Gartner: Exec-Tier Value, AI Flanker & Renewal Dynamics

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Do you think that the salesforce challenge you brought up outside of IT and supply chain is just a matter of maturity where this will get better over time as they understand the space better? Or do you feel like management was blind to these issues and didn't see this as the same problem that you do?

When I left, they were still unaware of the issue. They believed the salespeople just weren't following the process. So, sales managers were enforcing the process, thinking it would solve everything. I keep in touch with people still there, and my understanding is they are now following the process and growing. However, they're getting more of those smaller, safer subscription deals with fewer licenses and shorter contract periods—one year instead of three. We used to call this "junk business" because it's tough to renew. It seems like they're just pushing the problem down the road. Business development is happening, and they're growing again, but the licenses they're acquiring will become a problem in about a year, and they're worried about that. This situation places the renewal burden on the account executive to some extent, but mainly on the advisors and executive partners who are measured on retention. Salespeople are not measured on retention; they're measured on contract value. For member acquisition or business development, it's straightforward—the more contracts you close, the more money you earn. Even account managers have quotas based on contract value. For instance, if they lost a premium executive-level license, that's a $100,000 hit to contract value, which is significant. However, if they sold two advisory licenses instead, they met their quota. They could mix and match across the license configuration as much as needed, as long as they met the quota.

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