Strategic Solutions – Business Coaching Firm

Business leaders today have found that developing a strategy and a plan is far more effective than leaving the future to chance. Furthermore, the key factors that create higher levels of motivation and commitment continuously fuel higher levels of achievement. Finally, the effective implementation of the plan is as important as planning. This is the true determining factor as to whether or not a company is successful.

The Strategic Planning Process provides a format for developing a Strategic Plan, taking that strategy through the business planning process and establishing measurable goals. It is a process that involves not only determining where a company is going, but also how it is going to get there.

Key Areas:

· Elements of the Strategic Plan

· The External Assessment

· Internal Appraisal

· The Business Plan

· Examples of Vision and Mission Statements

· Critical Goal Categories, The Critical Success Factors

· Business Planning Goals

· Financial Budgeting

· Marketing Communications

· Sales Support

· The Sales Plan

· The Review Process

For more information contact Hank Sullivan at Strategic Solutions at hsullivan@stratsolutions.net

Almost everyone knows that you should prioritize your activities. Almost everyone knows that you should complete your urgent/important/critical tasks each day. Almost everyone knows that planning your day makes more sense than letting others do your planning for you. Everyone knows, but very few do. Why? That’s what finally fascinated us and the answers are why this process was developed.

Key Areas:

· Introduction to Time Strategies

· Goal Setting

· Improving Your Skills

· Establishing a Positive Direction

During this new decade of service-oriented industry, a mastery of Customer Loyalty can mean the difference between success and failure. The corporate trend of raising Customer Loyalty is an art form, treating service as a product that needs to be learned inside and out, and marketing service to customers as vigorously as if it were a direct revenue producer. Unfortunately in many companies, the customer has become a low priority. When people are not treated according to their expectations, they take their business elsewhere. What’s more, they usually relate their bad experiences to as many as ten other people. On the other hand, the rewards for exceeding customer expectations are plentiful. That’s good news for businesses who strive to offer the ultimate in Customer Service which will translate into Customer Loyalty.

The question then becomes not whether to improve your company’s service standard, but how. Excellence in Customer Loyalty pays off on the bottom line by dramatically influencing customer behavior through a dynamic, results-oriented process.

Key Areas:

· What Does the Customer Really Want

· What Does Customer Loyalty Really Mean

· Your Role in the Company’s Success

· Understanding Human Behavior

· The Power of Goal Setting

· Art of Satisfying Customers

· Being a Team Player

· Cultivating Customer Loyalty

· Effective Communications

· The Art of Listening

· Handling Complaints and Mastering Difficult Situations

· Developing a Positive Company Image

· Estimating Your Quality of Service

· Becoming an Excellent Service Provider

Business in recent years has taken on many new and complex dimensions, and this trend is likely to continue. The field of sales has also seen some dramatic and far-reaching changes. Today’s salesperson, as well as today’s buyer, is better educated, more informed and has more options than ever before. These changes have created new, exciting and challenging possibilities in every organization. Sales Development is significantly different from sales training. In training, knowledge is transferred from one person to another. Development occurs only when knowledge is internalized, creating a behavioral change that leads to the expression of positive, results-oriented skills.

Today’s business is sales-driven and today’s salesperson is a key link to success in business. One element that distinguishes profitable companies from non-profitable companies is their ability to better develop their salespeople. The result is salespeople who sell because they want to excel, and succeed because they understand why and how to utilize their knowledge. The Sales Development process not only makes sales development possible, but eminently profitable.

Key Areas:

Success in Sales

The Buying/Selling Process

Your Personal and Professional Growth

Prospecting Fundamentals

Planning Your Success Part I

Prospecting: Advanced Techniques

Communication Skills

Getting Appointments

Planning Your Success Part II

The Introduction

Gaining Favorable Attention

Discovering Wants and Needs

Building the Case for Action

Presenting Benefits and Consequences

Getting Commitment and Follow Up

Overcoming Obstacles for Continued Success in Sales

A leader combines the vision and curiosity of a dreamer with the practical engineering of a builder. A leader is goal directed, looking forward with anticipation toward the attainment of goals. Goals give meaning and purpose to life and serve as a continuous source of motivation in the pursuit of all activities. The capacity for leadership exists in everyone, but most people never take the time to develop it. Leadership is determination, courage, confidence and the ability to view a situation and respond to it.

Positive Leadership assumes that goals can be accomplished, the job can be done, the problem can be solved and obstacles can be overcome. Leaders create their own future because they have faith in themselves.

Key Areas:

· You Possess the Ability to Lead

· Preparation for Leadership

· A Product of the Past

· Formal Leadership

· Goal Setting for Success

· Building Success Attitudes and Habits

· Developing Your Personal Goals Program

· Turning Solutions into Action

· Understanding and Affirming Your Self

· Managing Your Time

· Communications and Human Relations

· Decision Making and Problem Solving

· Motivation

· Continuing Your Leadership Growth

Management over the last quarter century has taken on many new and complex dimensions, and this trend is likely to continue. Advancing technology has created new and exciting possibilities in every organization. Progress creates challenge, and the challenge facing management today is: developing an organization that can meet tomorrow’s goals while continuing to meet the daily challenges of today. To balance these organizational demands, managers need a systematic approach to their jobs. They need Management Development.
Management Development involves the what and how of training and understanding the why of a situation. The result is managers who are working because they want to and because they understand why and how they are essential to the organization’s goals. These managers know that the goals can be achieved, obstacles can be overcome and problems can be solved.
Individually, each manager reflects the behavior and attitude of a goal-directed manager. Collectively they form a powerful force that literally assures the achievement of organizational goals.
Key Areas:
• The Manager as a Leader
• Goal Setting for Success
• Your Action Plan
• Confidence
• Work Environment and Motivation
• Implementing Goals and Strategy
• Decision Making
• Management Communications and Human Relations
• Managing Your Time Use
• Developing Subordinates Through Goal Setting
• Dealing with Negative Behavior

Success in today’s complex global arena is challenging and the rules are changing. For an organization to compete globally, executive leaders will have to create an organizational culture in which everyone is challenged to seek innovative and improved methods of doing business. Leading today’s organization into tomorrow’s competitive arena will require teamwork, collaboration and speed. To create and lead an organization that will maintain a competitive advantage during such turbulent times, many executives will have to transform an organizational culture that was founded on yesterday’s paradigms. Priorities will have to shift and thinking will have to change.

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The word empower is often over-used. Many employers talk about empowering their employees but often employees feel disempowered. Here’s a list of the top 10 things you can do that will really empower your employees, according to employees, not employers!

1. Allow employees to actively participate in team and company goals.
Look for every opportunity to include employees at every level of the organization, in being active participants. Employees often report getting one-way directives instead.
2. Allow employees to suggest better ways of getting their jobs done.
Ask for employee suggestions for other ways of getting the task or project accomplished. Listen and be willing to really hear the employees’ comments. Employees often report that they have no input and are told exactly how to perform their jobs, leaving no creativity.
3. Provide positive reinforcement.
Always listen and acknowledge your employees. Employees often report that their decisions and actions are second-guessed and that most, if not all, feedback given is negative.
4. Clearly delegate responsibility and give the employees authority along with the responsibility.
Do you give inconsistent messages? Do you ask the employee to handle a problem or project and then give them negative feedback or give them an assignment and then say, “never-mind?” Employees often report that they are given tasks and then told they did it wrong.
5. Be clear in your communication.
When you express goals or explain projects, be sure the employees really understand what you are asking for. Employees often report that the goals are unclear and that they are not sure what they are being asked to do.
6. Show you have trust in your employees.
Allow them to make mistakes as a form of learning. Show that it is really OK to make mistakes. Let them know you really support their decisions. Employees often report that someone is always looking over their shoulder to make sure they do things right.
7. Listen. Listen. Listen.
Do you do most of the talking? Employees often report that conversations are one way, comprised mostly of their ideas being criticized. They don’t feel they are heard.
8. Be interested in the employees’ career development.
Meet with employees and discover their goals and their wants. Employees often report that their goals are not viewed as important in the organization.
9. Let the employees help you achieve success.
Are you doing it all yourself? Employees often report that their managers do all the tasks and that they have no way to make contributions outside their job descriptions. Look for opportunities to delegate and enhance the employees’ career development at the same time.
10. Be a coach.
The best way to empower employees is not to manage them. Coach them to success. This is a process of developing their skills and providing them specific feedback to meet high standards. Employees often report feeling like children rather than being on the same team with their bosses. Be their coach and lead the team to success!

For more information visit Strategic Solutions website at www.stratsolutions.net.