At the EN Sales Leaders Summit 2026, hosted by Flume, a panel of senior commercial leaders explored one big question: what are the highest-performing sales leaders doing differently?
The discussion brought together Erica Baeta, Group Commercial Director at DatacenterDynamics; Jonathan Kinchin, Group Head of Sales at Nineteen Group; Mark Buller, Commercial & Growth Director at Ultima Media; and Raoul Monks, CEO of Flume.
Across businesses of different sizes, markets and stages of growth, the message was clear: predictable, profitable growth is not created by sales tactics alone. It is built through culture, clarity, customer focus and leadership discipline.
Culture is a commercial strategy
For Erica, culture is the foundation of high performance. Since 2022, DCD has grown from an £11m business to around £40m, while also increasing retention significantly. Her view is simple: healthy, motivated, positive teams will “go through fire with you”.
A key theme was psychological safety. Highest-Performing Sales Leaders and cultures create space for people to try, fail, learn and improve. When teams are aiming for ambitious growth, perfection can become paralysing. Progression matters more.
But safety alone is not enough. Erica also highlighted the importance of “clear norms”: the agreed behaviours, attitudes and standards that define what is and is not acceptable. In elite sales teams, people know what good looks like.
Jonathan shared how Nineteen Group has embedded this through four core values: kind, agile, driven and inclusive. Crucially, those values are not just words on a wall. They are translated into specific behaviours, used in recruitment, performance conversations and leadership decisions.
For CROs and senior sales leaders, the lesson is clear: culture needs operational detail. Values only drive performance when they are specific enough to hire against, coach against and act on.
The cost of tolerating the wrong behaviours
The panel also tackled one of the hardest leadership challenges: what to do when a strong biller damages the team.
The consensus was that toxic behaviour carries a serious commercial cost. It can block new talent, damage morale, increase churn and reduce collaboration. In some cases, leaders must act decisively and help that person leave.
But the discussion also acknowledged the reality many leaders face: sometimes a difficult high performer cannot be exited immediately. They shared the challenge of joining a business with entrenched behavioural issues and having to manage the situation directly. The approach was to set expectations clearly from day one, have difficult conversations early, and continually manage the impact on the wider business.
The takeaway is not simplistic. Sometimes you remove the problem. Sometimes you contain and manage it. But what you cannot do is ignore it.
Hire for attitude, not just industry experience
When it comes to finding the “good apples”, Jonathan argued strongly for looking beyond the events industry where possible. Sales experience matters, but attitude matters more.
Nineteen Group builds cultural assessment into every stage of hiring, including interviews with people outside the sales function. This helps identify whether someone will contribute positively to the wider business, not just hit a number.
The trait Jonathan values most is care: people who take ownership, go above and beyond, and genuinely want to do great work. Skills can be trained. Drive, curiosity and accountability are much harder to teach.
From product selling to solution selling
Mark shared how Ultima Media shifted from product-led selling to consultative, solution-led selling. Instead of asking customers whether they wanted to buy a sponsorship, stand or conference package, the team focused on understanding the customer’s objectives, challenges and long-term ambitions.
That shift helped the business move from short-term transactional selling to larger, more strategic partnerships. One major customer grew from a typical six-figure opportunity into a £1.6m three-year package.
The key was patience. The team did not rush to proposal. They kept going back until they could clearly articulate what the customer had told them, where the customer wanted to get to, and how Ultima Media could help them get there.
For senior sales leaders, this is a vital reminder: faster proposals do not always mean faster revenue. Better discovery shortens the real sales cycle.
Multi-year partnerships drive value
Both Erica and Mark highlighted the commercial power of multi-year deals. For customers, they create a longer-term strategic relationship. For event businesses, they improve predictability, retention and company valuation.
At DCD, Erica described how one customer grew from around £35k–£50k per year to £600k–£700k annually through a more buyer-centric, long-term approach.
The message for the C-suite is obvious: multi-year revenue is not just a sales metric. It is a business value driver.
Incentives must include the whole business
Finally, the panel discussed motivation. Jonathan shared how Nineteen Group has moved beyond simple revenue-based competitions, using more inclusive incentives that give newer salespeople a chance to win and keep teams energised.
But the wider point was that incentives should not only reward sales. Marketing, operations, finance and content all contribute to commercial success. Erica, Jonathan and Mark all shared examples of company-wide or project-based recognition schemes that reward contribution across departments.
As Erica put it, the business is an engine: if one part fails, the whole thing stops.
The real secret
The highest-performing sales leaders in events are not simply pushing harder. They are building clearer cultures, hiring better, tackling poor behaviours, selling more strategically and aligning the whole business around growth.
For CROs and CEOs, the challenge is to make performance repeatable. That means defining what good looks like, rewarding the right behaviours, and creating teams that can deliver growth without breaking the culture that makes it possible.