OTL Newsletter - 4 ways to improve your team's Business Acumen

🎯 Business Update:

My AE Path to Promo Webinar was a huge success. I had plenty of doubts going into it. 

• How will I promote it?
• Will anyone join?
• Can I offer value for attendees?

Needless to say, my concerns were unfounded. 

We had 62 AEs registered for the event and 29 attended! It gives me the confidence I need to launch my masterclass in January (details at the bottom of this email).  

Observation 🧐

One of the most important skills as a salesperson can also feel the most nebulous. 

Business Acumen. 

This skill allows you to answer critical questions in sales:

• Account Reviews: “How does this business make money?”
• Territory Planning: “What are the economic drivers of growth, and how do you use those to prioritize your efforts?”
• Pipeline Creation: “What insights can you share with the prospect about the trends you see in their industry?”

Business acumen is the ability to understand how different aspects of a business work together—financials, operations, market dynamics, and customer needs. 

It’s important because only when sales professionals grasp these concepts, can they tailor their pitches and solutions to align with their clients’ goals, ultimately driving better results.

If it’s so important, why is it so hard to teach?

1. Complexity: Business environments are multifaceted. Each industry has its nuances, making it challenging to provide a one-size-fits-all education.
2. Mindset Shift: Many salespeople are focused on their quotas and targets. Encouraging them to think beyond immediate sales requires a mindset shift that takes time.
3. Experience: Business acumen often comes from real-world experience. It’s difficult to replicate that in a training session.

As sales leaders, we have a responsibility to cultivate this critical skill in our teams.

The good news, you don’t need an MBA. 

Here are 4 ways to improve business acumen amongst your salespeople:

1. Encourage Continuous Learning:  
• Consume business information - Regularly suggest resources like books, podcasts, and online courses that cover various business topics. Synthesize what you learned and encourage others to do the same
• Learn together - For example, share a weekly business update with key trends and metrics and analyze the data with your team to draw insights. 
2. Use Real-World Scenarios: Work through it together and challenge your team to apply their business knowledge in realistic situations. For Example: 
• review a company’s 10K and discuss which numbers you focus on and why.
• Listen to an Earnings report together and see what each person took away. Discuss what information could you leverage when prospecting into the account. 
• Create an Account Plan together. Have a working session where everyone compiles the research. Then review, highlight what’s most important and develop your POV. 
3. Foster a Growth Mindset: Celebrate curiosity and encourage your team to ask questions. Create an environment where learning from mistakes is valued over simply hitting targets.
4. Promote Cross-Functional Collaboration: Facilitate opportunities for your sales team to interact with other departments—finance, marketing, and operations. This exposure can deepen their understanding of the broader business context.

Investing in business acumen is an investment in your team's success. When salespeople understand the bigger picture, they become not just sellers, but strategic partners who drive value for their clients. 

Thought Starter  🤔

I have a cheat code. 

There is a misconception that great leaders, who demonstrate strong business acumen and offer insights are just naturally great at coming up with ideas on the spot. 

What I’ve realized, these “thought leaders” actually have a handful of themes/topics that they speak about regularly. 

These leaders already have a bank of ideas, thoughts, and frameworks in their heads. In a meeting, they share the appropriate insight at the right time.The insight shared is rarely created spontaneously in the moment (even if it appears this way). 

Instead, each time they share, they refine their delivery. They augment their insights over time and deliver them with confidence. 

I apply this approach in customer meetings. 

• I select a handful of customer stories and use cases and learn as much as I can about the problem solved and the outcomes delivered. 
• I have a running document that captures all the details and the corresponding talk track. 
• Then, when appropriate, I reference the same customer story over and over again. 

It’s not my sheer brain power that makes me impactful. It’s my preparation that makes me impactful. 

Love 🥰

A great book to learn how to build your Business Acumen: Seeing the Big Picture by Kevin Cope.