What is the difference between consulting and coaching?
In a consulting relationship, we concentrate on your company’s operations and functioning as a corporate concern. Our input is based on our expertise as entrepreneurs, business persons, managers and experience consulting hundreds of businesses. Consulting might involve thinking through a business problem, reviewing a business plan, or exploring ideas for an organizational restructuring.
Coaching concentrates on you as a person. Our role is as facilitators, advocates, and support systems. Coaching may involve redesigning your life to meet more of your needs, challenging you to dream bigger dreams and remain focused to achieve them, eliminating stress-producing habits, and calling you on the games you play that get in your own way. And sometimes, we are just someone you can talk to, who will unconditionally support you without judging.
We are equally experienced and qualified in consulting and coaching!
If the operations of your business just don’t allow you the time to engage, then we will take the leadership and creative role in getting everything implemented (through our consulting engagement). The bottom line answer is that we’re a hybrid coach/consultant with the flexibility of handling either role.
We also have group training programs and self-guided packages.
How does coaching actually work?
Small businesses can receive personalized one on one or group marketing coaching in a professional setting, including the creation of a Duct Tape Marketing Plan and all aspects of managing and implementing the plan. The accountability of a coach helping you work a proven system is the best way to implement the Duct Tape Marketing System. Personal coaching is generally the best bet for those who want to take their business to next level and are ready for a winning relationship with an affordable marketing pro.
What’s the difference between coaching and therapy?
Coaching is not therapy. Coaching is about setting a future goal and acting to make the goal real. It is about creating and implementing a plan. If a client has conflicts or emotional blocks that get in their way, it may make sense to have them work through those issues with a therapist concurrently with coaching. The coach can then provide specific, detailed facilitation in creating a satisfying life.
How are you different from other marketing consultants or firms?
How do you find a good mentor? Do you hire a marketing guy that runs a postcard company? Would you want a banker to fix an ENGINE or a book smart student that has never been on the ground in the business? I would want a person that ran a successful business from the ground up that knows the daily challenges, invested his own money in marketing and understands every aspect of the business and its operation. Who wants to have to explain the ins and outs to a marketing guy, so he can try to come up with ideas that he hasn’t lived and died for?
We’ve developed a system because we’ve found that there are a lot of opportunities and pitfalls to marketing out there. Our process cuts through all the misinformation to focus on your bottom line. Our program is recognized as the small business marketing system.
In addition to the marketing knowledge and techniques, a lot of what we bring is project management and accountability. While other firms work on a short-term project basis, we prefer to help you through ongoing relationship as if you as if you had a virtual marketing department.
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How much time do we need to spend together to get results?
Typically, you will sense immediate results from working together after only one session. However, for more lasting results and on-going continuous improvement, you will want to stay with us as long as you can see you are getting value. If you are not getting value, providing feedback to your coach oftentimes corrects the situation. But, at some point, you will feel the need to move on. Our groups meet once or twice per month for a full year, with two additional optional years of subject content. Individual coaching plans vary in length from three months to a couple of years. Actual results may vary and will largely depend on us communicating & preparing together, and being committed. We are designing coaching plans that are high-impact and doable. You never work alone: together, we identify high leverage activities, and we help you do what it takes to turn them into results.
My other advisors and consultants provide all the advice I need
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What can you add that would be of value?
As The Marketing Coach, I have worked with business owners who are supported by other advisors. Our programs provide you with a structured and recurring time-out from your business to create your 90-day goals and intentions. Since few people regularly take time-out to plan their life and business goals, I can provide you with the setting to focus on yourself.
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Did you ever Benefit from coaching? A personal experience.
I’ll share one of my favorite practices with my clients when meeting to brainstorm, evaluate and plan. Stepping outside our business. Physically and Mentally. It’s also a time of Reflection.
When you want to evaluate your business and get a solid perspective, it never hurts to take a step back and re-evaluate how you are doing and how well your business is really performing. No matter how you are performing, you cannot gauge the effectiveness of any changes you’ve made without analyzing the benefits and bottom line.
Through personal experience, when the owner stepped away from the operation( the office and surroundings) as we reviewed reports & his business, a new atmosphere for the afternoon, a day or two days, we could analyze the whole business better. Having all the proper information at hand and focused fresh minds, the blood starts flowing, the mind starts creating and the motivation becomes channelled. A business plan develops and is set in motion. Stepping outside of yourself & outside of your business with a purpose in mind, can be very productive.
The reason I say this is from experiencing the exact scenario. When I was managing a Home Improvement company in Richmond, Virginia for a national company, the corporate office would visit to review the financials and every aspect of it. During this visit, I was forced to leave the business behind for a day or two and evaluate every facet of the operation. I had a mentor and he would help me make adjustments, better marketing plans, sales efforts and production tweaks. All in all, this pumped life into my operation and re-established the proper direction making us more profitable.
After years of being productive and even at the top of the profit statements, I still benefited from stepping outside the business & those meetings with the right person. Also, it is a good feeling having help and with someone that relates.
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What is the Ultimate Marketing System™?
The Ultimate Marketing System is a complete small business marketing system consisting of a systematized process with workbooks, training, planning and coaching that was produced from over 20 years of working with some of America’s most successful small businesses and independent professionals.
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You mention Duct Tape Marketing…what is that?
Duct Tape Marketing is a global marketing consulting organization headquartered out of Kansas City, MO, focused on helping small and mid-sized businesses grow.
Their Ultimate Marketing System™ was chosen as a Forbes Favorite for small business and marketing and has been featured in Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine & CNN Money.AT&T, Hewlett Packard, Dell Computer and Intuit are just some of the companies that promote the Duct Tape methodology to their client base.
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What if I want to use the system but don’t wish to have the coaching/consulting along with it?
The reason we developed the system is because we’ve found that business owners typically know what to do but either don’t know how to do it that yields results or they don’t have time to do it. We take the frustration and the workload off their plates so that they can concentrate on their core business.
That being said, there are Do It Yourself-guided programs consisting of, audio CDs and workbooks (around the Ultimate Marketing System) available with Coaching assistance, which is very beneficial, on the products page of our website here.
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How much do you charge for the services?
In exchange for all the new business and revenue we bring you, our coaching engagement investment is priced from $1700-$2200 per month depending upon the size of your business and goals.
Our more comprehensive consulting engagement is priced between $2200-$5000 per month, again depending upon your goals and needs.
Our programs are geared toward businesses that can’t afford to hire a marketing director/manager, but certainly recognize the need for a strategic partner in this area. We’re much less expensive than a full-time marketing manager and yield greater results.
Our group training fees range from $400 to $600 per month depending upon the topic (go to the Group coaching Univ. page of our website to see the scheduled events).
Finally, our speaking fees range from $1500-$2500 per event. To see the current schedule of speaking topics, visit our speaking page.
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How do I get started?
You’ll first need to let us know whether you would prefer a coaching or consulting engagement. We’ll then schedule a planning/strategy meeting. At this meeting, we’ll discuss company goals, past marketing activities, etc, and work towards creating an active marketing plan. We’ll then set up an account for the business in an online project management tool called Basecamp. We’ll use this tool during our time together to track strategies, tactics, progress and results as we move forward in building your business revenue & profitability.
Any more questions about The Marketing Coach’s Programs? Let us know by calling us at( 804) 364-2209 or emailing me at TimNagle@TheMarketingCoachva.com.
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