The AE Bottleneck of 2026
64% of Deals Delayed Waiting for Technical Resources

Your AEs Can't Close What They Can't Demonstrate

The technical bottleneck that's costing you deals every quarter

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The Invisible Revenue Leak

Your AEs are doing everything right. Better prospecting. Faster qualification. Earlier access to decision-makers. Then they hit the technical stage and everything stops.

This isn't an SE problem. This is a revenue problem.

While your reps wait in queue for technical resources, prospects go dark. Competitors move faster. Quarters slip.

0%
of deals delayed waiting for technical resources
0%
of AEs need MORE technical support than last year
0%
rate technical resources as extremely valuable
0%
say solutions became more technically complex

What Your Best AEs Actually Need

We asked 200 AEs what technical support impacts their deals most. Demos didn't even crack the top three.

Technical Discovery69%
69%
Solution Architecture65%
65%
POC Success Strategy47%
47%
Handling Technical Objections41%
41%
Delivering Demos36%
36%

Your reps need technical resources on strategic work that moves deals forward—not tactical work that could be automated.

The Math That Should Concern Every CRO

You can't hire your way out of this bottleneck. Every time you add 5 AEs, you need another technical resource. And by the time you hire them, you've already added 5 more AEs.

Current State
10 AEs • 2 Technical Resources
80
Deals/Year
64%
Experience Delays
10
Lost Deals/Year
Revenue Impact @ $50K ACV
-$500K
Conservative estimate of lost revenue
Future State
10 AEs • 2 Technical Resources (3x effective capacity)
100-120
Deals/Year
0%
Technical Delays
20-40
More Deals Closed
Revenue Impact @ $50K ACV
+$1-2M
Net new revenue with same headcount
The Real Cost of Waiting

This isn't about efficiency. It's about $1.5-2.5M in revenue difference with the same team. Every quarter you delay is another $375-625K left on the table.

Leaders Solving This Now

Jennifer Jones
VP of Solution Experience, Dayforce
"AI has the potential to shrink pre-planning time, which will allow us to increase the proportion of time we spend in front of prospective customers...in discovery...in solution presentations."

Dayforce automated the tactical work so their technical team could spend more time on what actually closes deals: strategic customer engagement.

Christian Eberle
VP of AI Solutions, Gladly
"It's really hard to justify soft savings. If you're adding a tool that saves time but not replacing multiple tools at once, you've got to be really sure it delivers tangible value."

Gladly found measurable ROI in automating handoffs and surfacing deal insights—real impact on cycle time and close rates.

Your 5-Step Fix

Stop letting technical capacity gate your revenue growth

Track Every Deal Delay

Measure how many deals are waiting for technical resources right now. You'll be shocked at how much revenue is stuck in queue.

Automate Tactical Work

Demo environments, knowledge retrieval, standard documentation—let AEs self-serve the basics so technical teams focus on strategic deals.

Measure AE Impact

Track POC success rate, cycle time, and deals influenced by technical engagement. Focus on outcomes, not activity.

Scale Technical Capacity

Your technical resources should scale with deal flow, not hiring cycles. Multiply their impact without adding headcount.

Prove the Revenue Impact

Show the board: deals per AE, average deal size, cycle time, quota attainment. This isn't efficiency—it's growth.

Stop Losing Deals to a Solvable Problem

See how sales leaders are removing the technical bottleneck

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