this behavior amplifies the consequences of unfocused hunting efforts.

Salespeople who rely on volume-based outreach without clear relevance are filtered out faster than ever.

Technology Has Raised Expectations, Not Reduced the Need for Skill

Sales technology and AI have changed how hunting is executed, but they have not replaced the need for strong fundamentals.

Outreach research shows that 54% of sales teams use AI to write personalized outbound emails, and 45% use AI to support account research⁵. This has raised the baseline for acceptable outreach. Buyers now expect specificity, context, and insight as table stakes.

Technology cannot compensate for gaps in hunting competency and often exposes them more quickly.

The Data Pattern That Matters Most: Hunting and Commitment

One of the most interesting insights in OMG’s data emerges when hunting trends are viewed alongside Commitment, a competency that reflects consistency, resilience, and follow-through.

While hunting proficiency and average hunting scores declined from 2023 through 2025, Commitment followed a different pattern:

Average Commitment score:

• 61% in 2023
• 61% in 2024
• 65% in 20253

This divergence is instructive. Commitment did not decline alongside hunting. In fact, it increased in 2025, even as hunting proficiency continued to fall. This suggests that the challenge is not effort alone. Many salespeople are working hard and staying engaged, but the way they are hunting is no longer effective in today’s environment. In other words, sales teams are showing up, but outdated hunting approaches are not producing the same results in saturated markets.

What High Performers Do Differently When Hunting Gets Hard

OMG and other sales researchers believe that sellers who remain effective at creating new business despite market saturation, four consistent behaviors stand out.

1. They Narrow Their Focus Instead of Broadening It

Strong hunters resist the urge to cast wider nets. Instead, they define tighter targets, align messaging to specific business problems, and speak directly to buyer context.

2. They Create Value Before Asking for Time

In a rep-free buying environment, insight and perspective earn attention before conversations happen⁴.

3. They Use Technology to Increase Signal, Not Noise

High performers use AI and sales tools to sharpen their relevance and educate themselves on the buyer’s business context, not to automate generic volume⁵.

4. They Anchor Hunting in Strong Fundamentals

Effective hunters consistently show strength in competencies that support hunting success, including commitment, reaching decision makers, consultative selling, and selling value. Activity without these foundations rarely converts into opportunity.

A Practical Framework for Improving Hunting in Saturated Markets

Organizations facing declining new logo growth can take a structured approach to reversing the trend.

1. Measure Hunting competency across the team
2. Separate effort from effectiveness, especially when Commitment remains high
3. Modernize the hunting motion to reflect current buyer behavior⁴.
4. Use competency data to guide coaching and development, not just hiring decisions. In Saturated Markets, Precision Matters More Than Volume

Saturated markets expose weak hunting faster than growing ones.

OMG’s data shows that while salespeople remain committed, fewer are proficient at creating new opportunities using traditional approaches. The teams that succeed are not doing more. They are hunting grounded in data, discipline, and relevance.

Organizations that adapt how those fundamentals are applied will continue to create pipeline where others stall.

References:

1. ANNUITAS, Your B2B Buyers Are Ghosting You, buyer disengagement amid complex journeys. https://www.annuitas.com/articles/your-b2b-buyers-are-ghosting-you-one-off-tactics-are-not-enough-now-more-than-ever-is-the-time-to-embrace-perpetual-demand/
2. Objective Management Group. Finding Statistics Tool: Sales Evaluations & Sales Candidate Assessments Conducted January 1, 2023–December 31, 2023; January 1, 2024–December 31, 2024; January 1, 2024–December 31, 2024. Results percentage of salespeople strong in competency. Internal dataset.
3. Objective Management Group. Finding Statistics Tool: Sales Evaluations & Sales Candidate Assessments Conducted January 1, 2023–December 31, 2023; January 1, 2024–December 31, 2024; January 1, 2024–December 31, 2024. Results percentage of average competency score. Internal dataset.
4. Gartner, Gartner Sales Survey Finds 61% of B2B Buyers Prefer a Rep-Free Buying Experience https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-06-25-gartner-sales-survey-finds-61-percent-of-b2b-buyers-prefer-a-rep-free-buying-experience
5. Outreach, AI for Sales Prospecting: How Teams Are Using AI to Improve Outreach https://outreach.io/resources/blog/ai-for-sales-prospecting