Service, Value and Excellence

• Challenge: A financial advisor was feeling overwhelmed by the size of her client base. She felt she could no longer provide the service standards she had initially established for her practice. Although she had added another staff member, she quickly realized that action alone was not the complete answer.
  
  
• Solution: Through her comprehensive consultation with The Biz Sherpa, she found that while she had been successful in building her practice, she had been trying to be "all things to all people." In her coaching sessions, we clearly defined her natural niche market and established service levels.
  
  
• Results: Increased referrals from her "top priority" natural niche clients allowed her to easily attract more high-quality clients to her practice. She maintained current levels of production with fewer clients, provided better service, and was able to focus on the relationships she enjoyed.

Staff Management

• Challenge: A vice president of a regional bank wanted to motivate his sales team to reach higher levels of success. Sales volume was good, but he knew with their experience, it could be "off the charts" and they could be recognized as the leaders in their division.
  
  
• Solution: The Biz Sherpa conducted coaching sessions with each individual to focus on areas where they were getting "stuck" in the sales process. A few salespeople worked on bringing in more prospects, others on following up more effectively with prospects, and still others on giving more effective presentations.
  
  
• Results: A 3-month 105% increase in sales for the entire team! Individual salespeople gained more confidence in their skills through the personalized and objective advice of a coach.

• Challenge: A financial advisor was frustrated because he could not keep an administrative assistant for longer than 2 years. The constant "revolving door" was causing a decrease in service for his clients, as well as preventing him from taking his practice to the next level of success.
  
  
• Solution: In his coaching sessions with The Biz Sherpa, he developed a well-defined job description and duties. He also identified skill sets for the job, which allowed him to design an advertisement to attract the right person and to create interview questions that gave him deeper insight into potential candidates.
  
  
• Results: The same administrative assistant has been with him for almost 3 years. Clients feel more secure with the "consistent experience" of interacting with a familiar person. He has been able to worry less about the details and move on to expansion strategies for his practice.

High Productivity

• Challenge: A small-business owner felt his business was starting to run him! He struggled to stay focused on his vision because he was getting pulled in so many different directions in the day-to-day operations.
  
  
• Solution: His initial consultation helped him to recognize that he had not clearly defined and articulated strategies for his sales and marketing, staffing, or business processes. With guidance from The Biz Sherpa, first, he started to more clearly identify his natural target market. Then, he went on to plan the strategies needed to make his business processes naturally "flow" around his clients.
  
  
• Results: With clearly defined strategies, he felt more in control of his business and confident that it could run without him having to manage every detail. The "systems" he had created allowed him to devote 2 hours a day to business planning so he could stay focused on his vision.

Personal Balance

• Challenge: A salesperson for a mutual fund company was enjoying record sales, but she was feeling "burned out." She realized she had gradually stopped her exercise routine and hobbies to make more time for her constant business appointments and functions.
  
  
• Solution: In her initial consultation with The Biz Sherpa, she explored not only the business aspects but also her core values. She needed to find more efficient ways to conduct her business and, more important, find a balance between business and personal life.
  
  
• Results: She began her exercise and yoga practice again, lost 10 pounds, and had more energy to handle the constant demands of her job! With guidance from The Biz Sherpa, she delegated more to her inside sales partner and established systems to make her job run more efficiently.

Communication

• Challenge: A manager in a brokerage firm noticed that one of his employees was missing deadlines for her projects. The overall quality of her work had also decreased from her usually high standards. The manager was swamped with his own work, and he hoped this was just temporary behavior and his employee would get back "on track" soon.
  
  
• Solution: In his coaching session with The Biz Sherpa, he discovered that he did not feel comfortable having "difficult" conversations with employees. To have open and honest communication and develop a loyal staff, he needed to learn how talk with them in a relaxed and constructive manner.
  
  
• Results: He was able to clearly articulate his observations of the employee's work and create a supportive environment for her to share her challenges and concerns with him. His employee's performance is now back to her previous high standards, and she feels much more appreciated for her contributions.

• Challenge: An insurance representative wanted to attract more clients to his business by conducting workshops. The problem was that he felt very nervous when speaking in front of large groups.
  
  
• Solution: The Biz Sherpa helped him "chunk it down" into manageable steps. First, he focused on developing a topic that would be meaningful to potential clients. Then, he moved to developing the presentation. And finally, he was coached on his delivery skills.
  
  
• Results: His workshops are generating high-quality clients because he is comfortable and confident in both his content and his ability to relate to his audience. He leverages his time by educating a large group of potential clients so his individual appointments can be spent on each client's unique situation.