Wondering what’s it like to work with a coach/consultant?

There are a lot of solutions offered to businesses out there so deciding whether a coach/consultant is right can be tricky. Ask yourself these questions to get the clarity you need:

• Am I working IN my business and not ON it? Do I come in each day and say “today I’ll have time to work on this or that” related to your business but never do?
• Do I find myself frustrated because I don’t have time to be a business owner AND a financial advisor?
• Do I need advice on how to run my business versus being a financial advisor?
• I have no strategic plan in place so I may know where I want to go but how am I going to get there? (You know your clients need a financial plan to meet their goals – same goes for your business.)
• Am I sure I’ve got the right team in place to get you to my goals?

1. What do I want from a consultant? If I were to look a year ahead, what has to have happened in this relationship for me to say, “that was great, I accomplished my goals?”
2. Do I want high level coaching, or do I want more hands-on implementation? Do I want someone to provide templates that I and/or my team can implement, or do I want a more hands-on approach?
3. What kind of personality would I work best with? Someone more laid back or someone who will push me a little more.
4. Am I seeking personal “life” coaching or consulting for my practice or a combination of both?
5. Are they willing to share hard truths with me and am I willing to hear them?

And finally, please know that any consultant with your best interest at heart will tell you if they are not a good fit and will refer you to someone else in the industry. Most of us are just interested in seeing you get the help you need, whether it’s us or someone else.

At The Strategic Implementer, we use an intensive discovery questionnaire to get to know our clients.  We’ve put the initial questions online to make it as easy as possible for you to complete it, but you must complete it for us to work out whether we’re a good fit for your needs.

The deep dive is essential as it helps up to get to the root cause of your challenges – it’s only when we identify this that we can resolve the issue. After you complete the initial questionnaire, we always have additional questions and ask for clarification, so that we fully understand your goals.  If you don’t want to complete this step, you are probably not a good fit for our firm, so we will refer you to someone who does not do this kind of deep dive.

Once we have a good amount of information, we will set up a time to conduct a strategy session with you and your team by zoom (could involve whole team or just Senior Management depending on the firm).

We come alongside you and your firm as an adjunct team member.  We intend to keep our firm small and limit the number of clients we take on at any one time, so we never lose the ability to do this - because we know how effective this approach is.

How soon can I expect results from working with a coach/consultant? This is a hard question to answer until we understand the challenges you are facing and where you want to go.  We ask for a minimum 6-month commitment but if you’re not happy or we decide we’re not a good fit, you can terminate our contract at any time with 30-day notice.

What type of companies do you work with? Experience has show we work best with the following individuals and firms:

• Firms with greater than $100MM in AUM or $750k in gross revenue.
• You recognize the important of having a well-thought-out strategic plan and commit to having someone keep you accountable to it.
• You understand high-performing staff is your greatest asset and helping them feel like “fellow visionaries” is key to retaining them and growing your firm.
• You are open-minded about the opinions and ideas of others to reach the best solution for your firm.
• You are interested in not only a great firm but a great quality of life for you, your staff and your family. If making money at all costs is your sole motivator, we are not the best firm for you.

We are very lucky to have amazing clients who are more than ready to share any ideas and solutions with other members of our Advisory community.  If we don’t know the answer, we can reach out to them for solutions.

That varies. Our average client has been with us for four years.  Many times, after we have worked with them to right the ship, they keep us on for ideas, resources, strategic planning and handling challenges as they arise.

Difficult to say until we understand your challenges but in the early months, at least an hour or more a week.  We will be making decisions with you and will need your input. 

Brian and I have a combined 23 years of experience in this industry.  I started my career as the COO of a fee-only advisory firm.  It was a small firm, and I did every job in the firm.  It was the best education I could have asked for. Brian is a former attorney and brings a keen eye for detail everything he does.

You can schedule a complimentary call with us to see if we are a fit and answer any questions you may have.  Again, we are looking to work with a small group of elite advisors, so we will be honest with you as to whether we are a good fit.  We may also be able to give you a few ideas you can implement immediately.