Adrian Davis

For the past 20 years, Adrian has been devoted to understanding and applying the principles of successful business. He has consistently dominated the sales charts and received numerous awards for sales excellence. He has had dramatic impacts on both the top and bottom line for such prestigious companies as KPMG, ONYX Software, FreeBalance, PeopleSoft (formerly Vantive), and Portal Software.

In his last role as a Strategic Account Executive, he launched the Toronto branch of Portal Software. He grew the branch from one to 30 employees within a two-year period, and exceeded his annual sales quota by 300%. This was during the technology slump of 2000-2001, when many of his counterparts were unable to achieve even 50% of their quota. It was this dramatic divergence in performance, during economic downturns that lead Adrian to realize the value of his personal discipline and process-driven approach to sales. After a brief stint as a personal sales coach, he realized his methods needed to be adopted at the CEO level and implemented company-wide.

In 2002, in an effort to become a more strategic resource for CEOs, Adrian became a certified Competitive Intelligence Professional (CIP). In the same year, Adrian founded Whetstone Inc., a management consulting firm, devoted to helping chief executives and business owners build cohesive, client-driven organizations resulting in greater value for their customers and greater demand for their goods and services.

Unlike traditional sales consultants or trainers, Adrian does not treat sales as a separate department, but rather as a unifying corporate culture or way of life. His strength lies in aligning corporate strategy with customer facing strategies to increase profitability.

Adrian is frequently called upon to speak to senior management teams and sales groups on the subjects of corporate strategy, competitive advantage and sales excellence.