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

Chris Arden

auxi

Fractional Marketing Executive

Red5

At Red5, I was initially brought on to drive SEO growth, achieving remarkable results with a 200% increase in SEO traffic and a 150% boost in booked meetings within just six months. Building on this success, I expanded marketing efforts across multiple channels:

	•	Paid Advertising: Launched targeted Google Ads and Bing Ads campaigns, driving additional qualified traffic and leads.

	•	Marketing Automation & Analytics: Installed HubSpot, implementing dashboards for lead attribution and integrating all site forms, giving the team clear visibility into lead and opportunity sources.

	•	Website & SEO Optimization: Rebuilt the website, proposed new SEO-focused landing pages, and drove dozens of pages to top 10 rankings on Google, with some reaching positions 1 and 2.

	•	Email Marketing: Developed a comprehensive email program, incorporating product marketing for both existing and new products.

	•	Product Launch: Played a key role in launching Red5 Cloud while continuing to promote Red5 Pro.
	•	Community Engagement: Built an automated outreach program for the Red5 Pro Slack community to foster deeper engagement.

These initiatives not only expanded our digital footprint but also helped generate high-quality leads, drive growth, and position Red5 for continued success in a competitive landscape.

Fractional CMO

Revv

As a Fractional Marketing Executive at Revv, I was hired to establish a high-performing demand generation framework that drove measurable growth. My initial focus was on building scalable systems and campaigns to attract and convert prospects effectively.

Key Contributions:

	•	Demand Generation Setup: Launched advertising campaigns across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Meta Ads, optimized for lead generation and conversions.

	•	Conversion Tracking: Implemented robust tracking using Zapier, Salesforce, and ad platforms to ensure accurate attribution and actionable insights.

	•	Website Redesign: Led a complete homepage overhaul to improve user experience and drive higher conversion rates.

	•	High-Converting Social Ads: Created targeted social ads designed to maximize click-through rates and conversions.

	•	Video Content: Produced explainer and product marketing videos to effectively communicate Revv’s value proposition.

	•	Gated Content: Developed lead-generating resources, including eBooks, to nurture prospects through the sales funnel.

After running demand generation initiatives for 90 days, I transitioned ongoing management to an internal team, allowing me to pivot toward events and partnerships to drive revenue growth.

Current Focus:

	•	Event Strategy: Orchestrating trade show and industry event plans to maximize lead generation and brand visibility.
	•	Partnership Development: Building strategic collaborations to expand Revv’s reach and foster market penetration.

With a proven track record in demand generation and a strategic focus on events and partnerships, I deliver results that amplify Revv’s market presence and revenue growth.

Crescendo

As the first marketing hire for CrescendoCX AI, I played a pivotal role in establishing and scaling the company's go-to-market strategy:

- Spearheaded the development and implementation of a repeatable go-to-market motion, focusing on lead generation and pipeline growth.

- Conducted extensive testing to refine messaging, define the ideal customer profile (ICP), and shape creative direction, ensuring alignment with business objectives.

- Architected and deployed a comprehensive marketing technology stack, including Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, GA4, Apollo.io, Hubspot, Clay.io, and Instantly.io, to optimize lead generation and nurturing processes.

- Pioneered a Founder-Led Outreach program to leverage executive relationships and enhance brand credibility.

- Achieved remarkable growth, doubling lead generation month-over-month for six consecutive months.

- Successfully transitioned responsibilities to an in-house marketing team, ensuring continuity and sustained growth.

This role showcased my ability to build marketing functions from the ground up, drive rapid growth, and adapt strategies in a dynamic startup environment.

Add Value Machine

As Fractional CMO, I spearheaded a comprehensive marketing transformation that significantly boosted the company's digital presence and contributed to its growth:

• Led a successful website migration from HubSpot CMS to Webflow, enhancing visual design and achieving a high technical SEO score. This initiative resulted in a 200% increase in organic traffic over six months.

• Played a pivotal role in investor relations, participating in meetings and helping secure Seed and Bridge round funding for product development and marketing initiatives.

• Developed and implemented a robust content marketing strategy encompassing website optimization, SEO, blog content, product landing pages, and partner collaborations.

• Created impactful product marketing videos and provided valuable input for product development, ensuring alignment between marketing efforts and product offerings.

• Produced multiple industry-specific case studies, driving content marketing efforts across various sectors.

• Managed social media strategy and content distribution, enhancing brand visibility and engagement.

• Implemented and optimized digital marketing channels including Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads, while also setting up HubSpot for improved marketing automation and CRM.

• Executed targeted outreach campaigns using tools such as Apollo, Clay, and Instantly, expanding the company's reach and lead generation capabilities.

This multifaceted approach contributed to the company's growth, improved market positioning, and laid a strong foundation for scalable marketing operations."

At Ecosystems we help B2B companies overcome the challenge of articulating their value to customers.
 
Our software platform enables client-facing teams to align customer stakeholders on their objectives, tactics, metrics, targets, and timelines. It then allows them to calculate with confidence both the potential and, later, real value of addressing that objective or meeting that challenge. We facilitate that conversation across both digital and human-led channels, connecting key stakeholders across silos and over time. Essentially, we provide an AI based digital value platform that quantifies and tracks business value. 

As a first-time head of marketing, I was hired to build out a high-growth strategy for an emerging enterprise SaaS company.  I built and executed on an early stage high growth playbook.  This included hiring the team, defining the tech stack, building out the Demand Gen engine, re-platforming our website and revamping social media to generate high quality inbound leads.  In addition, I executed an organic growth strategy to take our B2B community from 0 - 3,000 active members in under 2 years.  As part of that strategy we host world class events with some of the top names in SaaS including Google, Gainsight, Zuora, Qualtrics and, more.

VP of Marketing

Raken

Manage all aspects of Digital Marketing for Raken. Responsible for 7-Figure budget planning and execution. Increased YOY SEO traffic by 105% in 2019. Successfully implemented machine learning bid automation through Marin 1 in Q3 of 2019.  Reduced cost per lead by 36% in 2019. Responsible for new customer acquisition growth across 6sense ABM, Google Ads, Google Display, Google Video, Google Universal App Campaigns, Bing Ads, Capterra, Get App, Software Advice, Linkedin PPC, Linkedin InMail, Linkedin Video, Linkedin Lead Gen, Apple Search Ads, Facebook App Installs, Facebook Video Ads, Facebook Lead Gen, and more.

Director - Digital Marketing & Demand Generation

Canyon Bicycles GmbH

Recruited to build a team and launch e-commerce for Canyon USA.  Tasked with building a comprehensive digital marketing launch strategy and brand awareness campaign. Built online marketing programs ranging from email, social media, CPC, influencer marketing, retargeting and more.  Used A/B testing, multivariate testing, and multi-page (Funnel) testing to ensure important decisions were being made with actionable data.  All with the goal of forming a unified digital experience for the customer across all online touch points.

Head of US Marketing / Director of Digital Marketing & eCommerce

COBRA PUMA GOLF

Provide a platform to tell digital brand stories for COBRA Golf and PUMA Golf. Seamlessly integrate lifestyle marketing for footwear and apparel with eCommerce growth initiatives. Directed eCommerce, paid media, programmatic display, SEO, content marketing, email marketing, social media and created influencer programs to build international brand awareness.  Established retention programs with targeted messaging and segmented consumer emails. Used A/B testing, multivariate testing, and multi-page (Funnel) testing to ensure important decisions were being made with actionable data.  Redesigned the consumer experience to focus on premium product and virtually eliminated discount shoppers, therefore dramatically improving company profitability. Managed global campaign marketing calendars for digital, social, and content marketing efforts. Launched and managed strategic eCommerce programs for PUMA North America and COBRA PUMA Golf across UK, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, Korea and Sweden.

Director of Digital Marketing & eCommerce

TaylorMade Golf Company

Managed e-commerce global strategy leading to YOY eCommerce revenue growth over 200%. Led aggressive program to automate data management across social, eCommerce, mobile applications and retail event programs. Rebuilt and optimized the search engine marketing program from the ground up quadrupling ROAS. Built consumer profiles for our custom marketing automation program. Worked closely with cross functional teams to build out 360 degree consumer data models.

eCommerce Digital Marketing Manager

Start-up brand builder and growth hacker. Offering 20 years experience building integrated marketing programs for both start-ups and Fortune 500 brands.

Specialties: AI Marketing • Early Stage B2B SaaS Acceleration • ABM • Demand Generation • Brand Marketing • App Marketing • Content Development • Social Media Strategy • eCommerce

At Ecosystems, our purpose is to make value clear. We empower emerging and world-class companies to differentiate and sell more via our robust Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform which quantifies and tracks customer business outcomes. It's our life's work--not just business.

As a first-time head of marketing, I was hired to build out a high-growth strategy for an emerging enterprise SaaS software company.  I defined the tech stack, built out the Demand Gen engine, and ensured our website, social and partnerships are driving qualified inbound traffic.

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Brent Adamson

Chris Arden

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Brent Adamson's LinkedIn Performance

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