We recently connected with Shannon Gregg and have shared our conversation below.

Shannon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

The “overnight success” myth is one of my favorite things to debunk, mostly because it ignores the beautiful, messy science of human behavior. Scaling Cloud Adoption Solutions wasn’t a linear climb; it was a series of intentional pivots grounded in the same theories I studied for my PhD: Change Management, Diffusion of Innovations and Adult Learner.

Here is the “nitty-gritty” of how we moved from a solo endeavor to a powerhouse team.

1. The Pivot: From “Doing” to “Designing”
In the early days, I was the one in the weeds of every Salesforce instance. To scale, I had to stop being the “tool expert” and start being the “process architect.”

The Strategy: I realized that technology is never the problem; adoption is. I shifted our value proposition from “we set up Salesforce.com” to “we ensure your people actually use it to drive revenue.”

The Tactic: We began focusing on regulated B2B industries (Life Sciences, Wealth Management, and Tech). By narrowing the niche, we became the “Trusted Advisor” rather than just another consulting firm. This allowed us to build repeatable frameworks that still felt bespoke to the client…and we really, really got entrenched in their internal teams. We are often the longest-standing employees in many of our client organizations!

2. Building the “Sales Ops Design Shop”
Scaling meant I couldn’t be the only brain in the room. I had to build a team (never a “department”) that shared a specific DNA.

The Turning Point: A major milestone was realizing that to grow revenue without ballooning headcount, we needed to practice what we preached. We automated our own internal friction. If a task didn’t require a human touch, we built a flow for it.

The Obstacle: Finding people who understood both the technical “how” and the psychological “why” of CRM. I started looking for “multi-potentialites”—people who could talk tech and empathy in the same breath.

3. Embracing the “Sass” and the Science
You can’t scale a professional services firm without a strong brand voice. I leaned into my background as a speaker and educator.

The Twists & Turns: Launching sub-brands like Life Sciences Dreamin’ and the Life Sciences Sales Lab podcast were big risks. They required significant time away from “billable” work. However, these platforms became our most effective scaling tools. They established authority before we even hopped on a Discovery Call.

The Mistake: Early on, I tried to be everything to everyone. I took on projects that weren’t a fit for our core competency because I was afraid of saying “no” to growth. I learned quickly that “bad revenue” is the greatest enemy of scaling. It drains your team’s energy and dilutes your brand.

My Advice for the “Middle Phase”
If you’re in the thick of it right now, remember: Diffusion of Innovation takes time. You aren’t just building a company; you’re changing how your customers (and your employees) think and work. Don’t be afraid of the grit; that’s where the high-fidelity results are born.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

The Intersection of Science and Sales

For those who haven’t met me yet, I’m Dr. Shannon J. Gregg. I’m an author, an educator at Point Park University, and the President of Cloud Adoption Solutions.

My journey into this industry wasn’t accidental; it was driven by a fascination with why people do what they do. While many in the technology space focus on the “code,” I focused my PhD dissertation on the “human.” I studied Change Management, Diffusion of Innovations, and Adult Learner theories to understand the massive gap between buying a piece of software and actually getting a team to use it effectively.

At Cloud Adoption Solutions, we don’t just “implement software.” We are a Sales Operations powerhouse. We focus on regulated B2B industries—specifically Life Sciences, Wealth Management, and SaaS—where the stakes are high and the processes are complex.

We provide:

– Salesforce.com Consulting & Training: Ensuring the world’s most powerful CRM actually works for your specific workflow.

– Process Consulting: Auditing and refining how your team moves a lead from a “hello” to a closed deal.

– Fractional Sales Operations: Providing the strategic leadership of a Sales Operations team without the overhead of a full-time executive hire.

– Specialized Sub-Brands: Through Life Sciences Dreamin’ and my podcast, the Life Sciences Sales Lab, we create communities where industry leaders can share “the real story” of what’s working in the field.

What Sets Us Apart: The “Trusted Advisor” Edge
The problem we solve is simple but pervasive: Friction. Most companies have “random acts of sales” – disconnected processes that frustrate employees and stall revenue.

What sets us apart is our “entrenched” model. We don’t just deliver a solution and leave. We become the longest-standing members of our clients’ internal teams. We understand the “psychological why” behind CRM resistance. Because I teach Professional Selling and Marketing at the MBA level, our strategies aren’t just based on “best guesses” – they are grounded in academic research and real-world testing.

What I’m Most Proud Of
I am incredibly proud of our recent book, Sales Ops Design Shop: How to Grow Revenue without Adding Headcount. It was a collaborative effort with nine other brilliant minds, and it serves as a manifesto for our belief that you can scale a business through efficiency and empathy rather than just throwing more bodies at a problem.

Beyond the business, I’m proud of maintaining a culture where my team of “multi-potentialites” can thrive. Whether I’m on a stage with the National Speakers Association or on a dance floor with my mom jazz team, I bring the same energy: Work hard, automate the boring stuff, and never stop being a student of human behavior.

What You Should Know
If you follow my work or hire my team, know this: We are obsessed with your adoption. We believe sales is a noble, scientific profession. We’re here to help you navigate the intersection of regulation and technology so you can get back to what you do best—building relationships.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

In my PhD dissertation, I focused heavily on the “human” side of technology. While my academic influences are deep, two specific viewpoints have fundamentally shaped how I lead Cloud Adoption Solutions and how we consult for our clients: Growth Mindset and Ethical Influence.

1. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
In the world of Salesforce.com and digital transformation, the biggest hurdle isn’t the software—it’s the “I can’t do this” or “We’ve always done it this way” mentality.

The Impact: Dweck’s work on the Growth Mindset is the cornerstone of our training philosophy. When we walk into a Life Sciences or Wealth Management firm, we aren’t just teaching buttons; we are teaching resilience.

The Philosophy: I’ve built a team of “multi-potentialites” who believe that skill is a starting point, not a ceiling. In my management style, I reward the process of learning and the bravery of “failing fast” in a sandbox environment. If you have a fixed mindset, you’ll never survive the rapid-fire updates of the tech world. We live in a state of constant “beta,” and Dweck gave me the vocabulary to make that a competitive advantage.

2. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
As the host of the Life Sciences Sales Lab and a constant student of the National Speakers Association, I view sales as a noble profession. Cialdini’s six (and now seven) principles of persuasion are the “physics” of how we help our clients grow revenue.

The Impact: We use Cialdini’s principles, specifically Authority and Social Proof, to help our clients navigate highly regulated B2B sales cycles. In the Life Sciences, being a “Trusted Advisor” isn’t just a tagline; it’s a requirement.

The Philosophy: My entrepreneurial thinking shifted when I realized that “Influence” isn’t about manipulation; it’s about reducing friction in the decision-making process. Whether I’m teaching a Marketing class for an MBA program or helping a Sales Operations team automate their lead flow, we are looking for ways to use ethical influence to help people get to “Yes” faster.

The “Sassy” Science of Leadership
Beyond these two, I’m constantly influenced by the unconventional. My current project—a book for middle-aged women diagnosed with cancer, the one I wish I could find when I was diagnosed with stage 3b rectal cancer—is inspired by the 90s magazine Sassy. It reminds me that even in the “serious” world of PhDs and CRM, your voice should be authentic, slightly irreverent, and always human.

Scaling a business is a series of “pivots” and “jazz dance” moments. These resources gave me the choreography, but my team and I provide the soulful execution.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

Yes, I have! We recently acquired Retentional, a dedicated Customer Success platform. For years, Cloud Adoption Solutions has been the gold standard for helping companies win business through Salesforce.com and optimized Sales Operations. But as any research and application in Change Management will tell you, the hardest part isn’t the handshake—it’s the long-term adoption and retention that follows.

Why Retentional?
In the regulated B2B spaces we serve—Life Sciences, Wealth Management, and Tech—the cost of acquiring a customer is incredibly high. If you aren’t obsessing over retention, you’re essentially pouring water into a leaky bucket.

The Strategy: I bought Retentional because it was the missing piece of our “Revenue Growth” puzzle. It allows us to move beyond the initial sale and help our clients manage the entire post-sale journey.

The Synergy: Retentional fits perfectly with our “Sales Ops Design Shop” philosophy: How to grow revenue without adding headcount. By automating the health scores and renewal triggers within a dedicated platform, we enable a small team to do the work of an army.

The Acquisition Process: A Study in “Friction”
If I’m being honest (and I always am), the acquisition process was a masterclass in the very theories I teach.

The Alignment Phase: Before any contracts were signed, I had to ensure the DNA matched. Retentional wasn’t just a piece of software; it was built on the idea that customer success is a data-driven science. That resonated with my academic background in Change Management, Adult Learner ,and Diffusion of Innovations theories.

The Due Diligence Grit: This is the part the movies gloss over. It was months of spreadsheets, legal reviews, and deep-dives into technical debt. We approached it like a Salesforce implementation: looking for where the “friction” lived and understanding how we could smooth it out post-acquisition.

The Integration (The Real Work): Buying the business was the easy part; integrating the teams and the brands was the “jazz dance.” We had to ensure that our existing Salesforce consulting clients saw Retentional as a value-add, not a distraction.

What This Means for our Brand
Retentional is now a key sub-brand under the Cloud Adoption Solutions umbrella. It represents our evolution from a consulting firm to a comprehensive revenue partner. We aren’t just setting up your CRM; we are helping you build a “Retentional” culture where every customer becomes a lifelong advocate.

I’m incredibly proud of this move because it proves that we practice what we preach: We scale through smart technology and even smarter processes.

Contact Info:

• Website: cloudadoption.solutions
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonjgregg/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CloudAdoptionSolutions
• Soundcloud: https://rss.com/podcasts/lifesciencessaleslab/?listen-on=true
• Other: https://www.shannongregg.com