Introducing A to B Insight
After hearing challenges from countless heads of sales and marketing around the world, Brent and Karl determined there is a critical need for deeper insights into B2B buying and selling.
They founded A to B Insight to apply their years of experience researching B2B selling (as well as B2B buying) to reinvent B2B sales.
That was then...
Brent Adamson and Karl Schmidt are best known for their groundbreaking research into B2B sales and marketing that rewrote the playbook for selling in the best-selling books The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer.
This is now...
Fundamental changes to B2B buying behavior have produced unprecedented challenges requiring new approaches for B2B sellers who are trying to develop the right skills to close more deals and drive growth.
What’s changed?
Buyers are overwhelmed and struggling to decide
Even when sellers have convinced customers that their solution is the best alternative, many lack the confidence to decide. Roughly half end in “No Decision”.
Buyers prefer a “rep-free” experience
The vast majority of buyers would rather not talk to a seller at all and independently navigate their complex purchase journey.
With B2B buyers struggling on their own, B2B sellers face an existential threat if they can’t answer one key question – “How can I become the one sales rep a customer actually wants to talk to and help customers decide with confidence?”
About Brent
Brent Adamson is a world-renown researcher, author, presenter, trainer, and advisor to B2B commercial executives around the world.
Known as having the “biggest crystal ball in B2B sales,” Brent is the co-author of the best-selling, industry changing book The Challenger Sale (with nearly 1 million copies sold). He is also a frequent contributor to leading business publications, including the Harvard Business Review, featuring his recent articles, “Sensemaking for Sales” and “Traditional B2B Sales and Marketing Are Becoming Obsolete.” Brent is also author of the HBR article “The End of Solution Sales,” which remains one of the top 5% most consumed HBR articles of all time.
Brent has presented to hundreds of thousands both in-person and virtually all over the world, ranging from executive leadership team meetings to main stage keynotes at the leading industry conferences.
Especially well known for his passion for “productive disruption,” Brent served as the “chief storyteller” for CEB, now Gartner’s, sales, marketing, and customer service practices from 2003 to 2022. Brent’s research focused most closely on the intersection of selling and buying, seeking to understand the changing nature of effective commercial collaboration.
About Karl
Karl Schmidt is a corporate executive, strategy consultant, research leader and author focused on driving growth for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to new ventures. His experience spans strategy consulting (BCG, Deloitte, EDS), best practice research (CEB, Gartner), and multiple startups.
With two “Quant” degrees from the University of Chicago (BA Mathematics, MBA Econometrics & Statistics – graduating 1st in his class), Karl is known not only for tackling the most challenging problems with relentless curiosity, but also for using his consulting experience to translate data/insights into practical solutions.
As Practice Vice President at CEB/Gartner, he led over 50 researchers developing groundbreaking insights for Sales, Marketing and Communications, as well as R&D. His teams received Gartner’s annual Top Research Award three years in a row and developed CEB’s highest scoring workshops including innovations that transformed sales for hundreds of companies adopting Challenger™.
Karl has authored articles published in Forbes and HBR including “Making the Consensus Sale” – one of HBR’s Top Sales articles.
