Speaker 1: A client of mine asked today, well actually a previous client of mine I haven't had a chance to talk to in years, and we were catching up and we got to talking and she goes, okay, well, yeah, tell me more about your strategy session. And so I wanted to create this recording to explain what a strategy session actually is. What I do is I will do a business strategy session, preferably one-on-one and in person. If that's not possible, then one-on-one or one-to-many, meaning they have a team or a management team and we'll do it on Zoom so we can record it and they can get the transcription and the recording. The whole purpose of the business strategy session is to give me an actual experience of what it's like to work with them and what it's like to work with me, to make sure that we are a fit if we decide to work together. So the one thing I have done is I've made it so valuable that it's literally, they can take what they learn in the strategy session and implement and literally receive 10, 20, 30 times more than what they paid for it if they actually take action and implement it. Three components to the strategy session, or they can choose to spend the time however they want. But most of the time, it's where do you wanna be by the end of the current calendar year? We get very clear on where they want the business to be by the end of the current calendar year. Then once I'm clear on that, I will give them a step-by-step blueprint and roadmap on how to get there on their own if they choose to run and get there on their own. I'm able to determine that because prior to the strategy session, I give them an online assessment which tells me what their behaviors are. It's a disc assessment. It tells me how to communicate with them, how not to communicate with them. It also has what's called driving forces, which tells me what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, what's gonna motivate them, what their ideal environment is, what's gonna stress them out, what's not gonna work for them, but more importantly, what is actually going to work for them, and they will be the most energized about actually going and doing. Then it's gonna tell me what their top 25 personal skills are, such as goal management, leadership, resiliency, all the different skills that are required to get that job done. Now, the cool thing about having an assessment like this ahead of time is I have a 93% accuracy of the person. I use the oldest assessment company on the planet to do that because they have the most science behind their assessments. Then I give them a strategy session questionnaire where I get clear on their vision statement for their business, their mission statement for the business, and most of the time, they haven't even thought about that, so now they get clear on that. We talk about their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. So there's questions around SWOT. So by the time we get to the strategy session, I've had all the stuff I need in order to spend a full two hours laying out a step-by-step plan on how to get to where they wanna go that's customized to them. The second part is we get clear on the challenges they currently have in their business, or more importantly, the challenges they have that are standing in their way to get to where they say they want to go. And because I built seven companies over the last 34 years, I've had lots of employees, business partners, et cetera, and I've consulted almost 900 businesses, my business acumen's pretty darn, I have a lot of depth there. And so most of the time, I'm able to solve their challenges or problems. Very rarely do I run into a problem or challenge that I cannot solve and give them a solution to it that they can actually be successful with. The third component is we get very clear on if they had a magic wand, what would their business look like? So what does this business look like once it's completely built and they have arrived at where they want to go in their business? Now that we know where we're going, we're gonna get very clear on what the thing ultimately looks like. Some business owners are driven by a lot of money, some business owners are driven by a lot of freedom, some business owners are driven by a combination of both, some of them are driven by being able to have a business that runs without them, some of them are driven by a business that allows them to take six, seven vacations a year, some of them are driven by selling their business five years from now for five times its value. Whatever their goal is, whatever their ultimate vision is, I help them get extreme clarity on where they're going to be by the end of a three to five year period of time. So that way I can help them really understand is that possible? Is their industry, is it possible in their industry and their type of business? And if so, what does it actually look like? How many employees are they gonna actually have to hire? How many systems and processes are they gonna actually have to have in place? What's the management team structure look like? When should they hire? What should they not hire? All those questions get answered in a strategy session. And so by the time we get to the end, my question is very simple. You have everything that you need right now to leave this meeting and go and take action on it. Do you wanna go and take action on it and be a Home Depot kind of person, which is totally fine with me and run with what I've given you? Or do you want me to hop in the car with you, sit next to you and guide you along the path so we can get there 10 times faster? Or maybe you're a business that has a management team, maybe you really don't wanna do any of the work. Do you want me to bring my team in and have my team actually drive the car while I manage them and guide them and hold them accountable and they actually do all the work and you and I just get to sit in the back seat and make sure that they don't kill us? So I give them that option. And if I feel that they don't need one-on-one coaching or they don't need, they can run on their own, I will tell them that. But that is a strategy session. I do three things when somebody's referred to me. Number one is I work with them on the fee. Normally I either cut it by a third or half, it depends on the type of business they have, but it's never about the money. Number two is I guarantee it. So if they don't feel it was valuable at the end of our two hours, all they simply have to say to me is that was not worth it and I give them a full refund. No questions asked, never had to give a refund, but I don't know them and they don't know me. The other thing is, is anything, if we do decide to work together, whatever they have invested into the strategy session, I apply that as a credit towards whatever it is that we work out. And that's how I bring on one-on-one clients either for myself or for other coaches or consultants on my team.