Xceede Solutions Inc

At Xceede Solutions, I'm responsible for building the strategy and the infrastructure needed for the firm to grow. This entails all Marketing & Sales functions and systems.

Principal Consultant

Category Thinkers

Category Thinkers is the free community that brings category designers together. Whether you’re already an expert or just “category curious,” you’re welcome to join the hundreds of others who strive to be radically different.

Ambassador

dailyNLP

Modeling is the ultimate skill-building discipline. Using modeling projects, I've drastically cut down my clients' skill development time. My primary focus is helping entrepreneurs and solopreneurs who have zero sales DNA become effective salespeople in 90 days or less by leveraging the power of modeling.

Key Highlights:
- Designed and delivered the world’s first behavioral modeling training program to solopreneurs who want to develop their selling skills in record time
- Attracted over 5,000 subscribers to dailyNLP through SEO and content marketing
- Secured top 5 spots in Google for competitive keywords

Modeling Coach

Toca da Empada

Built a chain of bakeries specialized in empadas from scratch, up to an 8-store group with revenues above $1M, tightly focused on the customer experience.

Key Highlights:
- Bootstrapped a 7-unit chain of bakeries to yearly sales of over R$1.5 million for 12 consecutive years
- Systematized the company to operate as a franchise prototype while being the sole owner, allowing us to manage at one point 7 units as a husband and wife executive team
- Crafted the company’s complete financial and logistics system using free internet software, leading to yearly savings of R$ 51,157
- Designed a customer-first service delivery program
- Designed and optimized the onboarding process for our employees for both skill and motivation
- Onboarded over 150 employees during my tenure of the business
- Orchestrated the launch of 8 stores
- Negotiated and secured co-marketing partnerships with other local businesses, leading to a rapid expansion of our brand
- Defeated 3 national competitors who tried to enter our local market (they aren't here any more!)
- Designed and implemented duplicatable processes for attracting, selecting and training new employees
- Oversaw a team of 21 people
- Managed relationships with suppliers and partners

Messier Productions

Showtime! I managed the career of a musical artist, conceived and produced artistic events.

Key Highlights:
- Wrote and won 4 grant proposals
- Sold and managed R$1.2M in sponsorship deals
- Led the artist I managed to win two most prestigious awards in her genre
- Developed and implemented a comprehensive marketing plan to support the regional and national touring of the artist under my management, involving print media, social media campaigns and A-Z event management
- Managed the production and release of two music albums, both within budget
- Managed one regional and one national concert tours, both within budget
- Contracted, coordinated and supervised production assistants, set designers, costume designers, sound engineers, musicians, roadies, technicians, lighting experts, photographers and videographers for musical projects
- Managed strategic relationships with the media, government authorities, venue managers and sponsors

Career Manager

Desafiando Brasil

Desafiando Brasil was the company I first started when arriving in Brazil. It was the first coaching company in the city where I lived and a little ahead of its time, so I had a hard time making it profitable. It taught me the importance of carefully screening for demand before starting a business.

Key Highlights:
- Delivered keynote speeches to over 30,000 people throughout Brazil
- Wrote and published a book for high school students
- Researched, designed and delivered an advanced customer service program to 11 companies based on identifying a massive pain point in the market
- Researched, designed and delivered consultative sales methodology training to 5 sales teams
- Developed and delivered the coaching180 program for entrepreneurs, a blended coaching methodology involving emails, tasks and periodical in-person meetings
- Designed and executed innovative education programs for youth, including city-wide treasure hunts and the construction of giant sandcastles

Consultant and Trainer

Jiva Technologies

Elaborated strategic plans for the company. Marketed seminars to future entrepreneurs and students. Developed a four-fold curriculum and delivered seminars throughout the country and in Brazil. Mentored and coached individuals. Handled general office duties.

Key Highlights:
• Developed the 3DO business model based on 2-year research and 100-volume literature review
• Trained over 50 individuals in integrated conditioning
• Reviewed and studied over 30 business systems

Consultant

Nupremis

Integral member of the product development team. Presented product solutions to clients. Led 10-member cross-functional teams. Managed product development projects. Designed sales training documentation and training.

Key Highlights:
• Designed and spearheaded the launching of the Managed Hosting Services product, which generated $2 million in yearly revenue
• Trained over 150 employees in corporate strategy
• Participated in venture capitalist meetings to present product and competitive analyses
• Collaborated with a Spanish client in the implementation of its Internet Marketing strategy

Manager, Product Strategy

NETtel Communications

Integral member of the Marketing Strategy team. Evaluated new billing platforms for the company. Participated in the design of the corporate Knowledge Management system. Conducted weekly conference calls with sales force to support business development efforts. Presented eServices at client sites. Conducted telepresentations to clients via the Internet. Designed sales force documentation and training.

Key Highlights:
• Developed and launched four eServices, which reduced monthly billing costs by $100,000
• Redesigned the corporate website
• Elaborated the online integration strategy for the website, customer extranet, and corporate intranet
• Implemented the online integration strategy
• Trained 100-member sales force on eServices strategy

Internet Marketing Specialist

Are you looking to implement (or re-implement) Salesforce without headaches? Are you looking for a firm that understands business just as much as they understand technology? Let's talk about it: https://calendly.com/xceede/martin

It's not easy to implement a CRM that your team will rave about.

In order to build a tool that enables performance and puts your sales team on steroids, you need to put in place a well-thought out implementation strategy.

You can't simply hand people a piece of technology and think that this will instantly turn you into a billion-dollar company.

For your project to be successful:
🟢 you must take into account behavioral change challenges and phase implementation accordingly
🟢 your technology must faithfully mirror your business processes
🟢 the solution you put in place must drive business outcomes

Without these three pillars, no technology on the market will drive results for you and your team.

With that said, how can you tap into Salesforce to drive your company's growth? How can you leverage it to empower your top performers? And how do you ensure that it helps you deliver career-altering results?

That's what Xceede can do for you.

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗪𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣 𝗬𝗢𝗨?
🔅 Formalization of business processes: We help you formalize sales processes that hit the growth drivers of your business.

🔆 Process enablement in Salesforce: We deliver a fully-functional CRM that enables your growth-driving processes with greater efficiency.

𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗗𝗢 𝗪𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛?
Ambitious executives at B2B companies who have already reached $50-200M in revenue who want to drive growth and scale the company.

𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗦𝗘 𝗨𝗦?
Because we deliver end-to-end solutions. We handle the management consulting AND implement the technology that enables it at a fraction of the cost you'll pay for at one of the big consulting firms. We are just as fluent in business speak as we are in IT language. And because you'll fall in love with our personable, direct and BS-free approach to human relations.

𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗪𝗘 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞?
Contact me by direct message here on LinkedIn or by email at martin.messier@xceedesolutions.com

Martin Messier

I've watched companies spend $200K on a Salesforce implementation and still run forecasting in a spreadsheet Dave built in 2019.

You think that's going to fly in the age of AI?

I also noticed one thing... the companies that get massive value from their CRM share one habit.

They answer one question before they sign the SOW: "What decisions will this system help us make?"

When leadership treats implementation as a revenue growth decision, everything clicks.

I've worked with a 20-person sales org that got more value from their CRM in 90 days than most enterprise rollouts deliver in two years. They knew exactly which three reports their VP needed every Monday morning and which dashboards their reps needed to execute efficiently. So that's what got built first. Adoption was immediate because the system solved a problem the team already felt.

The best implementations I've been part of start with conversations like:

"When you sit down Monday morning, what do you wish you could see?"

"When your board asks about pipeline, where do you pull that number from?"

"When a deal slips, how does your team figure out why?"

Every answer becomes a design requirement, and every requirement becomes something the team actually opens and uses. Adoption in month one predicts ROI in year one.

If you're planning an implementation, start with the decisions. The technology follows.

#Salesforce #CRMImplementation #RevOps #SalesLeadership #RevenueGrowth

Customer journey strategist | Service design + Salesforce enablement

The most underrated way to align Sales + Finance: make the plan pipeline-native.

Before we started building PLNR - Sales-Driven Planning®, a pattern kept punching us in the face:

Most companies plan like this:
1. Finance builds a plan.
2. Sales runs the quarter.
3. RevOps plays interpreter.

Every week, everyone meets to reconcile the story.

At first, it looks like alignment. Truth is, it’s really two systems trying to duct tape themselves together.

The moment pipeline reality shifts (and it always does):
- deals slip
- stages stall
- new pipeline shows up late
- “commit” becomes a vibe, not a view of risk

…your plan can’t absorb it.

What happens next is painfully predictable.

RevOps gets pulled into the worst kind of work, like chasing “quick updates,” running forecast call theater, translating pipeline chaos into something Finance can digest, and getting blamed when the number surprises someone.

Somewhere in the middle of developing PLNR - Sales-Driven Planning®, we had a simple (but kind of uncomfortable) realization: if the plan lives outside the pipeline, Sales and Finance can’t actually share it.

They can only argue about it.

That was the breakthrough.

So we started designing it around a different premise:

The plan should be pipeline-native.

Not merely “connected to the CRM" or “fed by dashboards.”

Pipeline-native as in:
1. The plan updates as pipeline changes.
2. Assumptions are explicit, shared, and inspectable.
3. Forecasting is not a weekly ritual, it is an always-on feedback loop.
4. RevOps is no longer the human API between teams.

Sales + Finance alignment results from a plan that can keep up with reality. Way more effective than meetings...

So... do you have alignment… or do you just have really good reconciliation habits?

#RevOps #RevenuePlanning #Forecasting #PipelineManagement #GoToMarket

6 things your CEO expects that nobody told the Salesforce implementation team

Your #CEO signed off on a Salesforce investment with a very specific picture in mind. More often than not, that picture almost never makes it into the SOW. 

For instance:

1. A live revenue (not deals or bookings) forecast they can pull anytime
Your CEO wants to know exactly where the business stands against plan on any given Tuesday morning. A well-built Salesforce org should deliver this instantly, with a forecast that updates as deals move, close, or slip, giving leadership a board-ready number without asking three people to reconcile a spreadsheet first.

2. Plan-to-actual visibility across the entire go-to-market
Your CEO expects to see what was planned against what's actually happening, broken down by territory, segment, or product line. Your Salesforce org should surface this in real time, inside the system their teams already use every day.

3. Quota and capacity alignment that can be trusted
When your CEO asks "do we have the right coverage to hit the number?", they expect a solid answer. Your Salesforce org should show headcount, quota distribution, and pipeline coverage in one place, all connected to the same data reps are updating.

4. Scenario modeling for board-level conversations
"What happens if we miss pipeline targets by 20%?" "What does it look like if we add two reps in Q3?" Your CEO needs to walk into the boardroom with ranges and probabilities. Your Salesforce org should support these conversations with real data and adjustable assumptions, so leadership can model outcomes on the spot.

5. Governance and version control that builds cross-functional trust
CEOs need Sales, Finance, and Ops working from the same plan. Your Salesforce org should provide structured plan versions, timestamps, and clear ownership that shows who changed the forecast, when, and why. For public companies, this is a compliance expectation. For growth-stage companies, it's how you get Sales and Finance aligned and keep the board confident.

6. A planning layer that makes the #CRM more valuable every quarter
Your CEO expects the Salesforce investment to compound. Every quarter, the system should deliver more insight, more adoption, and more alignment across teams. When planning lives inside the CRM, that's exactly what happens.

Do you want to significantly upgrade your Salesforce org so you can deliver all the above? Check out PLNR - Sales-Driven Planning®. It adds the planning layer #Salesforce needs to help you align #Sales, #Marketing, #Operations, and #Finance.

#SalesforceImplementation #RevOps #SalesLeadership #RevenueGrowth

The most underrated reason forecasts “miss”: planning latency.

When we were building PLNR - Sales-Driven Planning®, we kept hearing the same complaint from RevOps: “Our forecasts aren't accurate.”

And yeah… sometimes that was true.

But the more we looked at what was actually happening week to week, we realized something uncomfortable:

Most teams don’t have an accuracy problem. They have a speed problem.

Their plan updates too slowly for the reality it’s supposed to govern. See if this resonates with your reality... Pipeline changes on Tuesday. The “plan” acknowledges it two weeks later. Finance re-forecasts in a monthly cycle. Sales revises commit in a Friday call.

Everyone walks around with numbers that are technically “official”… and practically useless.

That’s planning latency for you.

It creates this weird second-order chaos:
- #RevOps spends their life reconciling versions of the truth
- #Sales starts treating the plan like a suggestion
- #Finance starts treating pipeline like a fairytale
- Forecast calls turn into negotiations instead of decisions

Here’s what clicked for us during PLNR development:

Accuracy is a lagging indicator. Latency is the upstream driver.

If your planning system can’t absorb slippage the day it happens and surface risk without a human chasing fields, show what changed and why, and make assumptions explicit...

…then “improving accuracy” is just lipstick on a slow process.

So we started optimizing for a plan that moves at the speed of pipeline.

When the plan updates fast enough, a bunch of things stop being “meetings” and start being signals.

Your forecasting process is only as good as your planning latency.

So… how old is your plan by the time you’re looking at it?

#RevenuePlanning #Forecasting #GoToMarket #PipelineManagement

5 #forecasting habits that keep sales teams stuck in spreadsheets

Every sales org on the planet wants better forecasting. Most of the ones we've seen already have the #CRM to support it. The issue is almost always the same five habits.

1. Running the forecast on a quarterly cycle
A quarterly planning cycle is outdated by week three. The best sales orgs run rolling forecasts that update continuously inside Salesforce, so the numbers always reflect what's actually happening in the pipeline. When a deal slips or a new opportunity lands, the forecast adjusts the same day.

2. Consolidating territory data by hand
Somewhere in your org, someone is pulling data from Salesforce into Excel, rolling it up by territory, and emailing it to a VP every Monday. The teams that move past this build territory rollups directly inside the CRM, so every manager sees their numbers live and the VP gets a dashboard that's always current.

3. Keeping the forecast in a file only one person understands
You know the file. Dave built it in 2019. It has 14 tabs, a few hidden columns, and a formula that breaks if you look at it wrong. The teams that win at forecasting move the model into Salesforce where every assumption is visible, every version is tracked, and the whole team can see how the number was built.

4. Treating the forecast as a finance exercise
When forecasting lives in a spreadsheet owned by Finance, reps never see it, and managers only engage with it once a quarter during the review. The best orgs make forecasting part of daily sales execution, so reps can see their gap-to-quota, managers can adjust targets, and Finance gets the live number they need without chasing anyone for updates.

5. Rebuilding the forecast from scratch every cycle
Starting over every quarter costs weeks of effort and loses all the context from the previous cycle. Teams that forecast well carry context forward, rolling over plans that build on what happened last quarter, with assumptions that evolve as the business evolves. Every cycle gets sharper because the last one didn't disappear into an archive folder.

Where does this leave you?

If your team is forecasting in spreadsheets and your CRM is already Salesforce, the fix is closer than you think. You can bring planning into your CRM using PLNR - Sales-Driven Planning®, and these five habits take care of themselves.

#Salesforce #SalesForecasting #RevOps #SalesOps #RevenueGrowth

Kao Corporation

Leading Regional and Global Digital Transformation initiatives.

Associate Director, Commercial Strategy & Planning, Digital Transformation

Program leader on strategic sales process and technology-related initiatives in the Americas and EMEA business regions for global brands and sales operations. Leads cross functional teams comprised of Sales, Marketing, Education, Development, and IT through all program development phases. Responsible for managing the portfolio of technology and business systems (Salesforce CRM, Tableau Data Analytics and Visualization) and teams of IT vendors throughout the system development lifecycle. Regional advisor on current business systems and processes including CRM, Loyalty, Data Management, and Partner solutions; Functional SPOC on A/EMEA salon initiatives such as E-commerce, and SAP-related projects.

Leads the Customer Relationship Management and Enhanced Reporting Program

The CRM and Enhanced Reporting Program enables customer account teams across the region to focus on the customers’ needs, provides management increased visibility into customer relationships, and enables advanced use of automation and analytics to direct business decisions.

• Planned and led the design and implementation of a vastly improved Salesforce CRM experience for Sales, Education, and Customer Service across four countries in the Americas Region. This multi-year enterprise program coordinated the collective efforts of over a dozen cross-functional teams comprised of Sales, Marketing, Education, IT, and Development through all program development phases. This implementation will serve as the business model and technology platform for the global CRM rollout. 

• Replaced a portfolio of complex, custom-built legacy reporting by performing Kao’s first ever implementation and use of Tableau. This implementation has empowered Salon Americas report users by centralizing essential sales reporting under a single platform and allowing the account teams to take advantage of sophisticated analytics and data visualizations to deepen relationships with existing and new customers.

Manager, Commercial Strategy & Planning, CRM Program, Americas Region

•  Led teams to deliver ongoing Salesforce CRM / Data Warehouse project impacts for Salon US Business Division
•  Supported Trade Marketing, Marketing Programs, and Brand Marketing systems production support, data reporting, enhancement requests, and user inquiries for: brand websites, loyalty marketing portal, digital asset library, online product ordering, mobile tools and applications, and social media channels
•  Led cross-functional collaboration with the Sales, Marketing, and Education organizations for all Interactive initiatives for the Goldwell and KMS brands
•  Managed partner relationships and legal agreements

Manager, Interactive Services

Projectalent

Consultant and senior project leader for corporate digital marketing and communications projects including strategic and tactical implementation.  Project types:  Social, mobile, ecommerce, display, search, interactive, design, and development.

Specialties include:
• New business development and contract negotiation
• Business requirements and proposal writing
• Resource alignment, recruiting, and reporting
• Project management
• Account management

Director, Business Strategy

Profiles

Consultant supporting digital teams with consultants in the following areas: social, mobile, search, performance marketing, interactive, copywriting, design, and development. We help get projects done through: contract consulting, direct hire, team alignment, project SOW outsourcing.

Business Development Manager

About Faces Day Spa & Salon

Led and implemented the marketing strategy including identity design, media buying, advertising, web development, ecommerce, and promotions.

Marketing Director

Ashton Design

Identity development, annual reports, environmental graphics for major sports facilities, project management

Graphic Designer

Chess Communication AS

Graphic design of marketing collateral for the professional gaming industry.

Harvey Agency

Package design and brand development for consumer goods companies.

Ian is a senior international sales and marketing business leader with broad experience across sales, marketing, capabilities, and development who partners effectively to drive change. He has led and scaled enterprise business programs through periods of rapid growth and transformation across varied B2B and B2C business models; most recently for Kao Corporation, specializing in manufacturing and marketing of consumer products with 33,000 employees worldwide. Ian’s expertise includes customer relationship management, digital transformation, sales ecosystems, commercial strategy, and change management. He is known as a hands-on, collaborative leader and communicator who works to solve complex business issues.

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