| Benefits of Coaching |
Reasons Why GREAT Businesses Reason #1 You want to spend less money on your marketing. Reason #2 You want to receive MORE leads, while spending less money. Reason #3 You want to convert more leads into customers by having a better trained sales staff, and more tools for them to use. Reason #4 You want your current customers to buy from you more often. Reason #5 You want to increase your average dollar sale to your customers. Reason #6 You want to improve your profit margins. Reason #7 You want to spend less time at work and more time with your family, but ensure that you have a system to run your business without you. Reason #8 You want better trained and more motivated employees Reason #9 You want a Strategic Plan for the above. Then you want to IMPLEMENT the Plan - every day. If you would like to achieve any of the above... read on... You, as a business owner, are faced with incredible pressures on a daily basis: · Every day you hear news about the sluggish economy. · Every day you miss opportunities for additional sales. · Every month you receive bills from your marketing vendors who are "getting your name out there" - but you don't see the leads that they had promised to you. · Every week you hear excuses from your sales staff about why they are not producing. · Almost daily, you witness some level of discord or apathy from your staff. · Every day some of your past customers are being served by one of your competitors. · And every day, you miss precious time with your loved ones, as well as hobbies that you once enjoyed. Another year has passed - and you probably have done little to effectively change these things. In fact, you probably have resigned yourself to the "fact" that owning and running a business is just hard - and "that's just the way business is..." At some point, you have probably considered developing a "Plan" to implement change, but instead you... blamed the economy, made excuses about lack of time, or have just denied the problem. And that is fine. After all, you are "the boss." You can do whatever you want to do with your business. You can even choose to do nothing. In fact, statistics show that you probably will do nothing. There's always next year. Right? Or maybe the year after that... or the one after that... ad infinitum... ad nauseum. Or you can seek out - and FIND A SOLUTION. Perhaps, you are holding the solution in your hands at this very moment. My name is Kevin Thomas, and I am a licensed business coach in Georgia. I am also a member of an awesome network of business coaches, and have also worked in marketing and sales. My company has a solution. Our program is designed to help you in every area of your business. We teach you proven systems to drive more people to your business, sell them, service them, keep them coming back, improve your margins, train your employees, and systemize your processes... so that you can work less, and give yourself the life that you decide on having. "I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities". - The system works as follows: · Once you make a commitment to improve your life and your business, we do an in-depth study of where you are now, and where you want to go. · We prepare an Action Plan of specific strategies that will be implemented throughout the year. · We present the Plan to your team in a Coordination Day (aligning the owners with the team) - expressing to them your commitment, your vision, and your Action Plan for the future. We get your team "on board" and fired up!!! · We meet on a weekly basis to constantly implement and adjust the strategies - every week - month after month - until the system becomes the routine. It is this constant, regular process that ensures the system will work!!! "The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them." - So now you have a decision. Do you throw this letter away? Do you set it aside, perhaps get to it later - only to lose it? Or do you make the decision that will change the way you do business forever, as well as change your life forever... and contact us immediately? "It is in your moment of decision that your destiny is shaped." -- The choice is yours. The business is yours. Your life is yours. If you decide to lift the telephone and dial my number, the advantages are many. You will meet a friendly, talented and helpful person who has helped many successful businesses and will help you to achieve your goals. If you decide to set the letter on your "stack" (you know - the stack of "stuff" that you'll "eventually get to") - you probably will never call. And that's OK too... However, if you DO decide to call and we meet for a short time, I will not waste your time making a bunch of promises about how we can help you. The fact is I'm not sure we can help you. I'm writing you because many business owners, like yourself, have found that coaching has been a good fit for them. Do you think it would be worth 30 minutes of your time to evaluate something that has the potential to help you improve your revenues and business systems? If, at the end of the meeting you don't think we have a fit, I'll be on my way. Does that sound fair? At the very least, you'll find out how other business owners that we work with, are successfully dealing with similar business issues that you face every day. I thank you for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to speaking with you soon. Whatever your decision is, I wish you happiness and abundance. If your decision is to contact me, I guarantee it. Make that decision NOW. My phone number is 912-432-7618. Sincerely, KEVIN THOMAS/LBC President, Southeast Business Development "Asked for a conservative estimate of the monetary payoff from the coaching they got, these managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies." - Fortune Magazine, "I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable." What Is a Business Coach? A Business Coach is your partner in achieving your personal and business goals, your trainer in communication and life skills, your sounding board when making choices, your motivator when strong actions are called for, your unconditional support when you take a hit, your mentor in personal development, your co-designer when developing an extraordinary project, your beacon during stormy times, your wake-up call if you don't hear your own, and most importantly, your partner in living the life you know you're ready for, personally and professionally. A BUSINESS COACH A Business Coach is an expert in various areas of small business but most importantly in the business of small business - or the business process. Although coaches may have backgrounds in various business fields, a good Business Coach is a skilled mentor in the development of leadership skills, marketing systems, sales training systems, development of customer service systems, human resources, and financial analysis. A Business Coach studies what makes a small business owner successful. In practice, a coach takes the time to understand the owner's business completely and provides systematic development strategies that help the business owner reach his or her goals. Unlike a business consultant, who applies a particular expertise to a specific problem and then moves on to the next consulting job, a Business Coach is a generalist who forms a respectful relationship with the owner and works to develop the whole business on a continuous basis. At Southeast Business +Development -We See Our Role as Trusted Advisor The traditional advisors to business owners are usually accountants and attorneys. These professionals focus on compliance. Accountants - focused on financial matters - ensure that financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP and that tax returns are filed in accordance with tax regulations. Attorneys are focused on legal matters, ensuring the correct business entity is selected and the various legal issues encountered in the regular course of operations are dealt with in a timely manner. One problem for business owners is that they do not meet with these advisors regularly. At Southeast Business Development Group (SEBDG), quite the opposite is true. We meet with our clients regularly (usually weekly), and we are always available by phone and email. During these ongoing, regularly scheduled meetings, business owners learn strategies and apply them to their business - now. This constant contact ensures accountability and fosters dynamic, continuous progress - and that creates incredible momentum! Business Coaches, like athletic coaches, know the rules and the structure of the game very well and carefully observe how the game is being played. From this informed and experienced position, Business Coaches then coach owners toward steady, sustainable improvement. As an external advisor, the coach will offer a much-needed outside perspective and provide the discipline to do the difficult work of systemizing the business for sustainable improved performance! COMPONENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COACHING RELATIONSHIP 1. The Business Coach takes the time to understand the owner's business and helps develop key initiatives that help the business owner succeed. 2. The Business Coach is a generalist who forms a respectful relationship with the owner and works to develop the whole business continually for between twelve and twenty-four months. 3. The Business Coach follows a code of ethics to ensure integrity in his or her practice. 4. The Business Coach respects the confidentiality of information received from the business owner and signs a mutual non-disclosure agreement at the beginning of the relationship. 5. The person being coached looks to the Business Coach for guidance, encouragement, and feedback. Business improvements are the achievements of the owner - who makes all decisions regarding what will happen in the business. 6. No business owner is ever subjected to the "hard sell." The person being coached must be well motivated, have a clear sense of need, and be willing to set and accomplish goals. How valuable do the world's top performers in sports and the world of entertainment consider coaching? So valuable that every top performer has a coach. Whether it is Tiger Woods, the number one golfer in the world, or Luciano Pavarotti, the outstanding operatic tenor, each has a coach. Tiger wins more golf matches than anyone, yet he still elects to be coached. Luciano Pavarotti was born with a wonderful voice, but he also has four coaches (one for music, one for voice, one for acting, and one for language). Even the most successful businesspeople are not shy about discussing their personal development and their use of a coach. Bob Nardelli, CEO of Home Depot, said in an article in the July 1, 2002, issue of Fortune magazine, "I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities." John Russell, managing director of Harley-Davidson Europe Ltd., said, "I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, a process which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable." TRAINING ALONE IS INEFFECTIVE - ADDING COACHING IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS Why doesn't each of these top performers merely attend training instead of turning to a full-time coaching relationship? To ensure that they stay top performers! Because training, without appropriate coaching follow-up, is notoriously ineffective AND EXPENSIVE. The Xerox Corporation carried out several studies on training, one of which showed that without follow-up coaching, 87% of the change brought about by the program was lost. COACHING PROVIDES A MEASURABLE RETURN ON INVESTMENT Study after study shows coaching to have a significant return on investment. One such study, conducted by Michigan-based Triad Performance Technologies, Inc., evaluated the effects of a coaching intervention on a group of regional and district sales managers within a large telecom organization. This third-party study cites a 10:1 return on investment in less than one year. Or as Fortune magazine reported in its February 19, 2001, issue, "Asked for a conservative estimate of the monetary payoff from the coaching they got, these managers described an average return of more than $100,000 - or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies." That is the reason SEBDG is a COACHING FIRM - we are dedicated to sustainable change. At SEBDG we concentrate on moving the business to where the owner wants it to be. Every aspect of the business is critical to success. Whether the owner's goals are to make more money, create a strong sustainable infrastructure by systemizing the business, plan for succession, or prepare the business for sale, we can help. Our experience reveals there are three key drivers of business success about which all owners express concern: Ø Profitability Ø Human Resources Ø Time Management The Business Coach helps business owners develop systems in each of these areas to ensure ever-increasing revenues and profits, a motivated and well-trained staff, and time to work on the business (not just in the business). To keep this simple and functional, we consider business to comprise three areas: 1) marketing and sales, 2) products and services, and 3) administration. We have found most business owners come to the table with one or two strengths but not all three. As a business grows, each of these areas requires more and more attention. 1. MARKETING AND SALES Getting more money in the front door is what business is all about. Marketing is crucial for the health of a business. Put simply, marketing is getting people who need/want your products or services to contact you instead of one of your competitors. Sales are the lifeblood of any business because nothing happens until someone sells something. Once the marketing strategies have driven more people to the business, the sales staff must now "convert" those leads into customers. A Business Coach has sales skills and strategies to help you improve the sales process and can help design a sales system that is comfortable, effective, and sustainable. 2. PRODUCTS AND SERVICES The right product mix supported by the entire company is the backbone of a great firm! Too many products and you dilute your strengths; too few and your customers go elsewhere. Customer service is essential for getting customers to spend more, come back more often, and tell their friends about your business! It is six times more expensive to find new customers than it is to get past customers to return, so giving customers exactly what they expect (and more) is essential for the future of a business. 3. ADMINISTRATION (HUMAN RESOURSES AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT) All the things you never dreamed about when you started your new business, such as paperwork, hiring and firing, information technologies, budgeting, motivation of employees, price setting, vendor relations, just-in-time inventory, and payment of taxes, are not the necessary evils many of us think they are. They are the very FUNDAMENTALS that every human endeavor must have. Done well, these are the actions that make a small business a great business! At SEBDG we work with owners to identify their strengths and systematically create procedures so each business area is addressed. For example, a Business Coach works with the owner to ensure that the business has the proper mix of employees in order to service its customers and keep them coming back! Also, having a coach helps the owner decide which responsibilities they can meet and which responsibilities need to be delegated. SYSTEMIZING THE BUSINESS Simultaneously (and perhaps most importantly), coaches help business owners develop systems that will help their businesses run predictably. Only then can an owner go on an extended vacation and feel confident that the business is running smoothly and profitably! Every system put into place ensures sustainability, fewer headaches, and more time to spend working on the business. WHO WORKS WITH A BUSINESS COACH? Business owners, managers, supervisors, and others who normally work with a Business Coach are, first and foremost, open to being coached. They: HOW DOES THIS WORK? GETTING STARTED WITH A BUSINESS COACH Phase one: First, using self-reporting questionnaires and face-to-face interviews, the Business Coach gets a complete picture of the current state of the business. Second, the coach works with the owner to develop a compelling vision of where the business will be in ten years. Third, a series of key initiatives is hammered out, providing a detailed plan in three areas: 1) products and services, 2) marketing and sales, and 3) administration. Finally, phase one concludes with a behavioral assessment designed to give the owner insight into his or her work style and the work style of key advisors and employees. Phase two: After the foundation has been constructed, the coach and the owner continue to meet weekly, working on the key initiatives, spending from two to five hours per week on "building the business." Although sustainable change takes time, by the end of the first three months of working with a coach, it is possible to see substantial improvements. ACT NOW "Coaching is unlocking a person's potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them. Clients say coaching brings out their best by helping them focus, break down tasks, and clarify their values." - Fortune magazine "The goal of coaching is the goal of good management - to make the most of an organization's valuable resources." - Harvard Business Review From face-to-face coaching to business effectiveness seminars to mastermind groups to new manager training, we have services to fit any budget and the burning desire to help you grow your business! Plus a 100% "no strings attached" money-back guarantee! If you want to grow your business from a solid foundation, here is a rare no-risk opportunity. Call me.
Where performance is critical - Coaching is common
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