Rich Adams

💰 Sales comp costs are climbing, projected to rise 6% in 2025, nearly double U.S. inflation. The challenge? 69% of organizations admit they can’t link higher sales comp spend to higher productivity. Misaligned measures, poorly set quotas, and “plan leakages” are eroding ROI while top sellers expect competitive upside. To keep costs in check, leaders need sharper diagnostics: align incentives directly to revenue, set fair but motivating quotas, and run regular market checks to stay competitive without overspending. 👉 Is your sales compensation plan driving performance or just driving up costs? Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gDyHeWeU #SalesCompensation #CompensationTrends #TotalRewards #FutureOfWork #SalesLeadership #PayStrategy #AleraGroup

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The #1 sales rep at Salesforce. The #1 sales rep at Gartner. The #1 sales rep at Tableau. The #1 sales rep at HubSpot. The #1 sales rep at Sprout Social. The #1 sales rep at Cintas. We've coached all of them (plus top performers at dozens of Fortune 100 companies down to founding AEs at start ups). After working with hundreds of elite sales professionals, I've noticed 8 patterns that separate the top 1% from everyone else. These aren't typical "make more calls" tips. These are the counterintuitive principles that truly elite performers live by. 1. They're QUARTERBACKS, not lone wolves Most reps try to close deals solo and fail. Elite reps orchestrate multiple stakeholders internally AND externally. They're mapping deals from day one and quarterbacking the entire vision. 2. They're RUTHLESS about disqualification While average reps chase garbage opportunities, elite reps spend more time qualifying upfront, not pitching. They'd rather walk away than squeeze water from a rock. 3. They turn "sales calls" into BUSINESS CONVERSATIONS These reps show up having read the 10Ks, earnings transcripts, and analyst reports. They understand profit & loss and the CEO's strategic priorities. They aren't there to pitch a product. They're there with a clear point of view on impacting business metrics that matter. 4. They CHALLENGE prospects at every level Unlike most reps who avoid tension, elite performers challenge stakeholders at all levels. The key: they've earned the right through business acumen and research, enabling them to become trusted advisors, not order takers. 5. They LEAN INTO discomfort (while others run from it) Sales success lives on the other side of discomfort. Elite reps push through tough questions, price discussions and challenging prospects because they know that's where truth (and deals) are found. 6. They work harder on THEMSELVES than on their job Outside work, they're relentlessly improving: relationships, health, finances, spirituality. 7. Their PERSONAL discipline reflects in their PROFESSIONAL results The meticulous opportunity management you see in their deals exists in their personal life too. It's no accident many elite reps are in excellent physical shape. 8. ZERO EGO, 100% OWNERSHIP They never blame marketing, competitors, the economy, or their territory when they lose. They take 100% ownership of results and constantly seek improvement, even after massive success. Most sales pros aren't willing to do these 8 things. Most sales leaders aren't ABLE to facilitate these 8 things across reps. That's exactly why the elite few who do consistently outperform everyone else by 2-3X. — Book your call now to get the EXACT blueprint elite reps use to crush their quotas. https://lnkd.in/gr9u5Vgd (Sales Leaders…. DM me if you want to install this in your teams)

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One of the biggest frustrations in early-stage sales? 🤔 Incomplete lead data. Too often, new leads land in Salesforce with missing job titles, outdated company info, or vague details. Reps lose valuable time chasing down information, and high-potential opportunities slip through the cracks. That's why we at 10K built the Headless Lead Enrichment Agent 🚀 This AI-powered agent works silently in the background to: ✅ Enrich and qualify leads the instant they're created ✅ Fill in gaps using connected data sources and AI reasoning ✅ Deliver cleaner data, faster response times, and stronger pipelines No clicks, no manual research—just sales teams spending more time selling and less time searching. Watch the video to see how it works 👇 Read the full article + see the full demo: https://lnkd.in/ebk7x8Ee #Agentforce #LeadEnrichment #SDR #Sales #Salesforce #10K #AgentforceActivator

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Enterprise sales doesn’t simply scale with ad spend. It scales with reps who know how to drive deals forward. Clicks don’t close contracts and awareness doesn’t equal revenue. Long, multiple stakeholder sales cycles don’t respond to automated nurture tracks. If you want to grow enterprise, expand outbound. Train reps, not CPM dashboards. Most GTM leaders pour into digital, and wonder why nothing closes but you won't close 25K+ contracts online.

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How do you get two post-M&A sales teams to speak the same language?  (Hint: it takes more than a kickoff meeting and a shared CRM.) When sales teams merge, you're not just aligning tools.  You’re blending mindsets, vocabularies, and ways of working.  Even small differences in process or terminology can turn into major blockers. Deals stall. Clients get mixed messages. Forecasts go off the rails. That’s where L&D can step in and fix what alignment decks can’t. Now, JCDecaux wasn’t navigating a post-M&A scenario, but their challenge was strikingly similar: they needed to unify sales teams across 50+ markets while keeping local strengths intact. Together, we built the Sales Intelligence Hub: A platform for sharing best practices A space to develop a common sales culture A way to stay relevant and practical from Paris to Tokyo The goal was to equip every sales professional to perform at their best, no matter the geography or context. It worked. Not only did the program earn sky-high usefulness scores, it also won a Brandon Hall award for supporting change transformation and business strategy. And more importantly, it turned a global salesforce into a connected, collaborative, culturally-aware team. So if your business is going through a merger or acquisition, take a page from JCDecaux’s playbook: You don’t have to sacrifice local strengths to build a shared way of selling. That’s what strategic L&D makes possible. ------------------------------------------------- If building unified, adaptive teams through change is a priority for you, I want to invite you to something special. On July 2nd, Andre Scholtz and CrossKnowledge colleagues are hosting a hackathon in London exclusively for senior L&D leaders in enterprise organisations. We’ll explore The Future-Proof Workforce — focusing on building the capabilities and connections that help organisations succeed through transformation. From aligning mindsets to driving real business impact, we’ll dive into the levers that turn complexity into opportunity. Interested? Drop me a message — I’d love to tell you more.

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⁉️ Are your CSMs closer to the Boardroom or the Help Desk? Let’s stop pretending CSMs are here to hold hands and host check-ins. That chapter is over. 📕❌ The future of CSMs as a core role and component of customer success is not soft. It’s not reactive. It’s strategic, commercial, and accountable to growth. 💰📈 If you’re a CSM reading this, you are not “post-sale.” You are core-impact and "next-sale." If you’re a CS leader, your job isn’t to shield your team from change. It’s to equip them to lead it. Onboarding managers, Support analysts, and Implementation/Services specialists are all embracing new technologies and ways of working. 🚀 But what does the future CSM look like? It's more than just discovering new ways of working. There are fundamental shifts in the role definition that are available to create a powerful future. 1️⃣ Business Acumen > Product Knowledge They speak in customer outcomes, not platform features. They understand how their customers make money and how they lose it. 💡💸 2️⃣ Revenue Ownership They don’t just renew. They expand. They create opportunities by delivering real, measurable value. 3️⃣ Executive Presence They can sit across from a C-suite buyer and talk growth, risk, and ROI. No slide decks. No fluff. Just clarity and confidence. 🧠🎯 4️⃣ Customer-Led Innovation They bring the frontlines to the strategy table. The best CSMs don’t just listen to feedback, they shape roadmaps. 🛠️🚀 5️⃣ Courage They don’t wait to be told what to do. They challenge their customers (and their company) to move faster, smarter, better. 💥🔥 💡 Here’s the hard truth: If you’re still treating CSMs like support reps and retention managers, you’re already behind. Some parts of CS will always be counted towards COGs. It's a simple reality of proper financial reality and financial modeling. But CSMs? Why shouldn't they be part of SG&A, given they are often the most under-leveraged growth engine in the company? This isn’t about retention anymore. It’s about expansion, innovation, and category leadership, powered by customer value. 👊 Let’s build the future of CS by developing the kind of CSMs who will own it. #CustomerSuccess #NextGenCSM #CustomerGrowth #RetentionIsRevenue #CSLeadership #GrowthMindset #CustomerLedGrowth #ExecutivePerspective #FutureOfWork #CSRevolution #CreatetheFuture

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