By Rob Käll, CEO & Co-founder Cien.ai The Wisdom of Munger Most business people are familiar with Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway. And many of you may also revere his business partner and sidekick Charlie Munger, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 99 years and 11 months. Munger wrote an excellent book […]

By Joanna Ridgway, SVP Global Sales, Cien.ai What Happens After A PE Deal is Closed? The leadership team at Cien.ai have been buyers, sellers, or sponsors of hundreds of M&A deals. So we know the drill and what can go wrong. The first 100 days post close is often a time of renewed energy. For the buyer it is exciting to have new products and team members, and for the seller it is opportune to be part of something with greater reach. The honeymoon can end quickly. While the Due Diligence process is intended to uncover any issues with the

[ 2-3 min read ] Did you know that, “Only 17% of sales professionals working at companies with more than 250 reps are satisfied with their visibility on their sales pipeline.” It is no secret that B2B sales leaders spend their days and nights thinking of ways to help their teams make their numbers. However, […]

  Shifts in Consumer Behavior And Technology Four years ago, Andy Hoar writing for Forrester Research, famously postulated that a million B2B sales representatives would be displaced by 2020. Andy asserted that the combination of digitally enabled self-service models and the retirement of previous generation buyers who are replaced by digital-native buyers would form new […]

Why do we accept 60% quota attainment? It seems every day I see another news story read or an article discussing the fact that somewhere between 40% and 50% of B2B sales reps in the US fail to attain their quota numbers. Why is that? There is a plethora of tools and applications available to […]

Think back to the last board meeting you attended that addressed sales. The directors likely looked at the sales numbers, compared them to plan, and probably noticed some room for improvement.   But for board members of early-stage or high-growth companies, a higher-intensity focus on sales is necessary since these organizations may not have the […]

A few days ago, I had a conversation with a member of our Board.  As a Director who sits on several high tech start up boards, she has attended more than her share of Board reviews. Her comments could be summarized in saying that Sales Leaders who are not making their numbers all say the […]

[ 2 -3 min read ] Most sales organizations have a well defined sales cycle, from initial contact to the closing of a deal. However, if you’ve noticed your sales cycle getting longer and longer, it can be hard to understand what’s causing it. Are you not qualifying your leads well enough? Or are your […]

Few sales leaders would say they’re satisfied with their win rate. In fact, according to research, the average win rate per sales rep is just 47%. The question is, is your low win rate due to poor lead and opportunity qualification, below par closing skills, or a lack of product knowledge? Searching for the root […]

For sales leaders, podcasts are the most accessible and carefree way to get information. While continuing your daily routine, you can access some of the best discussions on sales from your home, car or headphones. Listening to the podcast is the easy part. The hard part is choosing which ones to listen to among the […]

Cien will be one of several innovative companies in the tech industry represented at Boston Consulting Groupś POPTECH Experience in Berlin on September 19th.

“Before starting his first company, Rob worked at an enterprise software company, calling it his “Office Space days,” but decided that wasn’t what he wanted to do anymore.” Cien’s CEO and co-founder Rob Käll joined Omer Khan on The SaaS Podcast to reflect on his personal journey as a serial entrepreneur in the world of […]