Accomplishment Coaching

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Danny worked as an architect for a large design firm for almost 18 years before he got the itch to go into business for himself.  The time was right to make the leap… his kids were either out or just finishing college, his wife had a terrific career as a pediatrician, and he had a bunch of money in the bank.

So he made the leap.

Six months into starting his design firm, things couldn’t have gone better.  New clients were seeking him out, they were fun and easy to work with and Danny pinched himself every day to make sure this wasn’t a dream.  Plus, he knew he was the best architect in the area.  If nothing else, his skills would keep this dream going.

Then business began to pinch him.

The next six months were anything but a dream.  New clients were one in a million, the phone refused to ring, and his savings were leaking at an alarming rate.  It seemed his brilliant architectural skills weren’t going to make this ship soar.

So what happened?  The thing that most all of us as entrepreneurs allow to happen – we get comfortable and stop taking action.

Think about it: a) we open the doors to our new businesses with unmatched excitement and brilliant knowledge of our trade, b) we generate six months to a year’s worth of business from our existing network of family, friends and colleagues, and c) determine that business will keep going this way.  Then comfort sets in…

I’m not sure if it was cold water or a bus that hit me around month 13, but I awoke abruptly from my stupor of comfort and in-action.

It happens to the best of us.  We love our work, we believe we’re the best and we’re convinced others will flock to us because they’re as passionate about hiring us as we are about them hiring us.  We get comfortable and stop taking consistent and persistent action.  We get lulled into believing we don’t need to practice having sales conversations; that we don’t need to always be prospecting; that we don’t need to always be making requests. 

And the worst part is that, even when times get tough, we are more comfortable with how things are currently going (bad or worse) than we are in taking new and effective action.

So now what?  It’s simple – get into action.

Leadership Practices:

• List the top three ways you’ve successfully acquired new clients and temporarily eliminate all other ways for one month. Practice not being distracted by the next “sure thing” marketing tactic.
• Distinguish the most common place you stop in taking action – i.e. meeting new people, asking for the business, positioning yourself as an expert, etc.
• This week, practice moving through just one of those places where you stop – i.e. if meeting new people stops you, declare you’ll meet two new people this week, not the 15 that you feel you “should” meet. Bump up the number by two next week.
• Enroll a colleague or partner in supporting you and make daily promises for action – accountability is one of the simplest and most powerful tools to incite action.
• Practice having compassion for your fear and your upset – share it, express it, let it out. There isn’t one entrepreneur who hasn’t laid awake at 2am worried about business.

Action isn’t uncomfortable.  It’s the results of in-action that make us squirm.

Happy Action,

-Coach Preston

Is this what it will take to have THEM change?

Mike’s been a managing partner of a CPA firm for the past 11 years.  He’s been wildly successful and satisfied for 10 of those years, but this one has been different.

Three years ago, Mike and his partners acquired another firm which was one of the best investments the firm had made.  New clients, new staff and new opportunities were driving success at an almost alarming rate.

So it wasn’t surprising that when Mike was approached to acquire a large firm that targeted emerging technology companies, he feverishly began making plans to move forward.  That is, until he approached his two partners.

You see, Henry and Stella, Mike’s partners, were at a point in their careers where investing in acquisition seemed too risky.  They were ready to slow down the pace of growth and would likely retire in 3-7 years.  Why would they invest both time and money in something they wouldn’t be around to see the benefits of?

Mike couldn’t be more frustrated.  “Last time, Henry and Stella were completely on board with growing by acquisition.  What happened during the past three years?  Or, more importantly, how the heck will I convince them that this is what’s best for the firm?”  Mike was at a loss.

For the next three months, Mike did everything possible to get Henry and Stella to say “yes” to the acquisition.  He painted every financial picture he could create to prove an acquisition would not only benefit the firm immediately, but would offer long-term sustainability since the prospective firm dealt mainly with an emerging market.  He even “forced” them to meet with the other firm’s partners.

Henry and Stella wouldn’t budge and Mike was ready to move on to another firm.

Then it hit him.  In the excitement of this new opportunity, Mike had failed to ask Henry and Stella what they really wanted.  He had been so busy pushing his agenda that he was actually burying the opportunity in a deeper grave.

So he went to Henry and Stella and asked them two questions:

1. What is it that you really want out of our firm?
2. If you were to invest time and money into our firm, where would it be?

He got his answers and his opportunity to continue growing the firm.

You see, Henry and Stella weren’t resistant to acquiring another firm, but they had a completely different view of how it needed to go.  They both wanted to retire within seven years so it was more important to them to acquire a smaller CPA firm that specialized in working with non-profits rather than a large firm targeting emerging technical companies.

Within the next four months, Mike and his partners acquired not just one, but two new firms, have tripled their fee income and have positioned two new junior partners as successors to Henry and Stella.

What were Mike’s biggest lessons?  If you want to have people take action in a particular direction, you must:

1. Let go of your own agenda and stop trying to control
2. Ask them what they really want
3. Help them identify what values are most important to them

Mike now realizes that influence is based far more on someone being at choice than on another “proving”, “convincing” or “controlling”.

Leadership Practices:

1. Identify three current situations in your business where you are bumping up against resistance to change
2. Ask your teammates to list out their top 5 values
3. Ask your teammates what changes in their work habits might be required for them to align with their top 5 values
4. Ask them what’s possible if they were to work consistently based on those top 5 values
5. Finally, ask them what next appropriate action they need to take to move forward

Influence is not command and control (the formula so many of us have learned).  Its power lies in our ability to inspire others to take action that is aligned with what they want and value… not what we do.

Happy Influencing,

-Coach Preston