by Doug Gray | Jul 2, 2013 | change, Coaching, Leadership, Managers, money, Success, talent
Recently a client was struggling with two related issues: 1. How much to pay his employees and subcontractors, and 2. How to manage his accountant who regularly arrived late for scheduled meetings.
I suggested that he should bill the accountant at least $1.00 per minute that he is late.
“Huh?” He asked.
Then I reached into a day timer and showed him the following image. (I tried to find a better image online but was not successful.)
The column headings are Salary year/ Salary week/ Benefits= 40% Total salary/ Total week/ Value per hour/ and Value per minute.
For instance, if your salary per year is $70,000, your Salary per week is $$1,346, your Benefits are $538, your total week is $1,885, your Value per hour is $47.00 and your value per minute is $0.79.
So why wouldn’t you charge the accountant at least $1.00/ minute for being late? His tardiness is 1) expensive and 2) unprofessional. I urged him to charge a retroactive late fee. And I referred him to other accountants.
The second question is more complex. How much should you pay employees and subcontractors? The market response is “as little as possible, according to their value.” That is why we pay minimum wages and low salaries for remedial work.
For most business leaders, we are slow to pay others for remedial work.
The best business leaders, however, ALWAYS delegate low paying tasks to others. And they refuse to do remedial work.
Back to my client. I asked him, “So, what do you think your time is worth?”
He said, “At least $70,000/ year.”
I said, “OK then, why aren’t you excited about the opportunity to pay others $10-24.00 per hour to do work for you?”
And that, of course, led to a deep conversation about self-worth and the need to delegate low paying tasks to others.
So, what is your time worth?
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by Doug Gray | May 11, 2013 | Business, change, Coaching, exercise, Managers, money, Personal Development, Sales
Fact: We all aspire to be a superhero
Fact: I have written a book with a purple cover called “Passionate Actiuon: 5 Steps to Creating Success in Life and Work” (2007)
Fact: There is no sex in the book. Sorry.
So what does it mean to be the Passionate Action guy?
1. Passions are expressions of strong emotion. They help us create. Passions lead to something else. Think of any relationship– there are passionate impulses at the start, yet relationships are hard to maintain over time. Think of any business- there is a passionate focus at the start- yet it is hard to maintain most businesses over time. Sparks start fires. But they do not maintain fires.
2. Actions require focused accountability. Nothing sexy involved. Daily habits lead to results. Make your sales. Focus on delivery.
This is HOW I help my clients make money and serve others. Call me at 704.895.6479 for details.
My experience is that we create success when 1) luck meets 2) prepared opportunity.
In that formula, the only thing I can control is preparation. And so I continue, day after day, year after year. Since 1997.
Success starts with the physical actions. Like running and yoga stretching. Like daily calls to prospects. Like KPIs.
So why wait? Call me at 704.895.6479 with your story.
Most of us need a little more passionate action in our lives.
by Doug Gray | May 7, 2013 | Business, change, Financial Professionals, Managers, money, Sales, strengths
Since 1997, I have been delivering value to clients. That fact means that I market and sell my services every day. In everything I do and say…
Years ago I coached a new franchisee in the Sandler Sales Program, called President’s Club. Pat needed to distinguish between high pay and low pay activities, because he is distractible. (Like most small business owners.) I helped him increase his business over 300% in 6 months. He had to do so. I strongly recommend the President’s Club content. And I strongly recommend re-visiting the President’s Club content, which is what I did yesterday.
High Pay marketing activities are those that will likely lead to relationships and higher value sales.
- direct meetings with qualified prospects
- direct meetings with referred or pre-qualified prospects
- invited speaking in your area of expertise
- cause marketing in your area of expertise
- networking with buying agents
- invited writing as a credible expert
Low Pay marketing activities are those that will likely lead to transactions and lower value sales.
- email marketing
- direct mail marketing
- interruptive advertising
- paper and digital advertising
Last week I met a local marketing expert, Shelly, who provided a circular model of marketing services she could offer her clients. Imagine spinning the Wheel of Fortune with as many colorful options. I appreciated her ideas, but felt dizzy.
Last week I also met a financial advisor who had been a member of MDRT, the Million Dollar Round Table, for 11 years straight. He was exhausted. His marketing system required that he deliver seminars to local retirees who needed to invest in his estate planning solutions. He wanted to know if there was something else he could do that would yield similar high results, but be easier. I said, “No. Nothing is simpler. Thank God.”
He give me a strange look, and asked, “What do you mean?”
I explained, “If you want great compensation, then you need to provide high value. The laws of marketing require that. When we give great value, then and only then we receive great value. You know that better than most, who dream of being at the MDRT level. What you need is a regular kick in the ass.”
He agreed and hired me to coach him.
You can too. Call me at 704.895.6479 now.
So, are you engaged in high pay or low pay marketing?
by Doug Gray | Apr 23, 2013 | Business, change, Employment, Leadership, Managers, money, Sales, strengths
Hello Ric,
So nice to see you yesterday. (I’m excited about the volunteer work we are doing for …)
Yesterday we talked about the possibility of providing assessments for senior leaders at Company ABC.
We have never discussed your need for multi-method, multi rater assessments that have tremendous predictive validity. This methodology is much better than any assessments I have found, in 30+ years of assessment work. If interested, I encourage you to forward the attached information to your colleagues for review.
How much would you be willing to invest in information that predicted your senior leadership talent and bench strength and succession needs? I would like to meet with you or your colleagues who might need such predictive assessments.
I have partnered with Adam Ortiz, at Executive Development Consulting, to do this work for other clients. We would love to provide these assessments for Company ABC, at any location.
Your benefits include:
- Scalable, duplicatable model with external objective assessors
- We have the capacity to deploy immediately, with teams of assessors already working throughout the world
- Doug and Adam bring expertise with a career of assessments, plus leadership coaching expertise throughout the world.
- This multi-method, multi rater assessment process can be replicated throughout any division at your firm, and the reliability and validity is extraordinary.
- Cost effective assessments that provides objective data, with tremendous predictive validity, that have extraordinary value to you and your colleagues as you make strategic decisions about senior leaders.
If you have any interest in discussing any coaching or assessment work, please let me know.
I am confident that we can provide tremendous value to your firm.
Respectfully, Doug Gray, PCC
704.895.6479 office, 704.995.6647 cell
https://actionlearnin.wpengine.com/
by Doug Gray | Apr 22, 2013 | Business, change, Coaching, Employment, Leadership, Managers, Personal Development, strengths, Success
… maybe.
Consider your antecedents.
“Antecedents” refers to your family or origin, parents, and grandparents. These are “your people.” They left you with strong messages about your probability of success.
If in doubt, read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.
If still in doubt, reflect on the messages passed on by your antecedents.
Here are two examples:
My running partner, George, has parents who met in the second grade, as school children in the midwest. One grandfather took him for ice cream almost every day. The other grandfather took him on weeklong trips every summer. His extended family lived within blocks of one another. They slept at each other’s homes. Some family members disliked each other. But they traveled together and kept their differences to themselves. And in the depression, one patriarch left the banking world to sell life insurance. He made money for over 50 years… In a similar way, George does the same work that he started at age 17 when he joined the Air Force. Executive assessments and coaching and consulting. His antecedents taught him something about independent judgement, business, and long term focus.
My former client, Harry, has family roots from Ontario and Buffalo, NY. Everyone in his family skates backwards. His grandfather was the personnel manager at the largest local business. As such, he hired hundreds of people, including all the sisters at Harry’s grandmother’s side of the family. All of them were employees, workers. They measured success by hours endured at work. During the depression Harrys’ grandfather on his mother’s side was given enough wood to build a cottage on Lake Erie. For generations thereafter, hundreds of his descendants gathered there for summer picnics and volleyball games. Then they returned to work early Monday morning… In contrast, Harry rebelled against that life style. He travelled the world. He became a masterful salesman. Then he started his small business. He became very successful. His passion? Harry refused to life the same life as his antecedents.
So, take a minute to do the following:
1. Make a list of “who” and “what.” Who were you antecedents and what did they teach you?
2. Share that list with 6 people in your Inner Circle. If you do not have 6 people, then you need to invite them. Or hire me.
Success is largely shaped by our antecedents.
For details on how to be more successful, then call me at 704.895.6479
by Doug Gray | Apr 19, 2013 | Business, Coaching, Leadership, Managers, money, Personal Development, Resources, Sales, Success
Since 1997, I have provided an unconditional guarantee on coaching services from Action Learning Associates.
There is no “fine print.”
If you are not happy, then I do not want your money.
With many clients, I offer a coaching for results guarantee. If we agree to work together, and you do the work, then you can pay me at any time. I guarantee high value. To date, after hundreds of clients, 100% of them have paid for their coaching services. Some agreed to pay a lesser amount than we had expected. Some agreed to pay more. Virtually 100% found the coaching to be valuable.
Here is why I provide that guarantee. When I was in high school I had two paper routes. And I worked at a warehouse after school. And I cleaned windows and did lawns in the neighborhood. One neighbor wanted the windows cleaned. I said, “Yes of course.” It took about two days. Imagine sweaty grimy paper towels and windex. Three stories of filthy windows. Midsummer heat. I was tired… but I did my best to do the job. When the neighbor asked how much to pay me, I countered with, “Let me ask you two questions and then we will likely agree on a number.”
The first question was, “Were you delighted with the service I provided and would you hire me or refer me if the need arose again?” She said yes.
The second question was, “What was the value of this service for you?” She said a number that was higher than what I expected. I said thank you.
That was in 1981 or so… and I have used that process ever since.
Recently I learned that Marshall Goldsmith, a premier executive coach, uses a similar model when coaching for results. Here is that model:
Our coaching tracks the proven eight-step process:
- Select the appropriate coach
- Measure baseline performance
- Identify areas for skills development
- Formulate a custom training regimen
- Secure stakeholder buy-in
- Implement the training regimen
- Follow up with stakeholders
- Measure results
I like this model and this list. There are no “fine details.” All about coaching for results.
So, are you ready to work together? Give me a call now.
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