Qoos

Co-Founder

A to B Insight

Skinny Rhino Productions

Founder, Speaker, Advisor, & Researcher

Ecosystems

Global Head of Research, Advisory, and Communities

Gartner

Distinguished Vice President

Principal Executive Advisor

Managing Director, Advisory Services

Senior Director, Advisory Services

Associate Director, Research

Michigan State University

Assistant Professor of German and Applied Linguistics

Brent Adamson is a world-renowned researcher, author, presenter, trainer, and advisor to B2B commercial executives around the world. 

He is the Co-Founder of both A to B Insight, a B2B sales and marketing research, advisory, and training company, as well as Co-Founder of Qoos, providing B2B sellers micro-guidance and AI-guided coaching, seamlessly embedded within HubSpot CRM.

Brent's next book, The Framemaking Sale, is available Sept. 9, 2025.

Known as having the “biggest crystal ball in B2B sales,” Brent is the co-author of the best-selling, industry changing The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer.  He is also a frequent contributor to well-known business publications, including the Harvard Business Review, featuring his recent articles, “Sensemaking for Sales” and “Traditional B2B Sales and Marketing Are Becoming Obsolete.” 

Across the last 19 years, Brent has been privileged to work with some of the greatest thought leaders in B2B and B2C sales and marketing, building and leading exclusive communities of highly progressive commercial executives.  Known as a world-class facilitator and speaker, Brent has presented to tens of thousands of commercial leaders both in-person and virtually all over the world, ranging from executive leadership teams to large keynote audiences.  

Especially well known for his passion for “productive disruption,” Brent served as the “chief story teller” for CEB, now Gartner’s, sales, marketing, and customer service practices from 2003 to 2022.  Across that time, Brent’s research has focused most closely on the critical, boundary-spanning intersection of selling and buying, seeking to understand the rapidly changing nature of effective commercial collaboration.  Most recently, Brent and his colleagues at CEB, now Gartner, have introduced industry-leading concepts such as Buyer Enablement, Sense Making, and Customer Decision Confidence. 

A native of Omaha, Neb., Brent joined CEB, now Gartner, from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business where he received his MBA with distinction. Prior to that, he served on the faculty of Michigan State University as a Professor of German and Applied Linguistics. In addition to his MBA, Brent holds a B.A. with distinction in political science from the University of Michigan along with M.A.s in political science and German, and a Ph.D. in applied linguistics from the University of Texas. Brent resides in Leesburg, VA with his wife, two daughters, and rescue dog.

Brent Adamson

If we think back across the arc of B2B sales spanning the last 30 years (OK, if you're Todd Caponi, that's a short arc), we can trace four critical phases where we've sought to differentiate ourselves in dramatically different ways.

More than anything else, each phase was driven by a need to stand out and drive higher-margin returns.

~1999-2008:

Our products were getting commoditized and we're competing on price, so let's bundle those products into unique "solutions," specifically designed to address a broader set of customer needs. 

How do we stand out? By telling our customers that our 1+1+1 solution equals 4 in a unique and sufficiently differentiated way that we can demand outsized premiums and win bigger deals.

Wait.

~2005-20012:

Now our "solutions" are getting commoditized too, as we all pursue the exact same strategy to drive differentiation. 

How do we stand out now?

Wait.

~2009-2018
Here's a book that tells us, the best possible way to differentiate in this world (circa 2009) isn't what we sell, but how we sell.  We'll differentiate based on the actual insight we deliver as part of the sale itself. More broadly, let's be "thought leaders!" 

And Smartness Arms Race was on!

Wait.

~2020 - today
Now we're all saying really smart things, so "being smart" is commoditized as well.  And worse still, our customers are really overwhelmed and confused by all this information.

How do we stand out now?

Maybe by going back to the North Star that's been there all along. By being helpful. 

But what exactly does that mean?? It sounds good, to be sure, but "helpful" how, exactly??

In world where customers are overwhelmed, the best way to help isn't so much getting them thinking, but *organizing* their thinking.

That's Framemaking.

For a step-by-step walkthrough (and a cool graphic!) of the last 30 years of selling, marketing and differentiation, see Chapter 10.  

Looking for a Framemaking workshop? Let's help your team stand out rather than blend in, by helping customers through Framemaking.  

#framemakingsale #B2BSales #B2BMarketing

Researcher, author, presenter, and thinker with a passion for “productive disruption.”

One of the biggest challenges of conducting high-end research for a broad audience is that the language can get a bit too wonky for popular taste at times.

I can't tell you how many times colleagues have had to talk me out of long riffs on "schema theory" over the years for fears that everyone's eyes would simply glaze over.

But sometimes you have to run right at the problem, rather than run away.

And in The Framemaking Sale, Karl Schmidt and I run right at a similar sort of wonky term. A term few if any typically associate with B2B sales and marketing. And that term is "agency." 

Even more precisely, "customer agency." 

Does it sound a bit wonky at first?  Probably. 

Is it also critically important for maximizing the likelihood of a high-quality, low-regret deal? Undoubtedly.

So let's talk about it.  

#framemakingsale #B2Bselling #b2bmarketing

April Dunford. Arguably the world's leading expert on B2B positioning.

Writer, thinker, advisor, speaker, and change agent, April's two books, Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch, belong on every B2B leader's bookshelf.

Her work is widely known and even more deeply valued.

So what do you do when April is a guest on your brand new podcast? 

Well, for Shari and me, the objective with Selling Isn't Everything is to find the world's leading experts in building human connection and then explore what they've learned through all their work as a means for making all of us better sellers and better people at the same time. We're looking to apply a completely new lens to the world of B2B sales--a lens tinted with our collective everyday humanity. 

To get there, you have to ask questions few others are likely to ask.

Because the answers are often incredibly illuminating and inevitably take the conversation down a path far less traveled.  

In this week's episode of Selling Isn't Everything, hear April travel this path and explore the boundaries of her own obviously awesome work. 

#SellingIsntEverything #Podcast #AprilDunford

Everyone has a podcast these days, it seems. Especially in B2B sales. 

And while they're all pretty good, they're all pretty similar.

So when Shari (AKA SaaSi Shari) Levitin approached me about starting a sales podcast a couple of years ago, I honestly wasn't very interested.  

"I just don't think we need another podcast on cold outreach, opportunity management, and sales tactics."

But Shari persisted, and we agreed, we'd only make a podcast if we could make it different.  Different angle, different guests, different focus, different vibe.

After two years of experimenting, what we came up with is "Selling Isn't Everything," a sales podcast not about selling.  A podcast designed to refocus the sales conversation on what matters most, the fact that--for now at least--the heart and soul of successful sales is human connection.

At the end of the day, Selling Isn't Everything is a podcast about human connection coated with a thin veneer of sales and selling--kind of like the candy shell of an M&M.

And it launches today with three really spectacular episodes, including the absolutely incredible Don Yaeger and Maria Boulden. We hope you enjoy their stories as much as we did.

Check it out, and let us know your thoughts!

LinkedIn Top Voice | Top 50 Sales Keynote Speaker | Reps Getting Ghosted After the Demo/Presentation? | We Train Sales Orgs to Build Urgency, Consensus & Trust to Close Faster — with AI + Heart | #BeMoreSellMore

View Shari (AKA SaaSi Shari) Levitin’s profile

T’S LAUNCH DAY! 🎉
 After two years of starting, stopping, refining, and building a true friendship, Brent Adamson  and I are officially dropping Episode One of our new podcast, #SellingIsn’tEverything.

And I can’t think of a better guest to kick us off than the formidable  Don Yaeger storyteller to the greats, culture whisperer, and author of 35 bestselling books.

In this clip, he shares a moment I cannot stop thinking about.

A very visible person sat down with him and told the truth about what their success really feels like. Not the magazine cover version. The lonely, heavy, complicated parts that never make it into the story.

❤️ That is the heart of Selling Isn’t Everything.

The first three episodes of Selling Isn’t Everything are live:
 • The Art of the Ask - Don Yaeger on Why Curiosity Beats Tactics
 • Better Humans Make Better Salespeople - Here's How
 • Think in Spreadsheets, Lead with Humanity: Maria Boulden on 40 Years of Sales Leadership

I hope these conversations help you feel seen in ways our industry does not always allow.

🎧 All three episodes are available now.
👇 Here is Don, in his own words, on what it means to be trusted with someone’s real story.


#sellingisnteverything #newpodcast #sales

Duarte, Inc.

For over 30 years, Duarte, Inc is the business leader in transforming communication cultures, creating differentiators in every level of your organization so leaders, teams and individuals can achieve their strategic priorities.  

We do this through message strategy,  story writing and communication, Visual Design, and Speaker coaching.  We can create your message for you through the same agency work we've done with the world's highest performing brands or we can teach you how to transform your company with the new opportunity of our academy training.   

In either case, we exist to help companies transform communication cultures of all sizes and scopes.

Communication Training Advisor

California State University Northridge  Entrepreneurial School

Helping young entrepreneurs compete in “Shark Tank” style and pitch, launch, and grow their SaaS ventures.

Mentor

Sales/Marketing/Strategy

Sales/Marketing/Strategy Specialist

Dodge Data & Analytics

General Sales Manager. Hire, onboard and success path training/leading of sales team utilizing LMS and presentation tools. Proven record of developing up to 91% of sales team to President's Club high-performance honors.
● Coach team to identify client problems and present solutions to sell SaaS, digital, print and network marketing solutions to Subcontractors, general contractors, architects, engineers, owners, and manufacturers and suppliers.
● Developed 7 KPI processes to increase quality service and sales by focusing on buyer relationship, new customers, on-boarding, service, loss control, and maintaining / increasing customer base.
● Participated in quarterly corporate meeting to contribute to the company's direction.
● Collaboration with product and marketing teams in branding, sales and marketing strategies through innovation, development, and execution. Utilized technology including EZ Text, Sly Broadcast, Google mail merge, Quickmail, Mailchimp, Convertkit, Certified letter software, CRM's Pipedrive and Streak, and Webinar Jam.
● Delivered 40% increase in user base by deploying LinkedIn, email campaign using Mail Merge with Google sheets, Pipedrive, and direct mail using the California Contractor Board database.
● Eliminated 60% of office cost by redirecting sales to individual territory management and adding on-demand meeting locations through Liquid Space, creating a $40,000 annual cost savings.
● Expanded Los Angeles Region territories from 8 to 11 in first 2 years by growing and splitting high-growth territories.
● First Regional Sales Manager of 30 regions in the nation to exceed goal by $1.2 Million, in first two years.
● Used Survey Monkey, Bucket.io and email campaigns to gain market insight of 1250 customers raising customer satisfaction.
● Achieved 25% increase in revenue in 105-year-old brand in first 2 years. Grew market every year since.

General Sales Manager

AT&T INTERACTIVE

Sales Operations Manager, Sales Training Enablement Manager and General Manager
● Hired, onboarded, trained and  coached countless award-winning Sales associates, helping to develop and transform many from telephone representative to key sales account and management roles.
● Grew market upwards of 30% consistently year over year by selling product and services included SaaS, Web sites, mobile sites, Google Ad Words, SEO, reputation management.
● Coached Sales associate in high performance mind set, organization, time management and technical sales skills, including discovery, presentation and closing.
● Managed 12 premise sales consultants and support personnel in generating $30 million annual revenues for Los Angeles County
● Leveraged analytical skills to evaluate pricing, market conditions, and competition to optimize market penetration.
● Utilized leadership skills to execute strategic and tactical plans and initiatives.
● Personal interaction with customers through surveys, using Survey Monkey and face-to-face feedback sessions.

Sales Leader/Operations/Trainer

Communication Is The Most Overlooked Component Of Business Success.  I'm here to help your organization surface and solve the communication blindspots and value chain inefficiencies that can cost your business millions of dollars

Strategy, culture and communication alignment specialist- Helping Fortune 100 teams from L&D, Product engineering, Analytics, Sales, Marketing and Customer Success build more consistent growth and predictable revenue through better communication that connects their work to organization strategy.

A company who relies too heavily on technology and workflows fails to improve the real driver in business - people - the human relationships between employee and C-suite, company and clients, work group to work group. But the organization that nurtures communication, culture and cooperation in company, teams and individuals creates more profitable and unique value that bolsters their competitive advantage.  Connect with me to see how we can use communication to your best and unique advantage.  ken@duarte.com

Ken Rickerman

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒑:

𝟏. 𝐈𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬

Teams (data, compliance, HR, etc.) struggle to surface insights and communicate recommendations clearly to decision-makers. They drown leaders in data or details without telling a story.

𝟐. 𝐋𝐨𝐰 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

Employees (especially new associates or technical staff) lack presentation experience. They hesitate, over-explain, or under-deliver when presenting to leadership.

𝟑. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐬. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞

Teams often feel stuck in “order-taking” mode. They want to move from reactive execution to proactive advising and influence.

𝟒. 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬

Staff lack the frameworks and confidence to shape executive decisions. They struggle to build trusted advisor relationships with senior leaders.

𝟓. 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

Different teams (compliance, marketing, medical, HR) craft messages inconsistently, creating confusion and wasted time in reviews, approvals, and leadership prep.

𝟔. 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬

Teams feel buried in high-stakes meetings, last-minute deck creation, and leadership “fire drills.” They want a way to cut noise, save time, and focus on what matters.

𝟕. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬-𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Hand-offs between departments are messy (data to leadership, medical to sales, HR to business units). Teams lack a shared language/framework for clarity.

𝟖. 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚

Analysts and managers often provide numbers without narrative. Leaders can’t quickly see “what’s important, what it means, and what to do.”

𝟗. 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝

During times of change (mergers, growth, leadership shifts), L&D and skill development lag behind. Teams want to elevate skills but don’t know how to prioritize training.

𝟏𝟎. 𝐋𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞

Even after workshops, learners lack reinforcement and tools in the “flow of work.” Without follow-ups or job aids, new skills fade quickly.

li_at

JSESSIONID

“Strategic Skills Development: Where Communication Meets Competitive Advantage” - Drive speed, revenue, retention, and leadership impact — the costs of standing still are measurable and rising.

The soft skills approach:
"Be a better communicator" through general training.

Strategic skills advantage:
Systematic frameworks that turn communication into organizational infrastructure.

Soft skills improve individuals.

Strategic skills transform companies.

The difference isn't effort—it's evolution.

https://lnkd.in/dXwmVfUj

The cost of Decision Inefficiency ?

- McKinsey: “Inefficient decision making costs a typical Fortune 500 company 530,000 days of managers’ time each year, equivalent to about $250 million in annual wages.” McKinsey & Company

https://lnkd.in/g6BDyc3V?

Open article: What is decision making? by mckinsey.com

Why Your AI Strategy Is Failing

Your team learned the AI tools.
Your adoption rate is still 23%.
Here's why:

You trained them on the hard skill (how to use AI) but ignored the strategic skills:
→ How to drive change adoption
→ How to influence resistant stakeholders
→ How to communicate value to executives
→ How to align cross-functional teams

Organizations with effective communication see 3.5x higher likelihood of outperforming peers.

Those without? They have expensive AI tools gathering digital dust.

The bottleneck isn't technical. It's strategic.

#ChangeManagement #AIImplementation #Leadership

The Skill Stack That Ages Like Wine

Some skills age like milk:
→ That programming language from 2005
→ That marketing automation platform
→ That "revolutionary" project management tool

Some skills age like wine:
→ Strategic stakeholder influence
→ Data storytelling that drives decisions
→ Executive presence that builds credibility
→ Change communication that ensures adoption

AI is accelerating the milk-to-wine ratio.

Every hard skill you learn today has a shorter shelf life than the one before.

Every strategic skill you develop today becomes more valuable as technical complexity increases.

Choose your investments wisely.

#SkillDevelopment #CareerLongevity #StrategicThinking

Cultural ceremonies embed new behaviors.

Symbols. Rituals. Recognition. Storytelling.

Change isn't about the new process. It's about making the new process feel like "how we work here."

Strategic change communication creates culture, not just compliance.

The Hard Truth About Hard Skills

Everyone's racing to learn AI. Prompt engineering. Model training. Tool mastery.

But here's what they're missing: AI is a hard skill. And hard skills become obsolete.

Remember when we all rushed to learn Flash? Or master MySpace? Or become Excel macro wizards?

The professionals who thrived weren't the ones with the best technical skills. They were the ones who could influence stakeholders, tell compelling stories, and drive organizational change.

Those capabilities didn't expire. They compounded.

Today's AI tool will be tomorrow's legacy system. But the ability to move people to action? That's forever.

What are you investing in?

#StrategicSkills #Leadership #AIStrategy

The $150B Mistake

Organizations will spend $150B on AI training this year.

But 70% of their change initiatives will still fail.

Why?

Because they're treating communication as a "soft skill" while racing to master the "hard skill" of AI.

The result: Teams full of people who can use AI tools but can't:
→ Influence executive decisions
→ Drive stakeholder alignment
→ Lead organizational transformation
→ Translate insights into action

AI won't fix your communication infrastructure. It will expose it.

The smartest companies aren't just building AI capabilities. They're building strategic communication capabilities that make their AI investments actually work.

#OrganizationalChange #AIAdoption #CommunicationStrategy

Overwhelm

Cause: Too much data, too many meetings, too many competing demands.

looks like: 

 Compliance teams buried in endless decks and regulatory updates, can’t prioritize key risks.

 Data insights team floods leaders with metrics, but no one acts.

 HR comms group spends weeks coordinating town halls with last-minute fire drills.

 Sales leaders overwhelmed by decks from multiple product teams, each formatted differently.

 Analysts paralyzed by “everything feels important” and fail to highlight what matters.

What To Do Instead

 Good intel: distill signal from noise.

 Clarity: frameworks to structure what’s most important.

How Duarte can help when you're ready...

 DataStory (insights prioritization, recommendations)

 Slide:ology (visual clarity, simplify decks)

The hero's journey can still be strategic...

Old world → Current state (safe but limiting)
Call to adventure → Why we must change
Challenges → What we'll face together
New world → Where we're heading

People don't resist change. They resist unclear journeys.

Soft skills approach:"Slide organization" to reduce clutter.

Strategic skills framework:Big Idea thinking that organizes complexity around central business implications.

Soft skills make slides cleaner. Strategic skills make thinking clearer.

Impact: Complexity becomes strategic narrative instead of information overload.

The soft skills career limit: Positioning yourself as someone who "presents data well."

Strategic skills transformation: Becoming a strategic advisor who turns analysis into competitive advantage. 

Soft skills make you a better presenter. Strategic skills make you indispensable to strategy.

Impact:You drive business outcomes, not just deliver information.

How to Transform Your Next Presentation into Strategic Influence

Why?

Your next presentation could accelerate a decision by 6 months or kill a project entirely. Here's how to make it strategic.

Most presentations inform. Strategic presentations influence. The difference? You're not just sharing information—you're architecting stakeholder thinking.

SHIFT: Use Big Idea framework: Start with your strategic recommendation, not your agenda. 

Then build the narrative: 

What's the current challenge? 
What's possible? 
What's your solution? 
What's the specific ask? 

Stop building slide decks. Start building decision frameworks. That's strategic communication.

Soft skills limitation: "Presentation delivery" for one-time communication events.

Strategic skills solution: Working documents that become ongoing strategic resources.

Soft skills improve the meeting. Strategic skills sustain the momentum.

Impact: Insights influence long-term strategy, not just immediate decisions.

Most companies aren’t struggling with a lack of data.

They’re struggling because nobody can turn that data into decisions.

Brilliant analysts are producing insights that go nowhere. Dashboards sit unused. Reports gather dust in inboxes.

The problem isn't the data quality. It's that organizations need three different skill sets to turn data into action.

In this video, I break down the three-stage skill path that transforms teams from sitting on piles of data to actually using it to drive decisions.

And if you want to see the skills that build on each stage so you can help your teams develop, download our free Skills Roadmap for Data Storytelling (link in the comments).

#datastorytelling #communicationskills #leadershipcommunication

The soft skills approach: "Information gathering" to find more comprehensive data.

Strategic skills capability: Using familiar information to reveal unfamiliar strategic implications.

Soft skills collect more facts. Strategic skills generate strategic insights.

Impact:Analysis becomes indispensable to organizational planning.

The soft skills habit:
"Regular updates" about transformation progress.

Strategic skills methodology:
Milestone storytelling that celebrates progress, reinforces direction, and maintains momentum.

Soft skills keep people informed.
Strategic skills keep people invested.

Impact:
Change momentum sustains over time through strategic milestone communication.

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The Battle

Brent Adamson

Ken Rickerman

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