Driving Improved Results – The Dance of Business

Please take a moment to read this before engaging Jeri to provide you with business coaching and consulting.

I’m often asked similar questions by people who are considering working with me or just exploring what it means to work with a business coach. So I’m providing answers to these frequently asked questions in an effort to increase your understanding and help you in your decision making. Am I the best coach for you or your team? Are you the best client for me? Reading through this interview will address the most common concerns you may have and suggest the next step that is right for you.

Jeri, how did you become a master coach and consultant to small business owners?

In the last 35 years I’ve developed a lot of understanding of how small businesses can overcome the hurdles and unique challenges they face.  I’ve owned several businesses. I saw an opportunity, believed I had a lot of the skills and knowledge to be successful and figured I’d learn the rest along the way. The issues I dealt with are probably the issues that are on your plate as well: getting new clients, managing cash flow, motivating employees, fulfilling client expectations and all the other daily challenges that come up. From time to time our company had plenty of issues around cash flow shortages, employees that didn’t work out, customers that were not a good fit, processes that needed to be changed. I made my share of mistakes and I learned what works.

I learned among other things that the people make the biggest difference. We got so many glowing letters praising individual employees for going above and beyond with their help, their smiles, their patience, their recognition of a customer even if the customer hadn’t contacted us for awhile. I saw first hand how employees who are motivated and engaged drive customer loyalty, which drives up revenues and drives down costs.

Since 2006 I’ve had many clients who have had stupendous results in growing their businesses, handling change, and becoming better leaders who develop high performance teams and get very profitable. Lenny runs a 34 year old moving company that has become super profitable during the recession while his competitors were failing. Maureen has grown a video production company into a bicoastal powerhouse serving non-profits (who supposedly are hurting for funds in the last couple of years). Mike has received several promotions in his insurance firm and runs his department like a small business inside a larger business. You can read about each of them on the Successes page.

What kinds of businesses have you had?

One of the businesses was a computer products/services company. I bootstrapped it, grew it over 18 years and sold it. The company grew from two people to over 30 employees, two, branches, I re-strategized it several times as the computer industry changed, went to department stores, went online, became more service focused and business oriented. Then I sold it to another industry player when it was time to exit. Plus, because I was creating infrastructure for all my clients, I really got to understand their business models as well.

Other businesses I’ve had have been in marketing (helped Penn State roll out a new Masters Degree program for educators), commercial real estate (I constructed a commercial building and have had tenants since 1985), dance/movement therapy consulting (I worked with the emotionally and mentally challenged, senior citizens, private clients, other therapists), and I’ve been a regional director of a nonprofit (grew fund raising 230% and business participation in events by 600%). I actually started my first business at 10 years old selling holiday cards all around the small town where I grew up.

What kinds of companies do you work with now?

Presently I work with organizations whose main service and revenue source is provided by its people such as:

• Professional Services Firms such as accounting, legal, engineering, architectural, construction, consultants, coaches, movers, security personnel
• Financial Services such as banks, insurance firms, hedge funds, financial advisors, real estate, CFO, bookkeeping, collection agents
• Creative Firms such as those that do video production, graphic design, website development, interior design, marketing, communications, PR, advertising
• Technology Companies that do computer support or develop software, hardware, mobile apps
• Sales Organizations: manufacturers’ reps, brokers
• Distribution Organizations of food products, general merchandise, specialized products, importers, exporters
• Restaurants, high end establishments with stable staff
• Nonprofit, Education and Government

But what if you haven’t yet worked with people in my particular field?

The type of company and the industry of the client doesn’t really matter. I deal with the relationships between people to create a culture of connection to drive profitability. Relationships and culture exist in every organization. People need to be aligned to their goals, talents, to each other and to the company’s strategy no matter the size of the organization, or what the focus of the business is. Good people management is industry agnostic.

What makes you different than other business coaches?

I have 35 years of experience in small business, 25 years of it at the helm of several firms, most of it as the owner of my own companies. Not many coaches can say that. Some have experience in big business. That’s a totally different animal. People trained in large organizations just haven’t lived the same challenges and, therefore, can’t truly understand the experience. As the saying goes, “As a small business owner we eat what we kill.’ If we don’t earn enough through our businesses, we go hungry. With no steady paycheck as a security net, we take risks everyday. It forces us to ask these kinds of questions on a regular basis:

• Do we have enough in the bank to cover the payroll?
• Which vendor do we put off paying until we have more cash?
• Do we take the risk to hire another person? Will the extra cost bury us or won’t we be able to grow without filling this position?
• My best salesperson is leaving. How can I replace her in 2 weeks?
• Our business is like a family. We all love Mary, the VP’s wife. She’s been here forever. But we’re growing and she’s a bottleneck. What do we do with her?

In addition to the business experience, I have experience teaching, counseling and in the arts. That means I bring to the table the ability to help you learn and internalize, to reframe old paradigms. I understand learning theory and group dynamics and help you assimilate new knowledge in an organic way. Many coaches tell you what to do. My style is more about discovery. I ask lots of questions. In this manner I shepherd you to discover your own strengths and solidify your own leadership style. You ‘own’ your discoveries and you implement faster.

How do you coach leaders to grow more successful businesses?

We work together on many elements that are all interrelated. From paying attention to cash flow to sales and marketing to time management to focusing on metrics. However, the most successful leaders with the most successful businesses are those who understand the:

Engaged employee – loyal customer – more profits/results connection.

They realize one of their main roles in running a business with employees is to proactively create a company culture that focuses on employee engagement and customer loyalty. In today’s commoditized environment this produces competitive advantage as well as profit. They realize the answers to the following questions hold the keys for substantial if not exponential growth:

1. How can I get my employees to show more initiative and actually want to help me grow my business?
2. I’m itching to get to the next level of business growth and I want to start now. What do I do first?
3. How do I get everyone in my company (myself included) to be engaged, entrepreneurial and super motivated?

Employee engagement and customer loyalty are inextricably woven together: They generate the bottom line. They make it worthwhile to get up in the morning and come to work. They make life fun.

When employees are engaged and empowered they create this connection with customers and clients also. Clients love to feel special. They want to be delighted with personal recognition (Nordstrom’s personal service). They want to buy into the company’s vision (Apple’s innovation). They want to be heard (Zappos’ customer service). Creating a culture of connection is the job of leadership. (Disney)

As I help a leader grow, I make sure she or he is developing awareness of connection to both employees and customers, and modeling the behavior s/he’s trying to elicit. As a coach I’m an objective person with no agenda holding up a mirror so you can see how you’re really coming across, what you’re missing, how you can be better. In a company setting this starts with the leader. As others in the company are included in the coaching program, the culture of respect, learning, enthusiasm and connectivity spreads like wildfire.

What are the benefits of working with you?

• The experience of seeing your employees thrive and grow in their careers
• More personal time for family and loved ones
• Competitive advantage and increased market share
• Perhaps as much as 32% more productivity per person, according to many studies
• Fewer employee turnover costs, it cost 2 to 3 times an annual salary for someone new to be recruited, hired, trained and come up to speed
•  More referrals from loyal customers singing your praises in word of mouth advertising and social media
• Lower customer acquisition costs. It costs 5-8 times as much to get a new customer than to keep an existing one, according to the finding of Frederick Reichheld, Bain & Co,
• If you achieve a 5% improvement in customer retention, it is shown in many businesses to translate into a doubling of margins.
• Saving money in the long run, if a majority of your customers are predictably loyal because you can buy or staff up in predictable patterns.
• Increased revenue in each sale because loyal customers buy more
• Easier and more predictable cash flow due to loyal customers paying on time
• Higher prices paid because loyal customers don’t require heavy discounts, they accept higher prices because they understand the value of the relationship and the product/service.
• More forgiveness when a mistake is made in the account of a loyal customer.
• Recognition from your peers for growing the business and leading an enviable lifestyle
• More fun at work, less stress,
• More innovation, creation of new products/service/processes that help move the company forward and gain market share
• Engaged employees taking ownership of their responsibilities, showing more initiative
• Attraction of additional A players who want to come work for your organization
• Ability to take worry-free ‘refresh’ vacations,
• Ability to take ‘think days’ for strategic planning, and leadership training,
• Exponential growth because the leader was able to have more strategic thinking time to plan growth
• Less money spent on sick time, late arrivals, etc.
• Ability to be a more conscious role model for employees and others in your world
• Development of your own leadership style
• Development of more self confidence and self-esteem
• That others will notice the changes in how happy, relaxed, and confident you are
• Get clarity about your strengths, motivators, obstacles to work on
• Increasing your awareness of emotional intelligence
• Developing systems that make work flow more smoothly, predictably and prevent things from falling through the cracks
• Focus on long range goals and personal legacies
• Getting paid what you’re worth
• Being healthier because of the reduced stress
• Investing your additional income in other investment and income producing opportunities
• and many other ways unique to your situation.

What exactly is your program of achieving engagement and a high performance culture that increases customer loyalty?

It includes 6 steps that are customized to the client:

1.  Know yourself:  In depth self-knowledge and assessments.

What defines you? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What do you excel at and enjoy doing? What do you want for your business and your life that identifies the real you? If you know these things, you can build a structure where your talents are constantly in use and your non talents are outsourced elsewhere. Your success takes off and you can’t wait to get out of bed each day because each day is so much fun. Your confidence and self esteem improve. You feel more comfortable in your skin and you can shape your role to maximize your potential. This is self-leadership and you can’t lead others effectively without it. If you’ve signed up your organization, we do all the same work described above with others in the organization as well. Then we address communication patterns improving people’s understanding of each other’s motivations and communication styles. How does each person’s participation in meetings affect other’s opinions of them and the value of their contribution? Together we look at the culture of the organization, see where the strengths and gaps are, understand the diversity of talent and how that is advantageous to the business. I can help you put people in the right roles based on the findings.

2.  Immersion in content to become open to new concepts.

How did you learn your current habits? By doing them over and over. How did you learn your multiplication tables? Repetition. How do advertisers get you to equate their brand with the product (Kleenex=tissues). By saying it multiple times in multiple ways until you’ve internalized it and it becomes second nature. You will immerse your mind in productive concepts that make you ask questions, drill down to values and beliefs, shift and reframe. Ultimately it leads to conscious decision making about previously hidden values and beliefs.

What is the content? It’s a combination of modules customized to your requests and the organization’s needs. They can include the following topics:

Leadership Referral Generation Motivation Organization Meetings Micromanagement Team Building Operational Systems Authority and Power Personal Choice Innovation

Decision making Sales Process Communication Procrastination Stress Managment Cash Flow Prospecting Positivity Pipelines Delegation Developing Subordinates

Team leadership Time Management Managing Others Prioritization Performance Reviews Attracting Ideal Clients Competitive Advantages Metrics and a Dashboard Affirmations, Visualization Transactional Anaylsis Dealing With Negative Behavior

Customer Loyalty Influencing Others Vision and Values Balance Coaching Converstations Boundaries, Saying No Emotional Intelligence Resistance to Change Active Listening Confidence

It is because these changes are internalized and come from changed subconscious patterns that they are long lasting. It takes longer initially but the change is from each person’s core and so yields better results.

3.  Application of new ideas to current behaviors

As you find things you want to change about your leadership or about your organization, we will work together to make them happen. You will learn a goal planning and achieving methodology that you can use of rest of your life. You will develop a personal and organizational prioritized strategic plan. We will create systems and metrics to track change. You will role play coaching conversations, performance reviews, conflict resolution interviews. You will receive lots of ideas about how you can include great leadership practices. If I work with your team, we will customize the program for them as well. Each person will learn how to achieve goals that eventually roll up to accomplish your business’ strategic plan.

4.  Practice, feedback and reinforcement

How do you get better at anything?  You give it a try and make corrections each time. Listen to feedback, incorporate improvements. I hold your hand during the transitions. Businesses evolve and leaders evolve. Handling change is a never ending pursuit. Sometimes it takes awhile to undo old habits and put new ones in their place. It takes awhile to grow/change a culture. Process improvement is continual as you learn.

5.  Celebration

Assess the improvements and lessons learned, internalize the changes and feel yourself and the organization at a new level, stabilize and feel comfortable there. Leaders establish easily identifiable benchmarks. When the benchmarks are achieved it’s important to take time to celebrate. It cements relationships with employees and customers. It builds confidence and pride for everyone on the team and motivates them for the next risky growth spurt.

6.  Repeat….

with new still higher goals, understandings, deeper self knowledge and analysis, additional materials and goals at an advanced level, more evolved strategic planning, continued process improvement and more celebration Growth is not linear and diagonal. It’s more like a set of stairs. You have a growth spurt which involves risk. Then you assimilate the changes and make that the new norm. Then you climb the next step with another risky growth spurt and reach a higher level to make that your new norm.

Does this really work? Can I contact some of your former clients for references?

Yes!! Coaching helps you stop, evaluate in depth where the present path will take you. You create time ‘to work on the business instead of in the business.’ It helps you assess how you’re leading your organization, how you are using your time, how you are creating your professional life (and you know that has repercussions on your personal life as well.) You wind up avoiding costly mistakes. It gives you an objective party (with no agenda other than your success) to try out your ideas with and get feedback. You get someone experienced helping you to think through the pros and cons of your decisions inherent in proactively leading your organization. Plus, I hold you accountable. You and your people get more done because you know I’m going to show up.

It works. Please see our client testimonials page. Each client has provided an email link so you can contact him/her directly. Each one is so pleased they can’t wait to talk with you.

Can you tell me more about the models you’re using?

Please follow these links to where I further explain my Professional Development Formula and the Customer Centric Business Model so you can learn more about what I’ve determined works wonders to drive improved results, business growth, profitability, and better lives for you and your employees.

But we have so many weaknesses. How do I know your process will work for me or my team?

I look at it this way. You have lots of talents and also some non-talents. If you use your talents, they become strengths. If you avoid using your non-talents, they don’t get the chance to become weaknesses. That’s the beauty of having a team. If it’s a well balanced and connected team, you’ll each delegate to each other’s strengths. Don’t know what your strengths are? or what the strengths and weaknesses are of others on your team? Don’t worry! I have plenty of tools to figure that out. Part of the coaching process is to help you make choices about how each person can play to their strengths, not only for the betterment of the team, but also for the sense of success and mastery experienced by the employee. It’s a big factor in employee engagement (which you know by now leads to customer loyalty and improved results).

There is something else I’d like to point out. In school and maybe in other work environments everybody sets goals to get better at something they’re not good at. I think that’s self defeating. If you are working on your non-talents and not trying to excel and capitalize on your talents, you stay mediocre. What if, for yourself and for your employees, you could develop each person’s talents to be super superlative, and gave other non-talent tasks to people who had talents in those areas? You’d have a team full of superstars, a high powered team that leads to that 32% in increased personal productivity. Plus your team of A players attracts other A players which continues the upward spiral of IR -  profitability, vacations and asset value.

What is expected of me/my team? Will we invest time in between sessions?

‘Invest’ is the right word as there is a big return on investment as the program progresses. In the beginning there is some reading and listening which can be done on the train or in the car. And there are some self assessments I ask you to complete. It becomes the basis of your self-knowledge exploration which is a key part of the program. The questions bring out your vision, values, leadership style, and belief systems which we then discuss. It is not overwhelming time wise, but it is imperative that you do it to achieve the results. It is indicative of your decision and commitment to grow. Overall it might come to 1-2 hours per week.

As we spend more time together your assignments will increasingly be to get things done that pertain to your goals, try out new behaviors, respond in a different way, etc. You will look forward to the field work because out of it will come your biggest successes. You will be inspired by much of it and the rest will feel very organic to the process. You will feel great that you are moving yourself ahead and creating your own future.

Do you do consulting and speaking as well as coaching?

Yes, I often get asked to do customized consulting projects inside companies. Yes, I offer lunch and learn programs, as well as professional development keynotes, webinars, seminars and teleconferences. Please look over the suggestions and contact me about how I can do a program for your group.

What type of personality do you work best with?

The leader who is usually attracted to my type of coaching and gets the most from the work we do together is the leader who realizes his/her people are the most important asset in the business. They really care about their employees as individuals. They understand the power of emotional intelligence as they lead their companies. They also understand the effect on the bottom line when people come together as a connected high performing team. They enjoy the experience themselves (a good example is described later in this interview) and they want their employees to have that experience as well. They want to see each of their employees develop unique talents and fulfill personal potential. Part of the legacy they want to leave is knowing that they did everything they could to help everyone in their world be everything they could be. This is balanced with the desire to have a great profitable business. A win-win for everybody, a business that makes money and grows careers, enables pride/self respect and empowers families to live good lives.

Is your program appropriate for every business owner?

I am selective about the clients I take on because I’m all about the positive experience you will have. I want you to feel that this is the best investment you’ve made to grow your business. If you are financially strapped you may not be able to fully focus on our work together. That’s OK. I’ve been there. Here are some things you can do right now.

1. Take a look at the Freebies section of my website and use the resources there to move forward.
2. Read my blog to challenge yourself to new levels of thinking.
3. Participate in some of the free resources offered for small businesses in your area by colleges and government agencies.
4. Take a look at the packages that I offer, figure out which one fits where you’d like to start working with me and make it a goal to be able to reasonably afford it. Determine how much new business would be necessary and go out and make it happen. (You can call me and I’ll help you figure this out.)

When you’re ready, I’ll be here for you. I’ll celebrate your accomplishment with you.

Who do you definitely not work with?

• Leaders who are so focused on money that they don’t care about the lives of the individuals who work for them.
• Business owners who want me to ‘fix their people’ and who refuse to believe that they need to take some responsibility to change as well.
• People who don’t take this work seriously, don’t keep appointments, don’t keep their commitments.
• Those who complain but don’t want to do anything about their problems. Or think things can be fixed with band-aids.
• People who really believe in the authoritarian command-and-control leadership style.
• Those who are pessimistic and ‘professional againsters.’ You can tell if they start off all their sentences with ‘no’, ‘but’ or ‘however.’

If you fit any of these descriptions, we probably will not work well together. Respectfully, our values are different and our goals don’t align. It won’t be a good investment of your time or money. You won’t find value.

I see that you also use the term ‘Dance of Business.’ What is that all about?

Everyone likes metaphors. They help to pictorially anchor concepts in a way that verbal descriptions can’t. I’ve always been a dancer, involved in both performance and choreography. Today I love partner dancing (Argentine Tango and West Coast Swing are my favorites.) Because of my dance background I use the ‘Dance’ metaphor. It signifies connection, relating as individuals, appreciation, fun, the emotional people side of business. Because of my goal oriented business background I use the ‘Driving’ metaphor (Driving IR™ is the name of my company.) Driving is very linear, targeted, focused. It involves maps (strategic plans), efficiently getting from point a to point b (superhighways). It is task oriented. There are dashboards that measure statistics like gas, speed, mileage (cash, ROI, revenues per employee, AR days outstanding)

The Driving/Dancing Duality™ is about intertwining these different ways of acting. Business thinkers have called it different things such as left brain/right brain, task oriented/people oriented, hard skills/soft skills.  Applying the driving and dancing metaphors especially in a business context draws attention to these two ways of looking at situations and helps leaders create a balanced viewpoint and avoid blind spots. It provides a structural framework for decision making, culture development, learning and appreciation of everyone’s talents.

How quickly can I expect results?

It’s like everything else. What you put into it is what you get out of it. If you are very committed to working conscientiously and doing assignments, the process will work and you will achieve astounding results. Your investment of time and energy to accomplish action steps and goals each week will start to snowball into an avalanche of benefits and achievements.

If you choose to involve your team as well, your organization’s culture will change.  When everyone in the organization is using the same goal achievement process and speaking the same language, departmental goals get achieved more easily, more accountability happens and communication soars. When you reach a tipping point, you will be amazed at how much gets done, how happy and motivated each person is. It’s hard to predict when that tipping point occurs. Even though each organization is different, it is more likely to occur in the second six months than the first six months, which is why I recommend my 12 month plan.

I have had clients remain for 6 months and achieve the results they were looking for. I also have clients who have continued to grow and develop themselves and their businesses for many years. They find that they continue to have breakthroughs, delegate to achieve more personal freedom, grow their revenues and achieve more goals than they ever dreamed possible when they first started. Feel free to contact any of the clients on our Success Stories page.

For some it’s continuing to create the connection culture, others who have really developed a high performance team shift their focus to growing revenues. I work with some companies through the transitions of merging and acquisition, or preparing for the sale of the company. As their needs change and the business goes through its life cycle, having an advocate with no outside agenda helps them navigate the shifting sand. I fulfill a trusted advisor role and am engaged year after year.

What is the financial investment and will I recover the amount I put into this coaching program?

There are different programs at different price points for different needs and budget levels

There are two ways to look at the investment question. Initially you can ask, will I make my money back? That depends on you and your team being fully committed. For most organizations, the investment is earned back in the same year. The organization’s people have better tools, know that you believed in them and invested in them, have analyzed and improved their time usage, are more focused on delighting the customer, are empowered to make more of their own decisions. So their performance improves. Many studies say by 32% but that varies by company. Of course, you as the leader have to do your part to set vision and values and build credibility as a trustworthy leader. My clients see marked improvements in the first year and astounding results in the second year, and phenomenal year over year growth.

There is another way to look at this. If I’m investing a bunch of money in paying employees, why wouldn’t I leverage my investment and provide them with what they need to do the best job? Say you have 20 staff with an average salary of $50K. Add 20% for benefits. If you expect people to stay a minimum of 4 years, then your overall investment for the 20 people is $4,800,000. Coaching is an investment in human capital. If you invested in another asset, perhaps a medical screening machine or a manufacturing plant, wouldn’t you expect to maintain it and give it the ‘grease’ it needs to function optimally? Why wouldn’t you do the same with a human capital asset? Why would you hire people and not invest in what turns them a high performance team with 32% more productivity? Now that is thinking small. Sometimes our biggest risk is in leaving money on the table. And that’s a cost you really can’t afford.

And it’s not all about money. Seeing people be happy in their jobs (you, too), seeing their careers flourish, bonding as a company ‘family,’ providing incomes to support real families, fun on the job, loving your life, going on a worry free vacation, peace of mind. These are all intangibles with no monetary value.

Jeri, based on what I’ve read and heard about you, I know you’re the coach I want for my business. What are my options for getting started with you?

Congratulations on making a decision. Those who derive the most from any of the programs below are the people who are ready to step into their futures and proactively create success.

I’ve created three tracks which address business owners at different levels of their development. You can start at any level. You can move from level to level as your business grows. Let me start at the top to set your aspirations.

Engaging Employees to Drive Results™ is a 6 or 12 month program that addresses the needs of a business owner with employees who wants to establish a connection culture. You can read about the owner’s characteristics, what his issues are and what he needs.  The result of a connection culture created by good leadership is a high performance team. Have you ever been on a high performance team where people care and work flows?  Let me give you an example.

When I owned my computer support company, we received a $1,000,000 RFP. It was a bigger job than we ever had done before. We knew we had a good chance to win it. Everyone in the company worked on parts of it. Our purchaser got best pricing from our product sources. Our trainers estimated the training costs. The accounting department worked on the financials we had to submit with it. Our word processing expert figured out how to respond in the format that was required. I wrote the document that pulled everything together. We were close to deadline and one of our inside sales people offered to call and find out how late the office was open and drive it right to the location and deliver it. Twenty of us really worked together as a team because we had a common purpose, respected each others talents and abilities, and listened to each other’s suggestions. Our company later had to meet with a committee and answer their questions. One of my salespeople and myself were the key people in that meeting. We had gone over the questions and we were prepped. We went in and bowled them over with how much we were on the same wave length about how our company’s capabilities matched their needs. We were completing each other’s statements, sensing together when we needed additional clarification, working the committee like a couple of pros. It just flowed and it felt wonderful and exciting. (Yes, we won the job!)

Each person contributed. No one watched the clock to see if it was 5pm. They were all about getting the project won. Each person was engaged and connected to each other, focusing on a common purpose, contributing their all because they wanted to. This can be your company, too.

Although some companies think it will only take six months, the companies that invest in the 12 month program have better results. The connection culture becomes anchored. It takes a while for changes to be internalized, for people to realize this isn’t the ‘flavor of the month.’ Usually so much growth is experienced that companies want to continue so they can experience more growth and profitability.

The second track is called

Engaging Yourself to Drive Results™.  Philosophers through the ages have said ‘all knowledge is self knowledge’. It makes sense that if you intend to be successful in business and sales, you lay a foundation in self-leadership. Everything you think comes into your perception through your own mind, your own set of rose or grey colored glasses. So your business will be small when you think small. You will miss opportunities that fall in your blind spots. Establishing a great foundation in time management, productivity, motivation, decision making, people skills, emotional intelligence, open-mindedness and goal planning/achievement is necessary to lead yourself now and to prep yourself to transition into the next stage where you lead others. You’ll develop that strong sense of self that tells the world you know who you are and what you have to offer. You’ll develop better ways to communicate that with clarity. From there we’ll move into other things you may need, building professional networks, sales skills, customer loyalty concepts, management development, proactive planning. Coaching is customized for your present role and the role you want to grow into.

I have a client who tells this story and it’s indicative of the change that’s possible. Feeling at a level of equality with your clients is important if you are going to sell to them. He was invited to an event with national political dignitaries. He felt very intimidated because he felt like a young nobody and they all were older and were comfortable being in this circle of famous statesmen. He felt so much out of his element that on his way home, he stopped for a beer at a local tavern just so he could feel comfortable again. After participating in this coaching program he no longer felt intimidated and went again to a similar event with a stronger self-image and feeling that he belonged.

This is a six month minimum program and some individuals have continued with me for years so they can continue to discover and apply their strengths and to prep themselves for new opportunities.

The third track

is called Engaging Prospects to Drive Results™. If you’re just starting your business or if this is a lifestyle or part time business, you may want a scaled back coaching program that focuses mainly on sales and marketing. This is the fastest path-to-cash. It includes marketing ideas, sales strategies, customer loyalty strategies, links to resources, clarification of your ideal client and target market. You already have clients. This program takes it the next level. It gets you more profitable so you can then move up and develop the leadership foundations found in the Engaging Yourself to Drive Results™ program. Investing in this coaching level means you’re serious about your business and it’s not a hobby any more.

This is a six month minimum program. Clients achieve a surge of success. Their businesses grow exponentially.

One health and nutrition expert found that with this program she did twice as much revenue in the first six months of the year than the whole preceding year.

Ok, I know which is right for me. How do we get started?

Taking decisive action is the first step in moving into the future you choose. Leaders are decisive and you are acting that way already. Congratulations! I can’t wait to receive your request so that we can have our initial conversation. Please email my support team at info@DrivingImprovedResults.com or call 212-923-5820. We’d be happy to answer any of your questions and set up a strategy complimentary session.

I can’t move forward now but want to get engaged so that I can make a more informed decision later. How can I plug in until then?

Subscribe to our ezine, read my blog, friend me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Ask questions on the ‘Ask Jeri’ box on the Driving IR website. Check out the Freebies. When you have questions or feel more ready, I‘ll be waiting for you at 212-923-5820

OK I’m ready to invest in me and/or my company, but I have some additional questions about the best option for me. Can I call you?

Most definitely.  It sounds like you’re inspired to move ahead and grow yourself and your team. I would be thrilled to talk with you, answer any questions you may have and walk you through the options so you can select the best one for you. I can’t wait to see you succeed and I’m honored to be the one to help you. 212-923-5820 or info@DrivingImprovedResults.com