The Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success

We’ve found that many organizations want results, but when it comes to a high-performance team, gaps in this concept emerge. These gaps include unsuccessful recruiting of sales team members, not being clear about the role and results expected for the position, and not providing the right tools or direction that supports the optimal success of the sales team. While a sales manager can be key to building and sustaining a Performance Sales Team, each team member must have the potential to grow and excel. An effective sales manager will help grow that salesperson and work to release their potential.

When it comes to creating a high-performance sales team, having, adding, or enhancing talent is critical. A high-performance team needs goals, direction, and feedback about how they are doing, progress toward sub goals (milestones, KPIs) and their approach, acumen, volume of work and effort. They may need to split their time up strategically, so a certain portion of their day is geared toward developing new business opportunities and some of their day to expanding existing business. A sales leader/manager should squarely be focused on the development of strong performing sales team members and working closely with them to refine skills and abilities that result in enhanced performance and therefore better results. All salespeople should be highly focused on their goals that align strategically with the organization – the activities required to build a robust, predictable pipeline and have sufficient volumes in both areas that goal achievement is reliable, predictable, and greater than expected. 

Read more on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success 

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call… 

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business. 

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David. Your success is waiting!

Together Everyone Achieves More (T.E.A.M.)

Last month we addressed Sales Fundamentals and Sales Management, part of the Five Business Dangers series. Continuing our exploration of the ingredients for a successful sales program, we’ll now get specific about developing a high-performance sales team, a necessary element for a highly effective sales-focused organization. 

Creating a High-Performance Sales Team:

Together Everyone Achieves More (T.E.A.M.). What goes into building a great, high performing team? In our series, we have addressed elements that include sales process, messaging, the conversations salespeople have, and sales management. We now turn our attention to a high-performance sales team. Critical elements that must come together include people, talent, execution, and effectiveness – all to achieve a desired result. 

Read more on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success 

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call… 

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business. 

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David. Your success is waiting!

Do You Need Sales Management Help?

What is your current mindset around sales management?

Thinking of your current sales management situation, read the statements below and ask yourself: are these in place and are they optimized? If your answer is NO to two or more statements, then you would likely benefit from a shift in your sales management solution, mindset, or approach.

• You have a sales manager/leader in place - their primary role is to lead and grow the sales team, coach, and train them, and develop a high performance sales team
• The sales manager meets regularly with the business owner to ensure alignment of sales and organizational strategy
• The sales manager holds salespeople accountable to goals, territory management, and activity levels
• The sales manager meets at least 1x per month 1-2-1 with salespeople for feedback, coaching and support
• The sales manager holds team meetings at least 1x per month

Every sales-focused organization has room for improvement! If you aren’t implementing all the statements above, or only a few, you may need to adjust your mindset or priorities around sales management… it may be time to get some help.

Read more on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call…

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David. Your success is waiting!

High Performing Sales for Your Business

Have you struggled in the past to develop the tools your business needs to thrive?

Are you ready to build a high performing sales team with a solid sales management strategy?

Business leaders and owners understand that more focus is needed on sales efforts in their organization but aren’t sure exactly how to get started, or how to drive positive change when it comes to their sales efforts.

Sales Fundamentals:

Consider the following with your sales team to ensure you’re implementing these sales fundamentals:

• A complete Sales Story (Power Statement) has been developed and is used by all salespeople
• Salespeople speak in terms of client need and challenges, not products and service offering
• Messaging and selling are aligned properly with all marketing efforts
• A clear sales process has been defined for acquiring NEW sales from NEW customers
• The CRM system meets the needs of salespeople and is actively used by all

If you need to refresh the sales message and process to re-energize your sales team, it may be time to seek professional help from a business coach.

Learn more here! 

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call…

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David. Your success is waiting!
 

Our Four-Pronges Approach to Creating a Sales-Focused Organization

Based on our experience, we have found that the importance of a solid foundation can’t be understated. If the foundation of your home had a large crack, you would be rightfully worried and call a professional to get it taken care of as soon as possible. Why look at business any differently?

We believe in a four-pronged approach to creating a Sales-Focused Organization:

1. Sales fundamentals such as an effective sales process, your power statements with strong messaging, and powerful conversations that combine these fundamentals, to build upon and drive success for you and your team.
2. Effective sales management, meaning the sales leader/manager should squarely be focused on the development of strong performing sales team members and working closely with them to refine skills and abilities that result in enhanced performance and therefore better results.

Read the full list on our website!

Building or enhancing your revenue performance will depend on how well you develop your sales foundations. These will be critical to your sales success. For the specifics of your business, its sales efforts, and their success we’ll need to rely on your candid assessment. So, don’t wait, take stock today and figure out where success or the lack of it is coming from.

In future months we will examine, separately and in depth, Sales Foundations, and each of the other Five Business Dangers. We will also provide a free assessment tool that will highlight specific gaps within the Five Business Dangers.

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call…

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David. Your success is waiting!

High Performing Sales for Your Business

As a business owner/leader, are you frustrated that you're not hitting your sales goals and know something needs to change? Business leaders and owners often know that change is needed on the sales front, but they often are not sure exactly where to start, or how to drive positive change to improve sales results.

Let’s face it, Sales and a Company’s Sales Function form some of the most important success elements through the life cycles of any business that begins as a start-up, advances through early-stage growth, second stage growth, on to maturity, sustainability, and beyond.

If you are like many of the businesses we have worked with, you may have experienced the following:

• frustration with not reaching your sales targets
• sales cycles that are longer than expected
• a pipeline that is too weak to make up the difference on too-slow-to-close opportunities
• unsure if you have a good or the right sales process in place
• as a business owner/leader, overwhelmed with both running the business and managing the sales function and/or sales team

 Read more on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call…

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David. Your success is waiting!
 

How to Set Up a Marketing Plan to Improve Business Performance

A big part of your marketing effort and its success will lie in setting up a marketing plan – one that takes your marketing initiatives and creates specific plans for each marketing element. If you don’t currently have marketing data or marketing KPIs , this would be a good place to start, as data will be critical in assessing what is and is not working. 

As an example, for your website, you will want to optimize it for a set of search terms, and then know the number of visits per day or month, and which pages are viewed by visitors. You will also want to know how many web forms are completed and submitted. In the end, for each of the channels through which you market, you will want to know the number of contacts, phone calls, or leads each produced. This information will determine whether that particular channel is yielding a good marketing ROI (return on investment) or not. With data, you can decide what to add, change or stop. It will be a worthwhile investment of time to figure out where your marketing success or the lack of it is coming from.

Building or enhancing your revenue performance will depend on how well you develop your marketing foundations, messaging, and the channels you use to reach your intended audience. For the specifics of your business, its marketing efforts, and their success we’ll need to rely on your candid assessment. So, don’t wait, take stock today and figure out where success or the lack of it is coming from.

In future months we will examine, separately and in depth, Sales, and each of the other Five Business Dangers. We will also provide a free assessment tool that will highlight specific gaps within the Five Business Dangers.

Read more on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call…

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David through the website. Your success is waiting!

How Do You Market Your Business? Our Ideas for Improvement

Last month we discussed your company’s marketing and the fundamentals or foundation of a solid marketing plan – marketing messaging. Hopefully, you’ve reviewed these elements and taken a few steps to improve the foundation for your company’s marketing efforts.

Now that you have a solid foundation with great messaging, let’s review your marketing channels or marketing array – how do you reach your ideal target audience? What is your current marketing array? Here are a few ideas (though this is not an exhaustive list):

• External signage
• Logo with tag line
• Email signature
• Local advertising
• Marketing collateral – flyers, brochures, etc.
• Website
• SEO/SEM
• Local Chambers
• Referral partners or organizations
• Webinars, seminars, presentations
• Business Associations
• Networking Groups
• Referral and loyalty programs
• Social media
• E-listings
• Email marketing and nurture campaigns
• Automation
• Geogrid

…and many more…

Take a look at the list above. Which ones are already in place, which ones should be added and/or improved upon? If you are overwhelmed with what seems like endless possibilities, examine where your recent sales or marketing successes have come from. If you’re not already doing so, asking how people have heard about your company and its offerings will help to figure out what is and is not working for your marketing strategy.

Read more on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call…

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David through the website. Your success is waiting!

The “What’s in It for Me” Factor & How It's Essential for Marketing

Learning the What's In It For Me (WIIFM) factor for your customers will help put the focus on them and on their experience before, during, and after receiving what you offer. For many businesses, asking for information about the experience of their customers will help shed light on what is enormously important to them. This at times may be at odds with the view of the business and their team. When you have this information at hand, it can be incorporated into your company’s unique selling or value proposition and guarantee.

You may have heard the phrase ‘stories sell’ – customer stories can make a dramatic difference in making your prospects warm up to what you offer. Donald Miller’s ‘Building a Story Brand’ (2017) is a great read on this topic. You will discover value in understanding the important roles of the hero and the guide.

Next month we will address channels through which to market your company’s offerings.

Building or enhancing your revenue performance will depend on how well you develop your marketing foundations and messaging. To get into the specifics of your business’s marketing efforts, we’ll need to rely on your candid assessment. Is it time to take stock to figure out where success or the lack of it is coming from?

In future months we will examine, separately and in depth, Marketing, Sales, and each of the other Five Business Dangers. We will also provide a free assessment tool that will highlight specific gaps within the Five Business Dangers.

Learn more on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call…

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David today. Your success is waiting!

Marketing Essentials for Your Business

Last month we touched on two of the Five Business Dangers that create revenue generation – marketing and sales. Hopefully, you’ve taken some time to define your company’s specific roles for marketing and sales – if not, you may wish to go back to last month’s article. We dedicate this month’s topic to marketing.

Laying a solid foundation to support your marketing efforts today and well into the future is essential for the success of your business! You may already have some key elements in place, but consider adjusting your marketing plan to include the following:

• Why does your company exist (this may resonate with your target market)?
• What does your company do – what is its product/service?
• Who does your company serve – what is your target market?
• Where is your target market found? What is your geographic footprint?
• Does your company offer a niche product or service where what you offer is exceptional in your marketplace (i.e., better than 70% of your competition)
• Where does what you offer land with regard to price or value?
• What is the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) factor for what your company offers?

Taking the time to develop the areas listed above will enhance the performance and effectiveness of your marketing efforts. They will provide your sales team with the necessary ammunition to power their sales efforts to success.

More info is here on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call…

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David. Your life is waiting!

Revenue Generation: Critical to Your Business's Success

There are many factors that can contribute to the success or failure of a business. A crucial one is revenue generation. Last month we touched on Five Business Dangers. The two that affect a business’s revenue are marketing and sales. We will dedicate this month’s topic to making distinctions between your Marketing and Sales efforts. It’s especially important that your company defines the role that its marketing and sales efforts need to play. For most companies, a mix of marketing and sales will be important. Depending on the product (or service) a company offers, a well-written product information or description may be all that is needed to generate a sale/transaction – think about the first iPhone and the long lines of willing buyers waiting to get their hands on one.

It is also important to think about KPIs (key performance indicators) for your marketing and sales efforts. People and positions also play a significant role and clarity for these is critical in driving success with your KPIs. Here are a few thoughts to help you define your marketing and/or sales:

1. How are leads or opportunities created and by who or which department?
2. How much support is needed to sell what you offer? Think Customer Service or Sales, or even something like Sales Engineer (a salesperson with engineering expertise)
3. Is what you offer acquired transactionally (no or little help needed)?
4. Is what you offer best supported through establishing a relationship? Think recurring revenue, professional service, repeat customer, referrals, etc.
5. For either marketing and/or sales, what processes (steps) have you put into place?

Are the answers to the above questions unclear? If so, your team will be challenged to enhance your revenue performance.

Read more on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call…

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David through the website. Your life is waiting.

Performance Improvement: The Roles of Marketing & Sales

It’s common for salespeople to be responsible for their own lead generation. This being said, it’s not unusual for marketing to be charged with generating leads – web leads, phone calls, etc. It can be extremely helpful to think about the KPIs for marketing and/or sales and to define the leading and lagging ones for each or both areas – leading ones are precursors to lagging ones, that often entail top- or bottom-line results. An example of lagging KPIs is revenue that has been received by your accounting department.

For another company it may be sales revenue that is ‘booked’ through a PO (Purchase Order). Marketing efforts may often be gauged by the number of web leads, phone calls, or responses to a vanity phone number in the call to action of a given marketing offer.

Building or enhancing your revenue performance will depend on how well you define your marketing and/or sales process and efforts with established KPIs. Next will be the execution of each area (think strategy and tactics). To get into the specifics of your business’s marketing and/or sales efforts, we’ll need to rely on your candid assessment. Is it time to take stock to figure out where success or the lack of it is coming from?

In subsequent months we will examine, separately and in depth, Marketing, Sales, and each of the other Five Business Dangers. We will also provide a free assessment tool that will highlight specific gaps within the Five Business Dangers.

Read more on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call…

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David through the website. Your life is waiting.

Your Path to Performance Improvement Starts with the Five Business Dangers Assessment

Did you know that in the first 5 years, approximately 50% of new businesses are at risk of failure (according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor)?

With 600,000 new businesses starting each year in the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that only about one third of them will exist by year 10. 

If your business has made it past year 10, congratulations! You must be getting more right than wrong. Whether your business is in start-up mode, first stage growth, second stage growth or at a sustainable stage, the five business dangers are areas to keep your eye on as you strive to keep your business successful and profitable.

Want to go in depth about the Five Business Dangers and take our free assessment?

Learn more on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success 

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call… 

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business. 

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David. Your life is waiting!

5 Business Dangers to Avoid to Ensure a Successful Growing Business

There are many factors that can contribute to the success or failure of a business. Your business needs to be nurtured and supported, in some ways no differently than your health and well-being. Our health, something that we are born with, can be improved, maintained, and under certain conditions lost. There is no guarantee that early health will hold on its own and therefore we tend to support it and feed it, often through sleep, nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices. A business is no different – it needs to be fed. So, how do we do that with success in mind?

Over the coming months, we will dedicate content to examining Five Business Dangers that if left unchecked will lead to the early failure rates:

1. Leadership
2. Human Capital
3. Marketing
4. Sales
5. Financial

Business success and performance improvement depend on the execution of each of these. To get into the specifics of your business we’ll need to rely on your candid assessment. Without going into details, how well is your business being supported or fed in each these five areas? Is it time to take stock to figure out where success or the lack of it is coming from?

Read more on our website!

Your Gateway to Performance Improvement and Business Success 

If you’re feeling some pressure to address the success of your business, don’t wait – it doesn’t take more than a brief phone call… 

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you examine the health of your business and find critical areas which once addressed will result in performance improvement for your business. 

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David. Your life is waiting!

Ready to Retire? Read This First!

 

Have you thought of everything before retiring?

Are you and your staff prepared for a successful transition?

At a minimum, make sure you’re financially ready to leave. A thorough assessment of how your exit will affect your personal financial situation is critical. What will your primary source of income be? How about a secondary nest egg; for example, the equity you get out of the business? Will you be able to support the lifestyle you want?

There is much to consider before you’re truly ready to leave, including issues you may not have considered yet, like: 

• Are you prepared to accept that your sweat equity makes your business seem more valuable to you than it does to others?
• Are the buyer’s expectations aligned with yours?
• If you decide to stay on in a less involved role after selling, will you be able to give up control of your company? How will you feel watching others make decisions you would have made differently? 
• If you stay on in a part-time role, are you comfortable working a limited schedule? 
• Will you be happy walking away?

Tip: Take an extended vacation as a trial run before making any decisions. 

Read more on our website!

Give yourself time to plan

It may take some time to work out the best business transition plan for you and your company. Start early so you have time to figure out exactly what you want to achieve. Take time to personalize your plan to suit your future needs. This is your life, after all!

Start with a phone call 

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you prepare to transition into this next phase of your life, whether you’re moving on to another business or planning to enjoy a leisurely retirement. 

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David through the website. Your life is waiting!

The Off Ramp for Your Business: Succession Planning

If your strategic plan is the GPS to your business, a business transition plan is the off ramp. The strategic plan got you here; but where you go from here is up to you. 

Your transition out of your business can be as short or long as you decide, but it will be a smoother if you set a timeline and have a destination in sight. Even better, plan who will be taking over, what their responsibilities will be, and when the transition will occur. If you have employees, their financial security may depend on keeping the business running as usual during the transition. 

What’s your destination?

And finally, what about you? You can’t just blindly leap into the future. You’ve taken care of or planned for everyone else — don’t forget to plan your own next steps. 

Leaving your company may feel more difficult than you anticipate. Make your plans early to ease your own transition when the end is in sight. Think about the kind of exit you want to make. Which way will you go? What will you choose to do?

You put a lot of yourself into building your company. Plan your transition to the next phase of your life with equal care and thought.

Read more on our website!

Give yourself time to plan

It may take some time to work out the best business transition plan for you and your company. Start early so you have time to figure out exactly what you want to achieve. Take time to personalize your plan to suit your future needs. This is your life, after all!

Start with a phone call

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their needs. He can help you prepare to transition into this next phase of your life, whether you’re moving on to another business or planning to enjoy a leisurely retirement.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David through the website. Your life is waiting!

How Do You Include the Unknown in Your Strategic Plan?

While you can’t plan for every surprise, different situations carry different risks for different businesses:

• What if someone else has to carry on for you du e to a personal emergency?
• If your family situation changes, does your business involvement need to change too?
• What if your landlord decides to change the purpose of the property and ends your lease?
• What about an economic downturn?
• How will your business respond to a natural disaster like a building fire or tornado?

Your plans might differ based on whether the event is internal or external, involves a change in management, or immediately affects the safety or economic stability of your employees. You might focus on safety, restoring critical resources or operations, or the chain of command for recovery operations.

Being prepared is critical to your success

Knowing what to do during an emergency, and who will do it, can help minimize the impact on your business and employees. David can guide you through the process of completing a business impact analysis and developing a continuity plan to manage disruptions to your business. The hope is that you’ll never have to use it, but wouldn’t you rather be prepared?

Read the full article on our website to learn more!

Start Business Transition Planning: It’s as Easy as a Phone Call!

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their business needs, identify areas of improvement to support those needs, and lead their business to its greatest potential. He can help you plan for the future of your company with business transition planning in Ann Arbor and the surrounding area.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David. In today’s world, you need to be ready for anything.

Why Planning for Unexpected Outcomes is Critical

Your strategic plan maps your path to success, guiding you and your employees toward growth. It outlines your commitment to success and acts as a GPS.

What if you meet an unexpected challenge or emergency and need to take a detour? Make sure you have a plan for that, too! Planning for your success demonstrates your commitment to achieving your best, while planning for the unthinkable demonstrates your commitment to a different, but no less important, outcome.

Preparing for the worst while expecting the best:

• Demonstrates respect for your employees and/or investors
• Minimizes loss
• Prevents panic and decision making based on emotions

Change is predictable — plan for it

Change itself is predictable but of course the details are not. There’s no crystal ball showing the future of your business, only an understanding that there are many forces outside your control. While it’s not possible for your strategic plan to cover every possible emergency, a good contingency plan will help you navigate unexpected and unwelcome changes in your business environment.

How do you plan for contingencies you can’t predict? Read the full article on our website to find out!

Start Business Transition Planning: It’s as Easy as a Phone Call!

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their business needs, identify areas of improvement to support those needs, and lead their business to its greatest potential. He can help you plan for the future of your company with business transition planning in Ann Arbor and the surrounding area.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact  David. In today’s world, you need to be ready for anything.

An Exit Plan is Critical

Do you have a succession plan in place for your business?

Have you been putting off planning for later in life, instead focusing on the here and now?

"A 2022 MassMutual study indicates that only 8 percent of business owners have a completed the process of developing written succession plan. Equally troubling is the fact that about one in four successors, those that the owner has targeted to take over his or her company, do not know that they are in the succession plan."

Many business owners don’t think about an exit strategy until they feel ready to move on. At that point, they may have already missed opportunities to get more value out of their company.

It’s critical to plan for both expected and unexpected exits:

Expected – goals with retirement or selling in mind

A planned exit can be a long-term process or a quick deal. Maybe you’ll plan to sell in ten years, or outline the steps needed if you receive an offer before then. Either way, the closer you get to the end, the harder it can be to see the best way out. Failing to plan may mean you have less control over the outcome and achieve less than optimal results.

Unexpected – we can’t schedule the unexpected, but we can prepare for it

Few business owners would have predicted a pandemic in 2020. But savvy business owners may have planned for contingencies such as supply line interruptions or workforce shortages. Pandemics, natural disasters, rent or location events, or the unexpected loss of life – these are things we don’t want to think about. But if you don’t think about them, and the unthinkable happens, how will your business hold up?

Read more succession planning tips on our website!

Not sure where to start with business transition planning?

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their business needs, identify areas of improvement to support those needs, and lead their business to its greatest potential. He can help you plan for the future of your company.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. For help with business transition planning in Ann Arbor, Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David through the website. In today’s world, you need to be ready for anything.

How do You Benefit from a Carefully Planned Exit Strategy?

Have you spent time on the most critical part of business development? Writing a strategic plan means committing your business values, mission, goals, plans, and vision to paper – documenting your guiding principles.

Planning minimizes the element of surprise:

• Planned exits have better results than unexpected exits
• You’re better able to meet unexpected problems head-on (health or family, for example), without added stress
• You’ll have steps in place in case of unexpected offers
• You’ll be able to liquidate faster, if needed
• You’ll be ready for retirement, personal time off, or if you’re simply ready to move on

Including an exit strategy when you write your strategic plan ensures you’ve taken the right steps toward success, less left to chance, and are prepared to make informed, rational decisions. You won’t be rushed and won’t be as likely to make decisions based on emotions, or under stress. 

Read more about business transition planning on our website.

Not sure where to start with business transition planning?

David is an accomplished and experienced business professional who brings over 40 years of insight to the table. As a business coach, he specializes in helping business owners prioritize their business needs, identify areas of improvement to support those needs, and lead their business to its greatest potential. He can help you plan for the future of your company.

It all starts with a single, free conversation. For help with business transition planning in Ann Arbor, Call 734-726-5208 today for a free coaching session or contact David through the website. In today’s world, you need to be ready for anything.

What a Good Business Coach Is, and Isn't

Do you know what a good business coach is, and what a good business coach isn't?

With a business consultant, you are paying an expert to provide a solution for the problem you have. You are paying for a set of skills and a solution they recommend for your situation, but you may not be addressing more fundamental problems.

Once a consultant has made their recommendation, you’re often left to your own devices to run with their solution. In contrast, a coach will continue working with you consistently over time to ensure that whatever plan is put into action is successful. Your investment of time, energy and effort are the most important ones you will make with a great business success coach. Your coach will help you consider adjustments and refinements that can greatly impact success.

A Real Story from an Ann Arbor Business Owner

So, what does a successful business coaching relationship really look like?

Here’s what a former AdviCoach client had to say. He was a local business owner in the Ann Arbor and Dexter area and was looking for some help with an established but struggling business:

“From the very first meeting, David acted like a partner in my business. He asked probing questions about my business, receiving my answers without judgment, and demonstrated a true desire to understand how my business was operating. He was prepared and engaged for every coaching session. He made sure we made progress each week, driving the process both during our meetings and afterwards with email correspondence and follow up phone calls as required.”

During this process, the meetings were streamlined by using prepared forms that have been refined through the years. Nothing in the business coaching process is ever “pre-fabricated,” but using these resources allows the coach and client to quickly get on the same page and begin tailoring strategies to the business.

After six months of cooperation, a custom strategic plan to achieve the client’s goals had been drafted. He was left with the tools he needed to monitor his business beyond the coaching relationship. At the end, he knew what his goals were, how to achieve them, and what to do when he encountered obstacles in the future.

Read more on our website!

Business Success Coaching to Transform Your Pathway to Great Success

In the day-to-day operation of a small business, it’s easy to become shortsighted. You begin to take for granted that the way things are is the way they have to be, or always will be.
It often takes an experienced outsider to remind us that we really can change things for the better.

David Waymann has helped many people in Ann Arbor and southeast Michigan with business success coaching and can help you too. If you’re not happy with how your business is doing, coaching can be a great option.

Call 734-726-5208 to find out more and set up your free business review!