Stop hunting context for sales performance data

Eight days into my new sales leadership role, I was sitting in a meeting discussing pipeline strategies. Instead of frantically scribbling notes and derailing the conversation with baseline metrics and performance statistics, I was contributing meaningful insights about our mid-market team's performance. In most of my previous roles, this level of understanding took months to achieve. With Threads, Hex’s AI conversational data-chat interface, it took me just over a week.

The problem every new sales leader faces

Starting as a sales leader feels like being dropped into a foreign country without a translator. You inherit a team with established rhythms and performance patterns you can't see. Your one-on-ones become generic check-ins while your team wonders if you'll actually help or just add another layer of process.

Each day without real data compounds the problem. That unassigned tier-A account gets picked up by someone else. The rep struggling with prospecting misses another month's target before you identify the issue.

All of that information exists in your CRM and data warehouse, but accessing it requires technical skills that you don't have or political capital you haven't earned. So you wait, guess, and hope you're not making things worse.

With Threads, none of that was the case.

The exact questions I asked Threads to understand my team's performance

Three days into the job, I was preparing for my first round of one-on-ones. My exploration followed a natural progression from broad context to specific insights. If you have Hex, here’s how I recommend you start with Threads if you do sales.

1. Learning what data you actually have

I started by trying to understand the basic landscape by asking:

• How are bookings organized?

• Where is our pipeline coming from?

• How do we segment accounts?

I hadn't met with the data team yet and didn't understand our systems, but within three days, I had a clear picture of how everything was organized, including the territory coverage and account segmentation logic.

Then I asked for monthly results specifically for the mid-market team over the last 12 months. The analysis showed that while the team was performing well overall, results were inconsistent month to month. I was able to dive in and start talking with reps about strategic plans.

2. Finding out where my reps actually spend their time

Next, I asked Threads to split the data between net new versus upsell bookings, which revealed the revenue mix and helped me understand where wins were coming from. Then I dove deeper, asking for a breakdown of accounts assigned to each AE, how many had discovery calls in the last three months, and how many had active opportunities.

The patterns that emerged were illuminating. Armed with this information on how reps were spending their time, I could ask specific questions about account prioritization strategies and the reasoning behind current territory assignments.

3. Turning data into better one-on-one conversations

The real value, however, came when I brought these insights into my one-on-ones. As a manager, my job is to help my team execute at their peak performance.

Instead of asking how things were going, I was discussing specific account prioritization strategies and territory optimization. The cultural shift happened quickly. Team members began using Threads themselves to prepare for our conversations, arriving with their own analyses and strategic proposals. One rep explored win rates by industry vertical and proposed a focused campaign on our highest-converting segments.

Our one-on-ones evolved from status updates to problem-solving sessions.

What I learned about getting answers without waiting for perfect data

Having experienced the power of AI-assisted data exploration, here are my key recommendations for other sales leaders who want to hit the ground running.

1. Start broad, then narrow your focus. Begin by understanding how your organization structures its data. Learn the terminology, stages, and segments. This foundation enables you to ask increasingly sophisticated questions. I started with basic booking categories and progressed to complex territory analyses within days.

2. Embrace directional accuracy over perfect precision. When determining prospecting targets, you need to know if it's five accounts a week or five hundred. Ballpark numbers provide enough information to give your team informed direction. Understanding whether outreach converts at 0.5% or 5% fundamentally changes how reps should allocate their time.

3. Use AI to accelerate discovery, but validate with your team. Threads helps you launch, but doesn't steer the boat. When I discover patterns in the data, I bring them to my team for discussion. I present the numbers and ask for their perspective on accuracy, completeness, and context I might be missing. This approach builds trust while ensuring insights lead to action.

The bottom line: Go from new leader to data-driven strategist in days, not months

Getting this deep into the data eight days into a new job was unprecedented in my experience. The unassigned tier-A accounts I identified represented significant pipeline potential that would have otherwise been missed. Within the first quarter, we saw improvements in pipeline generation, account coverage, and rep productivity.

I've done extensive data work with RevOps teams throughout my career, and these types of answers are typically very difficult to obtain. (If you're on RevOps, see how our team cruises on pipeline data with Hex). Having an informed understanding of where my team needs support after just 10 days changed everything about how I could lead.

AI now exists to transform how sales leaders onboard and operate. The only thing standing between you and rapid effectiveness is the willingness to start asking questions. Your team is waiting for a leader who understands their reality and can help them succeed. With the right approach and tools, you can be that leader in days, not months.