Make measurable progress in a reasonable amount of time. ~ Jim Rohn

I started my Spotlight with that powerful Jim Rohn quote, because it has always been one of the main themes of my Business Development coaching with Advisory Teams across North America.

I have fabulous, warm relationships with my coaching clients, but if my clients aren’t practicing incremental implementation of the necessary activities, then the work is ultimately useless. It becomes a feel good exercise, and although I guess it ‘feels good,’ we’re not really accomplishing much if the clients aren’t implementing.

Wisdom, uninvested, is meaningless

I take great pride in holding my clients accountable to implement the necessary work, so that they can achieve both their production and personal goals, and achieve their Ideal Life. That’s one of the many reasons that they hired a coach. So although my coaching relationships are mutually enjoyable experiences, I strive to hold my clients to task.

Memorably, one of my clients once told me: “Terry, I have to admit that one of my most productive times is the 24 hours before we have a call together.” I laughed pretty hard at this, and as a coach, I enjoyed the feeling that my clients were feeling the good pressure that comes with accountability.

Seek to understand, before you are understood

We have a full curriculum of Best Practices that I help clients implement into their world, and although the basic principles of what needs to be done don’t change from day-to-day, what does change is the specific needs of each client. Everyone is different, and it is imperative to take those proven Best Practices and customize them in a way that is a natural fit and style for the uniqueness of each team. A significant part of my coaching relationships are spent first getting to know the team, and understanding what is important to them.

Getting to hear my clients’ stories of success

I will never get tired of my clients telling me what happened after successfully implementing some of our Best Practices. For me, it’s incredibly rewarding, and for clients, it’s a motivator to achieve even more. It’s one of the main reasons I love my job so much.

A favorite story of mine was from a client that had really done a great job at implementing the New Client Process. This is, of course, our process to help Advisors bring on a new client in a way that is attractive, memorable and referable. It also ensures that Advisors bring on clients that are a match for their Ideal Client Profile. Even though he had only been using this process for a couple of months, this Advisor had already received a handful of referrals. Good ones, too.

In fact, one client that he had recently on-boarded sent an Introduction to the Advisor several weeks after becoming a client. That Introduction became a client, and then the same client sent another Introduction several weeks later. Each time, the client would call the Advisor and explain that he had passed along the Advisor’s name to a friend, and could he reach out to the friend to explain his process.

On one of these calls, the referring client explained to the Advisor:

“I don’t want you to worry: I told my friend that you don’t work with just anyone, and that it has to be a good ‘fit’.”

The Advisor, who for his whole career had previously used a rather sales-oriented approach to ‘close’ new business, was now the one being pursued by prospective clients. As he’s telling me this great story, the Advisor says to me:

“Terry, this has never happened to me before. My only regret is that I didn’t start this approach 15 years ago!”

The Pareto Business Development Coaches hear that a lot.  

Terry Gronbeck-Jones: Pareto Systems Certified Consultant | Practice and Relationship Team Management | Franchise Ready Specialist-Scalability | Train the Trainer | Author

Learn more about Terry: https://www.paretosystems.com/coach-terry-gronbeck-jones.html