Business Acumen Training Training to improve performance, make bolder more profitable decisions, and outperform the competition with Acumen Learning. Work with us Ask your CEO… Do your employees consistently make the right strategic bets? Here's the honest answer: 95% don't . 1 Many people spend more than a hundred thousand dollars on an MBA without learning to pull all the pieces of the puzzle together. Many more think understanding their business end-to-end is someone else's job. Work with us 1 Based on internal Acumen Learning data and research published in Harvard Business Review. Watch the video Ask your CFO… What is a lack of business acumen costing you? Can every team member explain your company's money-making process in such a way that inspires and engages people? If not, you’re losing money. ​ How many decisions are made too quickly or not quick enough? How many of your employees don’t understand what your CEO talked about on your last earnings call — because they didn't listen to it? How many of your leaders are faking it when it comes to finance? Work with us Ask yourself… What are you waiting for? Lectures from your finance department or Professor Stuffy aren't going to cut it. And don't even get us started on board games and generic simulations – your people deserve better. You need to follow a process that not only develops new skills but reinforces those skills and holds people accountable for using them. Not understanding business is costing you business. So let's get going! Work with us #1 Wall Street Journal & New York Times Bestseller We wrote the book on finance and business acumen. Based on Seeing the Big Picture by Kevin Cope, our courses instill a deep understanding of how all the moving pieces of your company work together so your employees can better align their efforts to benefit your bottom line – they will think and act more like owners. Understand key business drivers and financial statements ​ Understand how to iterate ideas to improve productivity and profits Achieve alignment with key stakeholders ​ Package ideas and their financial outcomes into well-structured decisions Work with us Experience, the difference. 30 Fortune 50 companies and 100,000+ learners love what we do 2 2 Based on internal Acumen Learning data and Fortune magazine's annual list of the 500 biggest companies in the United States. Videos Learn more about what business acumen training can do for your company with our video series. ​ Watch Videos Sales Training Our org saw a positive lift with frontline proficiencies in leveraging 10K, 10Q, and annual reports to aid sales meetings. See Sales Training 300% ROI Their analysis demonstrated that business acumen training more than paid for itself with a 300%+ ROI. ​ Read Case Study Test Your Business Acumen Take the business acumen quiz to see if there's a gap of business and financial strategy in your skills. ​ Take the Quiz Work with us

Webinars & Events Join us for one of our two free monthly trainings: Business Acumen Previews or Earnings Call Webinars . In our Business Acumen Previews, we'll cover a topic from our world-renowned business acumen course or from our bestseller, Seeing The Big Picture . During our Earnings Call Webinar, one of our senior consultants will teach you how to effectively listen to an earnings call. An earnings call is a quarterly event when the company's senior executive team highlights financial performance, progress, and strategy. ​ Look below for the upcoming dates, topics, companies or industries we'll be covering next. How to Listen to an Earnings Call: McDonald's Earnings Call Webinar June 28, 11 am - 12 p m ET 1. Learn a process for listening to earnings calls. 2. Get a free workbook and financial calculator. 3. Further develop your financial and business acumen. Register What Your CEO Needs You to Know Business Acumen Preview July 13, 11 am - 12 p m ET Your executive team wants the entire business, not just a single unit, to be profitable. They want all employees to understand and contribute to how your company makes money. And employees want to feel that the work they do is worthwhile and makes a difference. The problem is that most people "in" business, don't "get" business — they lack understanding of strategy, finance and business acumen. Bestselling author Kevin Cope, author of Seeing the Big Picture, will teach you the fundamental elements of all companies and help you be seen as a major contributor. Register How to Listen to an Earnings Call: NVIDIA Earnings Call Webinar July 26, 11 am - 12 p m ET Register How to Listen to an Earnings Call: Halliburton Earnings Call Webinar August 30, 11 am - 12 p m ET Register Previous Webinars Interested in watching one of our previous earnings call webinars?

Client Stories We have business acumen expertise in every industry. The difference is business acumen... We've helped train 30 of the Fortune 50 and then some. Our consultants have individually researched dozens of fields and companies, making them experts in a myriad of industries. We've come to understand the ebbs and flows of any company's financial landscape, the structure of its process, and the business strategy of executives. ​ By studying what really matters to your business, we can derive engagement and create a real learning experience that creates scaleable change in employees. Aerospace & Defense Their analysis demonstrated that business acumen training more than paid for itself with 300%+ ROI. ​ Read Article CareerBuilder Learning to diagnose business issues helped sales leaders and agents diversify revenue streams beyond job postings for business-savvy sales. Read Article Philips Healthcare With increasing pressure to get costs out of the system, we helped teach their top sales reps how to speak the language of the executive suite. Read Article Anthem Their top leaders saw a measurable increase in their manager effectiveness scores after attending business acumen training. Read Article Verizon Digital communication and content is as fast as ever. Business and financial acumen training has helped this industry leader set the pace. Read Article Public Utility Business acumen skills are essential for public utilities to navigate the complex and changing business environment. Read Article Acumen Learning Wins Business With Dell Technologies to Enhance Business Acumen Skills One of the World’s Most Recognizable Food and Beverage Company Partners with Acumen Learning A Top Oil and Gas Company Achieved Great Results While Implementing Business Acumen Courses Top 10 Medical Device Company Wanted Customized Business Acumen Courses for their Engineers A Big Food Processing Company Saw Results When Implementing a Customized Business Acumen Course Someone from your company may have taken our business acumen course. If you don't see your company listed: Apply for your corporate discount ​ Our business acumen training solution turns functional leaders into business leaders. Our 5 Business Drivers® model helps employees see the bigger picture of your business strategy and what your CEO is trying to accomplish. Affiliations for identification only. ABB AbbVie Aetna/CVS Aflac Agnico Eagle Alcon Labs Aleris Altria Amica Mutual Insurance Company Amtrak ANIXTER Anthem Applied Materials APS ASG Associa Assurant ATI Avery Dennison Bausch Baxter BCBS of Kansas Bell Canada Biogen BioMarin Bio-Rad Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas Boston Scientific BPCA BRP Bruce Power Canon Castlight CEB Center for Creative Leadership Cheniere Energy Choice Hotels Cigna Cisco Citizens Bank Citrix Coca-Cola Columbia Sportswear Commerce Banks CommonHealth Action CSL Behring Delphi/APTIV Denso DexCom Domino's Eaton Elsevier EnCana Epsilon FedEx Ferring Pharma First International Bank FlexPrint Foundation Health Partners Freedom Mobile Freeman FreePort McMoRan Galderma Gallo GE Genentech/Roche General Dynamics Genuine Parts Company/NAPA Google Harley Davidson Heidrick & Struggles Hershey HID Global Hologic Home Instead Hormel HPE Humana INEOS Johnson & Johnson Jacobs/CH2M JBS JCI Kellogg Keurig KIA Motors Leggett & Platt Lendlease Lexis Nexis Liberty Coke Lincoln Financial Lockheed Martin Logistec ManTech Marathon Petroleum Marketsource Mattel McCormick McDonald's Medtronic Mercury Systems Microsoft MOOG Medical Devices Group Nestle National Bank of TX National Instruments New York Life Newell Brands Nissan Nokia Northern Trust Northrop Gumman Northwestern Mutual Novo Nordisk Olin Chlor Paychex Pepsico Performance Health PHI Phillips 66 Pinnacle West (APS) PMI PointClickCare ProMinent Fluid Controls, Inc Quanta Services Republic Services Sanofi Schlumberger Shaw Industries Shell Siemens Smucker's Square 1 State Farm Steelcase Stryker Sutter Health Syneos Health Sysco T-Mobile Texas Air Systems Texas Instruments ThermoFisher Total Petrochemicals Travelers Treasury Wine Trinity UCB Pharma ULTA UnitedHealth US Foods US LBM USPS Verizon Vpay, Inc Waste Connections Waste Management WCG Wesco Westlake Weyerhaeuser Whole Foods Williams Women’s Foodservice Forum Wyndham Xerox Yamaha

A Semiconductor Company on the Fortune 500 List has Partnered with Acumen Learning for Customized Business and Financial Acumen Courses Press Release OREM, Utah – February 14, 2023 Download the Business Acumen Press Release: News Facts: Acumen Learning has partnered with a semiconductor company on the Fortune 500 list to deliver customized business and financial acumen courses for its employees. The company is committed to employee development and offers a range of training and development programs to enhance the skills and knowledge of its workforce, including a variety of business-related training programs. Seeking to provide its employees with top-quality business acumen training, the company chose to work with Acumen Learning, recognizing its reputation as a leading provider of business acumen courses. The initiative aims to help directors and senior managers of the Fortune 500 company better understand the financial and business metrics that drive the company's success, and to provide them with the tools they need to make better business decisions. Acumen Learning's customized courses are designed to meet these objectives. The semiconductor company has given Acumen Learning's business acumen courses a perfect Net Promoter Score of 100 several times, indicating that the course is highly applicable, easy to understand, and has improved the skills of the company's leaders. Acumen Learning has delivered customized business acumen courses to several companies on the Fortune 500 list, including 32 of the Fortune 50, further cementing its reputation as a top provider of business acumen training. Supporting Quotes: “This was just the right amount of depth and breadth. It initiated critical thinking while making decisions and utilized quantitative frameworks while not being jargon-heavy.” “It emphasized how my role can contribute to the financial aspects of the company.” “Very good. Didn't know what I didn't know.” “The examples of actual companies were very helpful on how they fixed something seemingly little that helped the company’s bottom line.” “The course exceeded my expectations. Fundamentals of business finance explained excellently with simple examples.” “We were able to interpret the key performance indicators and develop effective strategies for the company,” says Monty Magleby, Senior Financial Consultant at Acumen Learning. “I was particularly impressed by the way the team was able to integrate these concepts into their work and make immediate improvements in their own roles. I'm confident that the tools and skills they developed during the training will continue to contribute to the company’s continued success." About Acumen Learning Founded in 2002, Acumen Learning's highly customized business acumen and sales training programs have helped organizations develop employees who are more engaged, efficient, and effective in their work. To further support its mission, Acumen Learning published, Seeing the Big Picture – Business Acumen to Build Your Credibility, Career, and Company, in 2012 which quickly became a #1 Wall Street Journal and a New York Times bestseller. More than 20 years later, Acumen Learning has been trusted by more than 200 organizations on six continents to help employees understand how their company makes money, and to take real steps towards improving that process.

The Secret to Sales Success: Business Acumen As a salesperson, you are the frontline of your company's revenue. Your success is a critical factor in the success of the business. To be successful, you need more than just the ability to sell; you need business acumen. In this article, we will explore what business acumen is, why it is essential for salespeople, and how you can develop it. What is Business Acumen? Business acumen is the ability to understand and apply fundamental business principles to make informed decisions that drive business success. It includes a deep understanding of the organization's strategy, its products, and its customers, as well as the economic and market forces that drive the business. Business acumen also requires an understanding of financial statements and how the organization generates revenue and profits. In short, it is the ability to see the big picture of the business and to make decisions that align with its overall strategy. Why is Business Acumen Important for Salespeople? Salespeople with strong business acumen are better equipped to understand their customer's needs and offer solutions that meet those needs. They can identify opportunities to sell more products and services and create deeper relationships with customers, leading to increased revenue and customer loyalty. Additionally, salespeople with strong business acumen are better able to communicate the value of their products and services to customers, creating more successful sales. They understand the competitive landscape and can position their products and services to stand out from the competition. Salespeople with strong business acumen are also valuable assets to their companies. They can identify new market opportunities, assess risks, and make informed decisions that drive the business forward. They understand the financial implications of their decisions and can use financial data to create sales plans and forecasts. Test your Business Acumen Skills: Take this quick quiz to test your business acumen skills and see how you compare to your peers! How Can Salespeople Develop Business Acumen? Developing business acumen requires a commitment to learning and staying up-to-date on industry trends and best practices. Here are a few strategies for developing business acumen: 1. Read business books and articles: There are countless books and articles available that can help salespeople gain a deeper understanding of business principles. Our favorite book for developing business acumen include "Seeing the Big Picture" by Kevin Cope. As Kevin Cope writes, "Business acumen is not a function of intelligence. It is a function of curiosity, the willingness to learn, and the ability to see the big picture." 2. Attend industry conferences and events: Attending conferences and events can provide opportunities to learn from experts in the field and to network with other professionals. Salespeople can gain insights into emerging trends and best practices and make connections with potential customers. 3. Seek feedback and mentorship: Seeking feedback from managers, peers, and mentors can help salespeople identify areas where they need to improve their business acumen. Mentors can offer guidance and support in developing new skills and making informed decisions. 4. Analyze financial data: Salespeople can develop their financial acumen by analyzing financial data such as revenue reports, profit and loss statements, and balance sheets. They can use this data to identify trends, forecast future revenue, and make informed decisions. The 5 Business Drivers of Sales: At the core of business acumen there's this fundamental mental model that we use, that we call the five drivers. And the five drivers is a model that every CEO and every executive of every business, public or private, US/outside the US, every industry, that every business and every executive fundamentally thinks about. Those five drivers are cash, profit, assets, growth, and people. People right in the center of this model. So this is a mental model that executives use to determine strategy, priorities, and choices and what are the ripple effect financial implications of those choices. Being able to use these tools that are available for you and the art of being able to question and probe into where their priorities are, starts to help you really understand what the other side of the table really cares about. And then better position your products and solutions to that language is a real art. We invite you into this journey of this art and science of building your business acumen. Real-Life Example of Business Acumen Skills: Jeff Bezos A great example of a business leader with impressive business acumen skills is Jeff Bezos, the founder and former CEO of Amazon. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time. He founded Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore and transformed it into one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world. Much of his success can be attributed to his strong business acumen. He is known for his focus on the customer experience, which has helped to create a loyal customer base and drive sales. He famously declared that "the most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer." This customer-centric approach has led Amazon to develop new services such as Prime, which offers fast and free shipping, streaming of movies and TV shows, and other benefits. Prime has become a significant driver of Amazon's growth, with over 200 million members worldwide. Because Bezos has a deep understanding of business acumen, he is able to assess the company's business model and the competitive landscape in which it operates. He is not afraid to take risks and make bold decisions. Bezos also understands the financial implications of his decisions and has a keen eye for identifying cost-saving opportunities. For example, he famously introduced the "two-pizza rule" for meetings, which limits the number of people in a meeting to those who can be fed by two pizzas, to encourage smaller, more efficient meetings. Overall, Jeff Bezos is an excellent example of someone with impressive business acumen skills. His ability to identify new market opportunities, make bold strategic decisions, and focus on the customer experience has helped Amazon to become one of the most successful companies in the world. Salespeople can learn from his example by developing a deep understanding of their company's business model, identifying new market opportunities, and focusing on the needs of their customers. The Benefits of Business Acumen for Sales: One big challenge of senior executives is individuals coming to sell them. They don’t want somebody showing them all of their gadgets. What they need is need somebody who can come in, understand their business as well as they can, and then help them see how their products or service can drive towards their goals. And that's what business acumen allows us to do. It helps that individual or sales person move from a sales, product, or service expert to a business expert who happens to sell. And that's where that transition happens. We're not a methodology company, we're not teaching sales methodology, we're not teaching sales platforms or technology. ✅ Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more Business Acumen videos! ✅ Follow us on LinkedIn @AcumenLearning to keep up with all company updates! ✅ For more on our business acumen training visit our website! #businessacumen #businessstrategy #learninganddevelopment #leadershipdevelopment #financialstrategy #financialacumen #sales #salessuccess #businesssuccess #salestips

Using Business Acumen to compare customer acquisition vs. customer retention. Brent Barclay, a Senior Financial Consultant at Acumen Learning, breaks down the cost of acquiring a customer and the cost of keeping a customer. Losing a customer can be extremely expensive, hurt your team morale, and take time and energy to replace. Here is a transcript of this video: Acquisition Vs. Retention Costs For many people - as I look at customers it seems pretty intuitive that it's probably easier to sell to a customer you've already had vs. trying to sell to new customers. One of the things they'll talk about is the cost of acquisition — and it's quite high. Some will say it's somewhere between 5-7 times the cost to get a new customer as it would to sell into an existing customer. So from a business acumen perspective, recognizing that all your investment dollars going toward marketing of new customers and trying to do acquisition, well what if I took some of those dollars and really had a robust retention program. Really understanding my customers. Aligning what they're trying to accomplish to the solutions that I have available – which means they want to continue to buy from us for multiple years and multiple experiences. In the end that's a great way to get a greater return on your investment dollars. Now you end up having to have both. You can't just do one without the other. That being said often we spend so much time on the customer acquisition we don't emphasize, we don't put as much budget towards customer retention and really that's the place where you can really expand and succeed as a business. Balancing Acquisition and Retention for Businesses And many of these consulting, training, development companies, a big emphasis is your existing customers. That's where the lion's share of your dollars come in. In fact, it can be harder for small businesses to get new customers and so you end up focusing a lot on those existing customers. And sometimes in small businesses it flops the other way. Where you spend so much time on your existing customers, you're not working enough on the new new. And so if you happen to lose one of your key customers because of turnover or whatever changes may happen, you end up kind of putting yourself in a tough situation. So, for small businesses you get a large customer you're just trying to keep up with the pace. But you cannot forget about "I got to also invest in trying to get new customers." So there's really a balance that you've got to consider. But absolutely for small businesses, the lifeblood of small businesses is their existing customers and that retention of those relationships. So, one of the big costs of not keeping your customers, obviously you now don't have the revenue in future years. There's a term that they talk about call the customer lifetime value. It's all the dollars they spend with you. If I have a customer spending $100,000 over 10 years, my customer lifetime value is a million dollars. So it's not just what you would get this next year, maybe a hundred thousand, but if I lose that customer in 10 years that would have been a million dollars of value I've lost. And so recognizing that there's a value of these long-term relationships. Download the course overview for our Building Business Acumen Course: The Importance of Customer Lifetime Value Now you see this a lot in subscription businesses, right? If I'm a SAAS company and my model is all about subscription, I have to focus on those existing customers. It cost me a lot to get them up and running but every year after that, that's a low cost and it's a high profitability for the future. So, you really want to be good and SAAS companies spend a lot of time with that. But sometimes service companies, consulting companies, etc. we get so busy with working with certain groups that we forget the value of that lifetime customer. As you look at customers buying from you, new customers about 5 - 25% will actually buy from you. 25% would be very high. Of all the customers you talk about 25% of them buy, and it's usually on that lower end. Versus, if I'm selling into existing customers about 60 - 70% of them will actually buy something from you. So, it's much easier I you have that good relationship, you understand what they're doing and what they're working towards, it's much easier to sell into those organizations. The Value of Business Acumen and Long Term Relationships I'll give you an example. Just recently I was doing a year in review. I was talking with an existing customer and all I did was share an opportunity. What I thought might be the next step based upon their training and development goals and objectives. There was no question. "Yeah we absolutely want to do those." Earnings call debriefers is what I was selling. It was a great opportunity for us to immediately there's trust there, there was confidence there, which meant "yeah I want to add those to next year." Versus somebody brand new, I would need to sell multiple pieces for them to see the value of that. So, selling into existing customers you'll have a much greater close rate than you will with new customers. Get a Demo of our Business Acumen Training for Sales: Business Acumen Aids in Understanding Your Customers Business So, one of the things I think is real valuable in our Building Business Acumen for Sales Professionals, is this idea of understanding their strategy, understanding what their key metrics, what are they trying to accomplish. One of the greatest ways to improve retention is to truly understand their business — be able to speak to their key metrics and measures, their strategies. Now all of a sudden instead of me just selling features advantages of benefits of my product, I'm selling solutions to their goals and objectives. You switch your role. Instead of a transactional sales individual you become a partner. You're part of my team. You understand what I'm doing and you're helping me make a business case as to why, in our case, a partnership with Acumen Learning can really drive to your profitability, your cash flow, or your goals and objectives. Use Business Acumen to Be a Partner So I think that's the real differentiator, is the more you understand about your customer's business and if you can help them align your products or services to their goals and objectives, you're no longer a sales individual. You're their partner. Treating Your Employees like Internal Customers: Just as customer retention is important, so is employee retention. According to the University of Minnesota Human Resource Management Group, an employee who is paid $8 per hour can cost a company upwards of $4,000 to replace. This may not sound too bad. But a 100 person organization that provides an average salary of $50,000, could have turnover and replacement costs of $660,000 to 2.6 million per year. And this is using the turnover rate of 26% which is what it was in 2017. The percentage is almost 33% for 2021 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Treat your employees just as well as you'd treat your customers! Applying Business Acumen To continue your learning, download the course overview for our Applying Business Acumen Course: ✅ Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more Business Acumen videos! ✅ Follow us on LinkedIn @AcumenLearning to keep up with all company updates! ✅ For more on our business acumen training visit our website! #businessacumen #businessstrategy #learninganddevelopment #leadershipdevelopment #financialstrategy #financialacumen #customers #employees #customeracquisition #customerretention #employeeretention #losingacustomer