Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.
A. My most common programs we provide are sales training, career counseling, executive coaching, fiscal management, diversity, sexual harassment, team building and project finance.
Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A. Be realistic, open minded, willing to make changes and understand that success takes time and hard work to achieve. There are no short cuts. It is also important to know that I may not have the answers but I ask the right questions.
Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?
A. The key to my trade is listening skills. So many of my competitors take this approach, they tell the client what they need and give it to them. The secret sauce exists in clearing your mind to be able to virtually step in the client's situation.
Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?
A. My buyers need the desire to achieve their goals and be willing to look deep within themselves to find their individual strengths.
Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?
A. I am personally and professionally, an individual of the highest integrity. My creative solutions and practical advice are influenced by past experiences in business, banking, the magic and the not-for profit communities. This enables me to be provide creative consulting services in areas of business development, finance and coaching.
Q. What do you like most about your job?
A. I take great interest in listening to my client's history and challenges. This helps me present solutions that are focused and tailored to the uniqueness of every scenario.
Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A. How do I get more business? You can’t expect much progress in earning more business in just one quarter or even in a year or two. That’s why many businesses give up on it. The bad news is it’s hard to do. The good news is it’s hard to do, because once you build it, it’s a competitive advantage that can’t be copied. If it were easy everyone would be doing it.
Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?
A. One of my first clients, a friend for many years, was sharing frustrations about the document a marketing consultant he hired sent him. My client was angry because the document took a long time to receive and ultimately was a dissertation on the obvious. Things he knew he needed to do but didn't know how to go about executing. Apparently, the consultant didn't know how either. Within weeks we had formulated an action plan and were making great progress.
Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?
A. I wish customers knew how difficult it is to quantify the value of the services I provide. Often the results of my involvement are in the way the individual conducts themselves, and their business, which happens slowly, over time. For example, we know that the earth is constantly moving, however we don't necessarily feel it, but we know it is. My clients know they are moving, in the right direction.
Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?
A. I decided to get into this line of work after I achieved many successes helping individuals, business owners and not for profit organizations reach their goals. I wanted to recreate the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of seeing a project to completion as an independent adviser.
Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.
A. My pricing system is project specific. The client would contact me, discuss the scope and budget of the project, we arrange a meeting and then I present a proposal that outlines the scope of services and associated cost.
