Of the 9,000 Attendees at ASTD International Conference & Exposition this week a lot of great tweets were flooding the #ASTD2013 news feed on Twitter.  Here is our curated list of the best tweets from #ASTD2013.

Day 1

• #astd2013 what r u best at? What do people come to u for? This is your personal brand statement

• Look at the world around you, not just your corporate environment, when putting a learning strategy together #astd2013

• Wow. Can't stop thinking about @SirKenRobinson - "If ordinary people can find their element, extraordinary things can happen." #astd2013

• Forty years of research says yes, games are effective learning tools. People learn more from games than other types of training. #astd2013

• "Sales people have not been taught how to solve problems. They've been taught to sell product. That's a problem." Tim Ohai #ASTD2013

• #ASTD2013 - The first driver of sales team performance is the quality of their manager, coach well and drive 19% more sales

• Best takeaway from @SirKenRobinson's talk - do what you are passionate about and success will follow. #astd2013

• The bilingual brain reflects a person ability for flexible thinking!

Day 2

• CEOs measure talent management by having the right people in the right place at the right time. #ASTD2013

• 3 Core pillars are Performance Improvement, Instructional Design & Training Delivery. #astd2013

• Explaining need can get people on your side. Win-Win  negotiation #TU318#ASTD2013#appliedImprov

• Learning can move the needle for business agility. via @samuelherring#IL_Blended#ASTD2013

• Don't choose a solution and then decide if it is worth it ... Figure out the value you need and scale the solution to it #astd2013

• If you don't have anything else to learn, lie down and let them put the dirt on you! ~Ken Blanchard #ASTD2013

• People find ways to learn regardless of failure when doing something their passionate about. :-) #ASTD2013

• Feedback is the breakfast for champions #astd2013@kenblanchard

• You can guide people to insight. You have to get someone to look at a problem in a different way - then get out of the way. #TU207

• #ASTD2013#TU306 use social media before class -ask participants to find & post an article or website that supports content that will be taught
  
  
• We learn better when our brain cells are switched on and off, or with short periods of learning and breaks in between. #astd2013

• Mike from Facebook: "People end up creating the job they hate" if you are not careful about saying 'no' to your weaknesses. #astd2013

Day 3

• 2 kinds of classroom instructors: Those who tell people to put away their devices, & those who say, “Here’s our hashtag." #M209 #ASTD2013

• "If you want your people to do tough things, you need your leaders to be at the front of the charge" robert osmond@astd #ASTD2013

• It's not what is taught, but what is caught by the learner! #ASTD2013

• Golden rule for social media - don't put it online if you don't want your boss or mother to see it. #astd2013 @piedmontastd

•  “The moment you stretch your necks (or the back of your legs) you start stimulating your #brain.” Nice! #ASTD2013

• What can I do with that? (WCIDWT) instead of What's in it for me? (WIIFM) @usablelearning #astd2013

• People + trust + effective communication = opportunity #w307

• If youre implementing ROI for the first time, identify managers who will support you #astd2013

• One of many key takeaways. Stop skating to where the puck is instead anticipate where the puck will be AND get there. #astd2013

We had a great time at ASTD if you'd like to connect with Executive Conversation on Twitter follow @buyertalk or connect on  Facebook and Google+

Dedicated HR professionals are committed to helping employees grow and develop professionally.  It’s an important role that’s necessary to make a company run efficiently.  Yet a recent post on CFO.com suggests that helping the company optimize its business results is not of especially strong interest in the HR profession.  According to 2013 State of Talent Manger Report more than 40% of respondents in HR saw their role as something they did not do to help their company maximize profit.   Great HR professionals understand that unless the organization runs effectively – and profitably – talent management budgets will shrink.  The goal must be that they are equally important, and that the right employee development plans improve the company’s overall performance with a solid ROI. The two “reasons” are symbiotic, and strategically aligned in top performing companies

 “I want to help people grow and develop” was the #1 answer for the primary reason respondents where in the HR field, but #2 was “I want to help my company maximize its profitability.”  How can you achieve both goals? Executive Conversation’s build It tool structures a business case which directly links the value of development with performance within your organization. Hit both targets by improving the sales development process within your company and achieving performance at the same time.

A client sales leader recently expressed frustration at the excuses she hears why her team doesn’t call higher: “takes too much time,” “executives don’t want to talk to us,” “we get referred down.”

She then shared her real suspicion:  They’re intimidated.  They’re not sure what message to deliver.  They lack confidence having the right conversation with the right person.

The necessity for engaging higher within accounts has never been greater.  Approval for even modest investments now often rests at executive levels, and deals are much more likely to stall - or worse - when you’re unable to confidently engage customer executives.

Preparations Breeds Confidence

Preparation is the best way to build confidence for any sales call. When selling to executives, remember, it’s all about them, their business and their business performance. 

Here are 3 ways for applying business acumen to help you feel as confident having business conversations with CXOs as any other decision-maker:

1.  Know the executive’s prioritized business initiatives.
Initiate executive conversations around the customer’s stated business initiatives.  This demonstrates you’ve taken the time to understand their business.  Your objective is to validate that the initiatives you’ve identified are priorities relevant to the target executive’s direct area of responsibility.

Asking executives to ‘tell you about their initiatives’ is the fastest way to end the conversation.  Executives aren’t interested in being interviewed.  Prepare using Management Presentations, Earning Calls and other available resources to expedite gaining customer insights. 

2.  Participate in quantifying the value of your solutions.
Too many salespeople mistakenly believe that computing a project’s projected ROI is something the customer alone must own. This type of hands-off  ‘let the customer compute ROI’ is a flawed approach.

You’ve sold your solutions many more times than the executive has bought it, leverage that experience.  Prepare by getting comfortable talking about the positive financial impact you can deliver. That’s what executives want to know.

3.  Role play your executive conversation
If you’re not comfortable with role playing, get over it. It’s the best way to simulate the scenarios that can derail any well-rehearsed executive conversation and foresee how to effectively respond when the dialogue digresses.

When you role play to prepare for executive engagements, you develop the ability to deviate from your plan, yet still have a successful business conversation.

Business acumen and financial acumen are essential skills for today’s sellers.  When you understand what success looks like from your customer’s perspective, deals flow that much easier.  

All of our sales training is delivered by our seasoned team of Consulting Executives, experienced executives with careers making investment decisions.  Contact us to learn more about how their shared insight into the mindset of the executive suite can give your team the confidence and credibility to speak business.

For additional guidance, view our webinar: Reaching Hard to Reach Executives.

Let us know what you think.