The Business Acumen Podcast

Understanding your customer’s business is one of the most important things you can do before an executive sales conversation. In Business Acumen for Sales Success , we introduce a practical framework that helps sales professionals move beyond product-focused conversations and become trusted business advisors: Understand the Business Analyze the Five Drivers Understand the Buyer Align Your Value Pr...

Most employees never listen to their company’s earnings calls. Many assume they’re only for investors, analysts, or finance professionals. But what if earnings calls are actually one of the best ways to understand strategy, build business acumen, and accelerate your career? In this episode, Brent Barclay, COO of Acumen Learning, explains why earnings calls are one of the most underutilized learnin...

Most salespeople understand their product. Far fewer understand the business realities their customers are dealing with. In this episode, Kevin Cope and Ben Cook discuss their new book, Business Acumen for Sales Success, and the patterns they’ve seen after working with sales organizations for more than two decades. The problem usually isn’t effort or product knowledge. It’s that too many sales con...

Understanding business acumen is one thing. Applying it in real conversations, decisions, and leadership situations is what actually drives results. In this episode, Ben Cook, President of Acumen Learning, breaks down how to use the five business drivers in day-to-day work across sales, leadership, and team alignment. Most professionals understand their role, but struggle to connect it to what the...

Business is often more complex than it needs to be. In this episode, Kevin Cope breaks down a simple framework that helps you understand how any business actually works. The five business drivers. Cash. Profit. Assets. Growth. People. These are the core elements every company is managing, whether people realize it or not. Most employees hear financial updates, strategy discussions, or earnings cal...

Why do so many capable teams struggle to make good business decisions? In this episode, Stephen M.R. Covey and Kevin Cope share the story behind the founding of Acumen Learning and the problem they couldn’t ignore. Even inside a highly successful organization, they saw a disconnect. People were talented and motivated, but they didn’t fully understand how the business made money. That gap created m...

Most professionals are good at their job but don’t fully understand how their work connects to company performance. That gap leads to misalignment, missed opportunities, and slower growth.   In this short introduction, Stephen H Covey explains what this podcast is about, who it’s for, and what you can expect. This podcast is built for: Leaders who want better alignment and decision-making Sales p...