Service Manifesto

I partner with my clients fearlessly as they solve problems and achieve goals. Sometimes that involves coaching, sometimes consulting, and many times just being there for my clients when they need me*.

The following statements express my attitude toward marketing my services. They have not come easily. They have been forged over nearly 7 straight years of trial and error. They won't be for everyone. You may disagree with them. That's okay. You're not me.

1. I BELIEVE a true relationship begins with a human connection. The top-down marketing funnel is dead. It has, for too long, treated people like numbers. It may still be appropriate for selling lipstick or laundry detergent. But for the one-on-one transformational dialog-based services, it's a poor fit.
2. I BELIEVE you are smarter than ever before. You are wise to the tactics of the bait and switch "discovery call" where the coach talks with you, not in an attempt to genuinely help, but to determine how to get you to agree to the fee by the end of the call.
3. I BELIEVE when you seek a coach, it's not to be coached, but to solve your problem or achieve your goal. You don't want to be sold. You don't go to Home Depot to buy a half-inch drill bit. You go to Home Depot to buy a tool that will get you a half-inch hole. The same is true when hiring a coach.
4. I BELIEVE you want to know, "Do you get me?" and "Can you help me?" You don't want to be sold. Therefore, if you ever inquire about my services, I won't waste time talking about the number of sessions I offer or the other ways I support you. Those are tailored to your situation anyway. What I will do is demonstrate the coaching experience for you.
5. I BELIEVE engaging with a coach is a long-term investment not an instant shot in the arm. That's why I will always have my own coach(es).
6. I BELIEVE in working with interesting people who (a) are willing and able to make the investment in our relationship; (b) have the humility to acknowledge they don't know what they don't know; (c) are committed to the work required to transform and move a mountain or achieve a scale a summit.
7. I BELIEVE coaching should not be about time spent, but value delivered.
8. I BELIEVE the best answer to the question, "What do you do for a living?" is in the stories of my clients and their experience of transformation* and achievement of long-term objectives through our coaching.
9. I BELIEVE transformation takes place in powerful conversations between emotionally intelligent adults. There are no books, courses, forms, tricks, or techniques that bring about the kind of change that happens in conversations. It is the most streamlined path to genuine, lasting personal and professional growth.
10. I BELIEVE growing my business is a long and infinite game. Therefore, I have started asking Whom would I love to speak to? and ceased asking Who can I speak to, in order to get them as a client?

Coaching is not a crash diet. It's more like a healthy lifestyle. Working with me may be a 90-day sprint or a 5-year+ partnership. We won't know until we talk.

According to the 10 beliefs above, business development activity is primarily to schedule conversations. When we talk, you can be sure of this:

• Your agenda will remain the center of our interaction.
• I will never stoop to clever tactics or gimmicks. So many coaches get you to a Discovery Call and for the first 45 minutes, take you through the highs and lows of an emotional rollercoaster ride with the final 15 minutes as a hard sell because "you'd be an idiot not to invest in yourself." I've been on the receiving end of that tactic, and I intentionally serve against it.
• If the possibility of working together is an option, you and I will be certain it's either a definite YES or a definite NO for both of us.

* If you'd like to talk to any of my current clients, just say the word and I will ask them to talk with you.

ADDITIONAL LINKS

My Website

My Story

Client Stories