The Taylor Swift – Travis Kelce relationship is like two different and unique galaxies on opposite sides of the universe colliding with unprecedented business outcomes.

Think about it for a moment…

The National Football League (NFL) is one of the most important and prestigious assets in the entertainment industry and for that matter, the world. Its fanbase is one of the most desirable to advertisers and their buying power is immense. Changing the way it operates and having it pivot toward becoming more inclusive of “Swifties” is unprecedented.

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It’s a hot August night…thoughts are unfocused as there is still a lot of summer left. But... there is a nagging feeling in the back of your mind that the fall, the end of Q3, the beginning of Q4, and the new year of 2024 are accelerating around the track faster than we want to think about.

So, as the weekend approaches, what a great time for some everyday reflections through the lens of Business Acumen to keep the mind entertained and refreshed for what will be coming in a few weeks…

• LinkedIn has an overall of 675 million users from all over the world. Of those, 310 million of them are monthly active users. 165 million users come from the United States while 206 million come from Europe. 62 million come from India, and 50 million come from China. And yet every day in our Strategic Business Selling programs that train sales professionals to build a business network, only 28% of the salespeople in our programs believe there is any value in long-term social selling.
• My local supermarket is charging for bags. It’s only .10$ a bag but when you think about it, it has a double impact on the financials of the store. They are generating revenues (top line) and eliminating expenses to increase profit (bottom line) simultaneously! Hmmm... 
• Auto telephone dialers for cold calling are the worst. Companies that use these systems need to rethink their strategy. You may get a few leads here and there, but unprepared telemarketers aimlessly calling the wrong markets and segments will kill your brand. And other brands as well!
• I spent over $7 for a 30-ounce bottle of Mayonnaise. I looked up the gross margin on Google and the research said the margins were around 14%. Not sure how that is possible. It goes to show you that if one element of the supply chain (eggs) goes out of whack it can hurt an entire product line and category.

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 As you are painfully aware, the average business professional receives about 300 emails a day. About 50% of them are unsolicited “cold” emails where the writer is trying everything and anything to capture the reader’s attention. Attention-grabbing subject lines, playing up on keywords, and sometimes flat-out exaggerations.

Just for fun and since it’s a nice summer Friday, I took a few moments to “respond” to some of the more "interesting" ones…

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Over the past few months Advantexe has experienced a significant surge in the demand for marketing focused business simulations that develop skills and competencies in what we are calling, “Marketing for 2021 and Beyond.”

The increased demand has been from every industry with a slightly heavier emphasis coming from life sciences, high tech, consumer packaged goods, and financial services. The requests have ranged from simulations designed for marketing professionals to improve and expand their skills, to marketing skill building for employees in various non-marketing functions to better understand the role and importance that marketing has in the new value chain of an organization. In other words, developing empathy in a cross-functional environment.

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Just when we think the “next normal” is in sight, it shifts by another 3 months. Or was that 6 months? We all have complex questions and simple questions like, when will we go back to the office?

“Oh, in 3 months…”

“Definitely in 6 months, after the summer.”

“Most likely January 2022.”

“Back to the office, what office?”

The current and near-term business environment is as volatile as it has ever been. It certainly is competing with the crash of 1929 and the depression of the 1930s. And, because of this and the fear of what could happen next, organizations are desperate to have employees with strong Business Acumen skills and competencies. Leaders at all levels of any business need their employees to be able to understand strategy, set strategy, execute strategy through operational decisions, lead people to execute the right strategies, and to understand and drive financial performance and the metrics that matter.

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