An Interview with Bill

How did you become a small business specialist?

The defining moment of my professional life came when I was asked by the board of a group of radio stations to be its President and General Manager. I had been a salesman for years with this company, generating substantial revenue increases every year. The problem was, the larger organization was financially troubled.

Corporate taxes hadn’t been filed for five years. Federal withholding taxes hadn’t been paid for six months and state withholding taxes for ten months. Over $150,000 of past due payables and overwhelming debt had placed the company on the edge of bankruptcy. I was literally welcomed into my new position by a visit from an IRS agent.

Worse yet, morale was non-existent. The only staff meetings we ever had were when someone had just been fired. Imagine what people thought when I announced that I would have weekly staff meetings! Paychecks were often distributed 1-2 weeks after they were due and raises hadn’t been given for years. I would lie awake at night agonizing at what to do with this disastrous situation. My job, the jobs of people I cared deeply about, and a company with over 40 years of history were on the brink of elimination.

Every book on leadership I could find, I read. Every book on organizational development, team building, and business management I could find, I read. With lots of trial and error, I landed on a set of principles that would become the secret to our success. These principles, revised over time, are now The Business Fitness™ System, the program I teach today to other small business leaders.

People at the stations started to be energized and actually ENJOYED coming to work. I learned how to duplicate what I did as a top seller and ended up with multiple top sellers within the organization. Our company became like a large family that worked well together and made lots of money. It was the biggest challenge and greatest thrill of my life. Teams were put in place that made decisions where everyone had a say and everyone shared in the responsibility of making their decisions work. Challenging goals were set each year and followed through to completion, one year achieving 40 of the 44 on our agenda.

The difference was dramatic, but it was not without its challenges. As we crawled out from the quicksand that was killing us, we occasionally got pushed backed into it by things like economic recession and the crush of deregulation that allowed giant corporations to buy any and all radio stations. But soon we posted a profit, the first for that company in decades. Each year the profit grew and we were able to share it with the employees who had worked so hard to make it possible.

In 2003 I realized that I loved doing this work so much that I dedicated the rest of my professional life to serving other small businesses leaders, helping them succeed in the same way. I recruited, trained, and deployed my replacement as General Manager, learning firsthand the secrets to succession. This person, now years later, is still leading the station group to continued sales and ratings increases. I also received certification as a business coach with FranklinCovey Coaching and as a business trainer with The Ken Blanchard Companies.

Since that time I’ve spent thousands of hours working with hundreds of business leaders like you helping them grow strong, healthy organizations. I refined The Business FitnessTM System that provides small business leaders seven proven steps to building a strong small business. Along the way I’ve earned professional designations from the National Speakers Association and the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches. My business tools will be published in Fall 2007 by John Wiley and Sons as The Business Coaching Toolkit.

Who do you work with specifically?

I work with people who own or run a business that has between 10 to 100 employees. You may be a partner in that business of the manager of the company for someone else, but you are the one in charge and are part of an army of over 25 million small businesses pursuing the American dream. I help that dream from becoming a nightmare.

The people who work with me are business owners who want to succeed wildly in their business and still have a life outside of work. Most of these leaders have a good, solid small business, but their business is running them and not the other way around. I help them get things done through others and build strong, vibrant teams. Most of all, as a proven sales leader, I know how to impact the bottom line. Some of my clients have seen sales increase by as much a 50% in the first six months of working with me.

What industries have you worked in?

I have worked in the following industries: Health care, employer services, media, education, agricultural sales and service, retail sales and service, landscape architecture, legal, automotive sales and service, light industrial, promotional products, and with speakers, coaches, consultants, many non-profit organizations.

What if you haven’t worked in my industry?

I have found that businesses with less than 100 employees have unique things in common regardless of industry: unrealistic demands on their time, having to do more with less, developing capable leaders, meeting corporate competition, and so forth. Like gravity, all these things can pull your business down and keep it from getting off the ground.

Our principles apply in all different kinds of settings because they address the unique needs of the small business context. Almost all the business literature available today is targeted to the corporate environment that most small business leader find unattainable. The Business Fitness™ System is a size-specific not an industry specific approach that small business leaders in diverse industries have benefited from.

What exactly is the Business Fitness™ System?

The Business Fitness™ System is a step-by step program for building a strong, self-sustaining small business. Based on years of work in the small business world—as a small business leader myself and a small business consultant—I have developed a series of seven strategic steps. These steps are:

STEP ONE: Do What Matters Most

STEP TWO: Get Things Done Through Others

STEP THREE: Impact Your Marketplace

STEP FOUR: Empower Your People

STEP FIVE: Keep Your Cool in Conflict

STEP SIX: Turn Vision into Execution

STEP SEVEN: Build Your Leadership Team

For more information visit The System.

What do your training programs consist of?

All three of our Business Fitness™ Coaching Programs include three 45/50 minute one-on-one coaching sessions per month. These coaching sessions are fully customized to meet your goals and objectives and include proven tools for building a strong, self-sustaining small business. Between sessions during each week of coaching, Bill is available to you via email or through phone call check-ins. Which of these Business Fitness™ Coaching Programs works best for you?

12-Month TOTAL TRANSFORMATION Platinum Coaching Program with FREE 13th month:

This is our most complete Business Fitness™ program and provides you with start to finish training in all seven steps of the Business Fitness™ System. If you are ready to work hard over the course of an entire year and maximize the full potential of your small business, then the TOTAL TRANSFORMATION Program is for you. It includes 36 one-on-one coaching sessions over the course of 12 months and our exclusive Business Fitness™ System material.

Also included with this program is FREE use of ANY of the following assessments and a FREE debriefing session with each: The Time Mastery Profile and the DiSC® Classic Profile, both from Inscape Publishing, The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument from CPP, Inc., and the True Team™ Survey from Leadership Link, Inc. This is equivalent to an extra month of coaching for FREE. You also receive 50% discount on presentation fees for one of our small business seminars: PACESETTING: What It Takes to Lead Today, WHAT MATTERS MOST: Managing Priorities NOT Time, TOXIC TALK: Critical Keys to Workplace Communication, or PEOPLE POWER with DiSC®.

6-Month FAST TRACK Gold Coaching Program:

This is our core coaching program and provides you with training in the specific steps of the Business Fitness™ System you need the most right now. If you have identified the few key strategies that you are ready to work on to build a strong, self-sustaining small business, then the FAST TRACK Program is for you. It includes 18 one-on-one coaching sessions over the course of 6 months and our exclusive Business Fitness™ System material. Also included with this program is FREE use of ONE of the following assessments and a FREE debriefing session: The Time Mastery Profile or the DiSC® Classic Profile, both from Inscape Publishing, The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument from CPP, Inc., or the True Team™ Survey from Leadership Link, Inc.

3-Month POWER FOCUS Silver Coaching Program:

This unique coaching program takes one of the steps in the Business Fitness™ System and drills down on it in detail, ensuring you master that step completely. If a step in the System demands your attention immediately, then the POWER FOCUS Program may be for you. It includes 9 in-depth one-on-one coaching sessions over the course of 3 months in your focus area. Also included with this program is FREE use of ONE of the following assessments and a FREE debriefing session: The Time Mastery Profile or the DiSC® Classic Profile, both from Inscape Publishing, The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument from CPP, Inc., or the True Team™ Survey from Leadership Link, Inc.

I see the word “coaching” in your programs. I’ve heard about coaching and I’m not so sure it’s for me.

Please forgive my frankness, but it’s the best way to answer this question. A lot of what passes for coaching today is professional hand-holding and empty philosophizing. I don’t do that kind of coaching. I’m more like a person trainer. At the beginning of our time together, we will design a customized plan for your business. Then we’ll begin working on that plan and I will hold you accountable for doing it with proven tools and cutting-edge resources.

Am I ruthless? No.

I’ve had a lot of ups and downs, stops and starts in my business life and I know how important it is to celebrate successes and stay encouraged. But I am rigorous and will help you be the very best you can be. That’s what I want when I hire a coach: straight talk and real results. If you ever decide to work with a coach, choose someone that has this approach or you will just be wasting your hard-earned money.

I have a very busy life, what is expected of me in these programs?

Only two things: make all our meetings on time and do all the work you agree to. Simple, right? I know that I will not be effective if I load you up with MORE things to do on an already busy schedule. So with most of my clients I begin with the Business Fitness™ System STEP ONE: Do What Matters Most, and they find within a month or so they are actually doing LESS with greater impact than ever before.

What results should I expect?

If you wanted to get in better physical shape, you could try doing it on your own. But maybe you tried that before, and it didn’t work. So you do what a lot of people do, you get a personal trainer. For you the investment is worth it because with a personal trainer you ACTUALLY get in shape. A personal trainer knows how the body works and knows how to motivate you–and holds you accountable–for being the best you can be.

You’ve tried getting your business in shape on your own, too. And that didn’t work either. So get a personal trainer for you small business. This is the heart of my work with small business owners. Here are two reasons to work with me:

1. Your business will get fit faster. I know how small businesses work and know exactly what to do to help you make it the best it can be. No empty theories, no useless fluff. My intensely practical, step-by-step approach will get the results you need for your small business in less time than you ever thought possible.

2. Your business will stay fit longer. Get motivated seminars are gone within the day, and you are left unmotivated and worse off than you ever were before. Like yo-yo dieting, yo-yo business training doesn’t work. I know that accountability accelerates performance and provide the accountability you need to make change a permanent part of your life and leadership. Consider this research from the American Society of Training and Development into the probably of an individual’s implementing a new idea based on the actions they take related to it:

 

Action Taken	Probability of Completion
1. Hear an idea	10%
2. Consciously decide to adopt an idea	25%
3. Decide when to act on the idea	40%
4. Design a plan to act on the idea	50%
5. Make a commitment to another person to implement the plan	65%
6. Have a regular accountability appointment with another person related to implementing the plan	95%

Is all the work you do one-on-one?

No, I also provide on-site training for small businesses all over the country. I have a series of workshops that I present in a half-day, full-day, or multi-day format that are packed with proven content and fun interaction. These are:

PACESETTING: What It Takes to Lead Today
Five Essentials for Leadership Effectiveness

Leadership has never been more challenging. Trust is at an all-time low and demand for results at an all-time high. Busy leaders caught in this crossfire too often abandon leading and default to driving their people. The results are disastrous: costly turnover, employee disengagement, declining profits. PACESETTING: What It Takes to Lead Today is a day-long seminar that meets the challenges of this new leadership environment with bold answers and practical tools.

WHAT MATTERS MOST
Managing Priorities NOT Time

Technology has created a tidal wave of tasks that leaves most people drowning in a sea of demands. Traditional time management doesn’t work anymore because greater efficiency can’t keep up with the exponential growth of things to do. What Matters Most is an intensely practical, interactive workshop based on the simple premise that focus not efficiency is the key to great performance.

TOXIC TALK
Critical Keys for Workplace Communication

Communication is the oxygen of relationship. Without it people suffocate and performance dies. But much of the communication that takes place in the workplace is toxic as personalities clash and issues escalate. Toxic Talk is a practical, interactive workshop where you will learn how to effectively engage in crucial conversations that both value your people and meaningfully address the issues at hand.

PEOPLE POWER with DiSC®
Working with Emotional Intelligence

The Tyranny of OR insists that a leader must choose between people OR profit, being nice OR getting the number. But the Genius of AND offers real solutions to busy business leaders and asserts that you can build strong, professional relationships AND deliver world-class results. People Power: Working with Emotional Intelligence is a one-half to one day seminar that helps people master this important principle using an innovative approach to the DiSC® Classic Profile, taken by over 40 million people worldwide.

WHAT COLOR IS YOUR TEAM?
The Making of a True Team™

When faced with world class competition, genius only takes you so far. Greater competition requires greater collaboration making teamwork more than just business flavor of the month but an essential success strategy. What Color is Your Team? is a hands-on exploration of effective group functioning and a call to arms for those who want to make their teams more than just a team in name only.

Is there anyone the program is NOT suited for?

Yes there is. I know I’ve plunked down thousands of my hard-earned dollars for training programs that, once I got into them, realized they were NOT for me. Here’s what I have found with our programs. It will work for you if you are ready to work. If you are ready to not just own a job, but own a business, a business that is strong, and self-sustaining, than this is the program for you.

The Business Fitness™ program is NOT for those who have no money coming in and are absolutely, financially desperate. It's been my experience that people in financial crisis do not trust the recommendations I give them and do not do the work (probably because they spend so much time worrying about where they are going to get the money to make payroll). If you fall within this category, it's absolutely okay. We've all been in times of financial crisis at one point or another. Do yourself two favors:

Make use of all the FREE stuff we offer. We have a FREE Special Report. It’s nearly 30 pages long and packed with useful information. Subscribe to our FREE weekly ezine, The Business Fitness Bulletin: 60-Second Strategies for Busy Business Leaders. And check out our FREE Stuff! page for high content, high value resources and other special offers.

Get sound financial advice. Visit you banker or you accountant. Honestly and truthfully disclose to them the REAL financial condition of your business. Now is not the time to be concerned about your image! Most business owners wait until it’s too late to get financial help leaving very few good options open to them. Make the changes they recommend and get back on your feet again. You then will have the resources, emotionally and financially, to participate in a program like this. I’m in no rush! When you're ready, call me and we'll get started.

Can I talk with some of your former clients?

Absolutely, I have a list of clients who are more than willing to talk to you about my work with them. Just drop me an email, tell me a little about yourself and your business, and I will put you in touch with current or former clients that best fit your circumstances.

Okay, what will all of this stuff cost me?

Good question! And, frankly, it is the first question that comes to my mind when reading material like this. Please, however, let me ask you a different question. What is the cost of doing nothing? What is it costing your business, your employees, your family, and yourself by not doing something to help your small business become strong and self-sustaining? Obviously programs like the ones outlined above cost money, and you will find my pricing to be in the middle of the pack. There are business coaches and consultants who charge way more than I do, and others far less. But the bottom line must be: what are the results? Real-world results are what I have delivered for years and would love to talk with you in a simple, non-pressured way how investing in our services makes sense because of these results. But, please, now that you have come this far, do not choose to do nothing!

Do you accept credit cards?

Yes. In fact, it’s our preferred method of payment (Don’t you love to get those bonus points!). This way you never have to say, “The check’s in the mail.”

I know which program I want. How do we get started?

Great! The first step in getting started is for us to set up a free 30-minute consultation. To prepare for that consultation, please complete the FREE Business Fitness™ assessment. Then call me at 541-752-LEAD or email me Bill@LeadershipLink.net to set up your appointment. We will meet by phone, talk about your business, land on a package that works for you, and get going.

I still have some more questions. Can I call you?

Absolutely. It’s hard for me to jump right into things I haven’t done and I’ve been burned more than once by programs that promised things they didn’t deliver. That why I provide a free a 30-minute Business Fitness™ consultation. Just complete the FREE Business Fitness™ Assessment. Then call me at 541-752-LEAD or email me Bill@LeadershipLink.net to set up your appointment. We will meet by phone, talk about your business, and see if it makes sense to work together.

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