FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2009
EXECUTIVE CONVERSATION ANNOUNCES
$1 MILLION SALES TRAINING DONATION
Company sees skills development as key
to helping the unemployed find jobs
SEATTLE, WA – In the spirit of Americans helping Americans, Executive Conversation, the global leader in developing business and financial acumen sales skills, today announced its
Sale of a Lifetime program. This $1 million donation of Know It Now™ online sales training is in keeping with private sector entrepreneurs taking action to help strengthen the US economy. It will directly assist business-to-business sales professionals to acquire the training they need to successfully compete and deliver employer value in today’s challenging job market. As the White House heightens its focus on job growth, other firms such as Goldman Sachs, with Warren Buffett, have announced efforts to help small businesses, a core constituency of the broader economy.
“For business professionals, Know It Now™ certification is an industry mark of achievement that demonstrates an individual’s ability to perform and contribute at measurably higher levels,” said Executive Conversation co-founder and CEO Suzanne Sheppard. “This contribution provides individuals currently between jobs with the ability to develop the business and financial acumen skills so critical in today’s marketplace - quite literally, to help them make the sale of their life.”
Executive Conversation wants to play an active part in giving back to the business community, to assist sales professionals who are competing for scarce jobs—and to help them perform at the highest level, once hired.
“We understand that when unemployed, it’s tough to allocate funds to invest in skills training to become more attractive prospective employees,” said Jim Melillo, Executive Conversation’s co-founder and Chairman. “Our Know It Now™ training will also help them to be more valuable employees, so they can help that business thrive. Healthy businesses represent the critical foundation of a strong economy.”
Know It Now™, a component of the company’s suite of sales training offerings, is a collection of self-paced, modular courses that has been developed to help sales professionals make better buyer-oriented business cases for their solutions. When applying the same business and financial concepts to job seekers, they will be better prepared to:
- Re-orient their resume towards the prospective employer’s business issues;
- Show alignment between the employer's revenue initiatives and their skills;
- Prepare more significant questions - and answers - for their interview; and,
- Improve their opportunity to "make the sale" to this employer.
The Sale of a Lifetime program is open to qualified currently unemployed business-to-business sales professionals who reside, and are looking for work, in the United States.
About Executive Conversation
Executive Conversation, Inc. works with sales organizations to build business acumen for effectively engaging and selling to customer executives. Customers around the world choose Executive Conversation for our demonstrated ability to deliver training solutions that help them achieve their business objectives. Our framework integrates learning, via online and face-to-face executive-led instruction; application, via performance simulations, engaging with our Consulting Executives, and on-the-job application plans; and measurement, via assessments to track skills development. Tailored for sales managers, account managers, channel managers, and those selling to public-sector organizations, our solutions are conveniently available in three ways: online executive-led workshops; online self-paced Know it Now learning; and face-to-face, executive-led workshops, which have been delivered in over 60 countries and are available in seven languages. Executive Conversation is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with regional headquarters in London and Singapore.
Contact
Suzanne Sheppard
Executive Conversation, Inc.
Co-Founder and CEO
suzannes@conversation.com