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Frequently Asked Questions

Sessions happen by phone. No need for extra technology, having to be sitting in front of your computer (although you should always have paper and pen for notes), no need to suffer traffic, find parking etc.

90% of our clients do bi-weekly meetings. If you are doing a major transaction (buying a business, rising a round of financing, bringing on partners, or selling your business), we can do weekly sessions. This is decided on a case-by-case basis. A small minority of our clients move to 1x a month after their profit model and strategy is implemented and underway. This serves to be more of a ‘check in’ and a ‘calibration’ and is offered to clients who already have an established understanding of the Ghost CEO tools and their use. The coach doesn’t offer this if they don’t think the client would get results at 1x a month.

55 minutes. Gives you enough time to grab a coffee, hit the bathroom and get back in the saddle after a session. Some sessions may go the full hour and sometimes the client has their agenda done in 30-40 minutes. Don’t think you have to use the full hour, but in most cases, you will so plan accordingly.

Yes but only one sided. You can tell whoever you want what we talked about in our session but we tell no one. We are bound by a confidentiality clause. So much so, nobody will know you are a client of ours unless you tell them. We even get permission by clients prior to introducing them to one another. We take this very seriously. And if, in your profession, you require us to sign a non-disclosure/confidentiality agreement. We are happy to do so.

In the first few sessions, your Ghost CEO will set the agenda but as you see how our process works, you get to manage the agenda, getting it to your coach at least 24 hours before the session so they can review it. Even from the onset, you can let your coach know if there are particular topics or questions you need to discuss, even in the first or second session of your relationship. All in all, you want to be in a place where you aren’t distracted or will be disturbed/interrupted. Where you can focus, engage, and receive the tools, techniques and strategies to move your business model ahead in a measurable way.

This is a difficult question to answer. Some clients come in for a few months, get the tools/answers they need to deal with a particular challenge. Others stay for 10+ years. As long as a client is in growth mode, we are engaged with them at mutual agreement. Once a client hits a target (financial or otherwise), we can complete the engagement. If a client doesn’t do the work, the coach will complete the engagement. If either coach or client aren’t engaging the relationship, we will complete the engagement. Both coach and client need to be focussed, fully engaged and seeing measurable growth to continue on working together.

No. We don’t think clients should have to be locked into an agreement in order to build their business. Both coach and client decide each month if they want to continue.

To be blunt, we may need to fire you. If a client isn’t doing the work, keeping their word, or doing business in a way that we feel will benefit them, their company, and their bottom line, we terminate the relationship. We are only as strong as our weakest coach and weakest client. This is why we choose our clients as carefully as they choose us.

We base our services on a monthly retainer. You pay on the 1st of the month for that month’s coaching. We guarantee you will see measured growth in how you do business if you do the work. If you do the work and don’t get the results, we will refund your retainer and part ways. We are so confident in the performance of our business tools, we are the only business coaching company that offers this type of guarantee. You will grow or you get that month’s retainer back.

You don’t. One will be selected for you. Once you have your initial conversation with one of our team leaders, they will share with you information on our model (process, pricing, rules, etc). We all charge the same price do you don’t pay more or less for any coach. Then the team leader, after your conversation with them will determine which of our team will be best suited to get your measurable results. We do this every day and are exceptional matchmakers.

If there was something that you really didn’t like about your CEO, we’d find out what didn’t fit from you and reassign based on the additional information. This is an extremely rare situation, but we will work with you to find the right coach. If the issue you have with your coach is they are making you do things in between sessions, that’s going to happen with every Ghost CEO. However if there is just something that rubs you wrong and it’s personality based, we’ll explore that with you to see who we have that is better aligned.

Initial conversation by phone with one of our team leaders. You tell us about your business. Where you are looking to get to in the next 12 months. Past experience and other things you want to share about you and your business. We will listen carefully to see if and where we could have a measurable result in your business and you as the operator.

In cases which might be more personal in nature, we can refer you out to personal coaching companies we know. If you have a unique learning style that might not align with our process, we’d refer you to those resources. We are attached to getting you to the right model, not having us be that model if it doesn’t fit.

Assuming that you fit and and we fit you, we send you the overview of our program. You review it and within a few days, if liking what you read, book a quick chat to discuss next steps.

Then you are assigned a Ghost CEO who will book you in for an Intake Session. Think of this session as like a first appointment with a new doctor. Like having a full physical (without having to wear a paper gown) and the coach can baseline where you are and start to think through what parts to work with you on first.

After the Intake Session is done, the Ghost CEO starts scheduling your biweekly sessions and our admin team finalizes your onboarding (setting up your automated monthly retainer, etc.)

Only in so far as pointing you to resources that can help you out. Think of us as the mechanic for your business model. We get it running well with you and tuned so it’s doing as much as it can and contributing to your bottom line. For issues that are non business related (fear, insecurity, etc), we aren’t well positioned to help with that in a measurable way. However if you are scared to sell, maybe it’s just a discomfort of not knowing what to do or how to do it. We’d work with you in unpacking the process so that you can see how it works and for most who have hesitation around this, the fear or anxiety dissipates. Our wheelhouse is sales, business development, leadership and growth. All those areas we are well versed in and can have a major impact. Any of the psychological things we aren’t as good at, but can point you to people that are.

Even better, we will show you how to bring in your own clients. And activate others (alliances, Champions and hunting pack members) to bring you qualified prospects for you to close. Kind of like the old adage of ‘teaching a man to fish rather than giving him a fish…’

Nothing other than be available to answer questions that come up between sessions regarding the work that you are doing. Not an additional coaching session, but we do set aside a bit of time for each client to address things that come up so that they aren’t stalled in between sessions.

No 99% of the time; Yes 1% of the time. We run a 12-month program meaning that clients are growing their business 12 months a year. If you are taking holidays, we’ll show you how to automate your activities when you are away. Christmas and summers are some of the best times to build business. When you start with us you work on things every month until you quit or you hit the goal. If you decide to take time off without having hit a milestone, you won’t be able to rejoin us but we will give you the names of other coaching programs we think are worth considering.

Now for the 1%. These are the people that set a financial goal for their business with us. Let’s say to hit $1M in revenue. Once the client hits their goal, we call this a ‘graduation’. The client can take time off coaching and enjoy the level that they have achieved because…its a BIG DEAL! They can then rejoin their coach at a later time, assuming availability or work with another Ghost CEO coach if their original coach is unavailable.

Ghost CEOs are limited to 40 clients on their roster. Most have a waiting list for a seat so a client that takes a break, even upon graduation, may need to wait for an available spot. Note: graduated clients rejoining a coaching practice are often moved to the front of the waiting list for obvious reasons.

Numbers don’t lie. Your business’ financial dashboard will tell the tale of your activities. More targets, more sits (initial meetings), more conversations, more qualifying meetings. More leads. More active Champions and partners. Expedited sales processes. More clarity in the market on you and your solution. Greater comfort in your ability to articulate what you do and who you do it for. You will know within the first few weeks and you will ‘feel’ the difference in how you show up and the focus you are putting on your niche markets.

You will notice a change in yourself after the second session. You should see a change in market engagement in the second month after you have your initial tools ironed out. It really is quicker than you would imagine because we (selfishly) want you to see the difference in your business when you have a Ghost CEO on your team.

Yes, in that we will break down the framework of how sales works and we guarantee (there’s that word again!) that when you see what sales really looks like (serving not leg humping), your outlook on how to sell with shift and become not only palatable but enjoyable. We’ve had some of the most raging introverts, ‘lock me in a broom closet and don’t make me talk to anyone’, become exceptional business developers, leading their firm in identifying opportunities and closing business, all without it feeling like they are selling (in the traditional sense).

Maybe. There are lots of ways to get in front of markets. Cold calling may be one that works for you. It will all depend on your ability to grow a professional network of contacts. If you know a lot of people, you can leverage them for warm introductions. If you know no one, you may need to make a couple of cold calls, go to a networking event, or offer to do a speaking engagement. Here’s the thing, we do not lack for an arsenal of tools on how to grow a business. We want you to do things you’ll enjoy so you’ll do them consistently. If you are open minded, we promise we’ll find you a mix that works, you’ll enjoy, and want to do consistently.

Gotta do that first. In order for us to work with you in building out your model, you need to be clear on what that model is. If you are a lawyer, accountant or investment advisor, that’s pretty straightforward. But if you are a ‘consultant’, ‘speaker’, ‘coach’, ‘writer’, etc., and you don’t know what you are going to consult, speak, coach, or write on, we can’t offer much measurable benefit within the business coaching model. We do have resources for new entrepreneurs which you can check out here that can help get you on the right path before activating a Ghost CEO™ relationship.

Yes, we can. We can work with you on pricing all your offerings ensuring profit models take into account labour, overhead, profit and setting aside money for the ‘old tax man’. This is something a lot of clients struggle with and in almost all cases, undervalue what they are selling, overdeliver to the market, and wonder why they aren’t getting the financial reward for their hard work. We’ve all been there and done that. We can fix this relatively quickly. Even more so if you have a good accountant already in place.

Yes and yes. We can offer you names of people in your trade area and teach you how to interview them, set expectations, gain clarity on their role within your business life and what you should pay for different services. Nobody likes a surprise bill from their lawyer/accountant.

We have a belief system that we ‘bend not break’ clients. Growth comes with discomfort. Much of that will be erasing the b.s. beliefs you have in your head about how business works, what you need to do to make big money, and defining business development. So in sort. Yes to discomfort and you will love most of it.

We’ll discuss and then find you another thing to do that will get similar results. We are all about consistency and know that clients will only do things they don’t hate. So if you are 100% against doing something, we’ll find another strategy. But we ask that you are open to new things. Don’t poo poo something that you haven’t tried before. There might be magic in something that you have a predetermined option about. But at the end of the day, you will only do things you agree to do.

In the first few months, 2-4 hours a week developing and practicing tools. After the second month, most of your work you do from our relationship will happen throughout the course of your day as you go about your activities. No need to set aside additional time.

You can go through our Foundry AI program. Much more affordable and s and after coming out of that training, we can have a chat. You can wait until you have the requirements in place and come back and see us. You can find another program that doesn’t have requirements. Or you can schedule a call with us if you’d like to make an argument for why an exception should be made. We break rules all the time as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. We also don’t bring people into our o if we aren’t 100% that they can be successful.

You’ll need to find the time. As you become more comfortable w how to build business, you can leverage the efforts of others, but no shortcuts to the top. Plan on 2-4 hours a week in the beginning and you can dial that right back after the 2nd month. OR you can go through the Foundry AI program (here) and take time to learn the advanced tools and launch them.

Not sure. Are you struggling with anything? Even the best athletes in the world have a coach to work with on their game. Not everyone is ready for a business coach, Don’t get one just because you think you need one. Consider what you want to work on and then if you think someone can expedite your development by focusing you on the right things and assisting you in avoiding the wrong things, you are good to go. If you find yourself saying, “I don’t think I need a business coach.” Then…you probably don’t need a business coach or aren’t ready for a business coach.

Yes. Our sales process and philosophy are all about red business development.

Happily. And not just referrals but ‘qualified referrals’. No point wasting your time and resources on people who aren’t going to buy. Instead, a ‘qualified prospect’ has means (the money to pay you) and need (a problem of which you have a solution).

No. No cheating!!! If you have a coach, why are you looking for another? If you are unhappy with that coach, we are happy to have a chat with you to see if there is a fit. But we don’t advise a client by consensus. If your current business coach is delivering value, stay with them. If you have a personal coach that doesn’t offer business coaching, we can discuss it.

A personal coach works with you on your personal development. Maybe personal relationships. Overcoming fears, obstacles, past experiences that might be getting in the way of future goals. They talk about your feelings. Your hopes. Your dreams. Living your ‘best life’. (Joking-not joking).

We on the other hand are the mechanics of a business model and the operator. We look to make things run smoothly, efficiently, and profitably. We are the voice of your business when you are neglecting it. We kick you in the arse when you are mailing it in; we offer you safe harbour when the market is beating you up. We are the ‘not so silent’ business partner that has no equity interest but is focused on things being done right, profitable and sustainable. If the personal coach is the ‘hug’, we are the ‘hammer’. Real business coaches don’t dip their toes into personal coaching; too many personal coaches think they are business coaches. The two are not the same nor can they be done by the same person, in our experience. A personal coach will say they ‘don’t need to have the answers, just need to ask the client the right questions.’ A business coach better damn well have the answers or you need to fire their ‘sorry butts.’

*Okay… we’ll get off our soapbox now.

Anything and everything related to the business. We are the 'priest' without the religious connotation. Your sober second thought. Your planner for getting you and the business from where you are to where you want to be. The more information we have to structure those plans, the better off you’ll be.

Yes but to an extent. It’s b.s. that owners and professionals need to fall in love with financials. This is a lie perpetrated by MBAs who want to flex their financial management chops. You need to know the basics of what the numbers tell you about your business and how to make sound business decisions. Most of this can be prepared for you by your bookkeeper, controller or accountant. They build you a dashboard with information and you make decisions based on that information. Easy, breezy.

Yes. Sadly partnerships are the Achilles’ Heel of a lot of business models. We’ve seen it all. We can work with you to fix, adjust, set boundaries, or in rare cases exit partnerships in a way that benefits the company

On a business model, yes. As a marriage counsellor, referee, or judge, no. That’s more personal coaching or counselling or sometimes even requiring an Exorcist.

Yes, but again to an extent. This is common among most of our clients. It relates to them not thinking they are good enough, not knowing what to do, or being in over their head. We set up baselines so they can objectively see that they are good enough. Systems so they DO know what to do. And plans so they aren’t over their heads, but instead following a plan. Nothing combats the b.s. stories we fill our minds with other than a well-formed plan and habits applied consistently.

The average partnership track in a professional services firm is 5-7 years. Assuming we are working with a Senior Associate/Manager/Consultant, we average 2 years from start with us until to partnership offer. When we say this, people call b.s. But here’s the thing. Partnership is normally based on three things (of varying weights): Technical ability, client/accountant management, file origination.

There are a lot of smart people out there. There are a lot of good managers. ‘Rainmakers’ are unicorns. Being able to attract new business, grow existing accounts, and retain market share is mystical, sought after by every firm on the planet, required for new partners to be able to buy out retiring partners, etc. Our clients start bringing in business and expanding existing engagements. That’s year 1. T takes notice. This grows in the second year and the professional is now becoming dangerous to the firm because they are a unicorn and losing them would be costly in regards to future profitability and value. So they lock you in by making you partner, years and years ahead of your nerdy peers who don’t want to ‘sell’.

We focus on the business, not feelings/ fears. We are goal-oriented. We love systems. We focus on bottom-line measurements. We stay in our lane regarding sales, business development, and leadership. Our focus is very narrow and very deep. All coaches have built multi-million dollar companies before becoming coaches. We are quick to fire clients who don’t do the work or break the rules. We don’t lock clients into six month or one-year contracts. We guarantee results. We think business development should be fun. And our personalities…world class as is our sense of humour (totally subjective. Some restrictions may apply.)

You have to know what you are doing. You won’t want to work with a Ghost CEO as you are learning how to do what clients are paying you to do. If you are a lawyer/accountant/investment advisor (3-5 years experience). If you are a business owner, you’d want at least 2 years under your belt. We cost too much to be teaching you the basics of business. You want your Ghost CEO to be working on taking your business model to the next level.

Yes and it depends. Book a call and we can talk through where you are and where you want to be. If you are a lawyer hanging your own shingle, you can be up and running in 90 days. If you are building a fulfillment centre or organic tofu donuts, you might have a longer road.

Business development in its foundation is finding the right markets that have means and needs (money and the problem) that fit what you are offering. When we let our niche markets know we exist, that we have a solution to the problem they are managing and that our solution is of greater value than them ‘dealing with the problem’, they pay for the product or service.

We don’t convince. We don’t chase. We don’t trap. We simply talk to the right people about the right thing and they buy when they are ready. No pressure. No leg humping. No commission breathe.

Sometimes and on a case-by-case basis. Please inquire and let us know more about your situation. you can reach us here and tell us a bit more about your situation:

Almost too few to mention. Highest on the list: Expertise to know what to do and what not to do. Accountability - someone to keep you on track and heading to the goal on a timeline. Objectivity: looking at things with a non-emotional eye. Tricks and techniques: know how to get things done easier, more affordable, and in less time. Sounding board: you can run things by your Ghost for comment without worrying about it getting out. A sober second thought is key. No pulled punches: Someone who doesn’t allow you to make excuses and not keep your word to yourself. Mentor: someone who can model the behaviour and give you real-world examples of how to do things. Not just the theory, but the step-by-step application. We have never had a client who didn’t wish they had access to a Ghost CEO sooner.

Get clear on what you want to accomplish in the next 12 months. Then assuming you fit within our perimeters (read through the client section) that most aligns with you), schedule a chat with us. We have a corporate mandate to ‘leave everyone better than we find them’. We’ll have a chat with you, see where you are at. Where you want to get to. See if we can offer you something that you can consider. If we don’t think we can add value, we’ll do our best to direct you to some resources that will support you on your path. There’s nothing the matter with being stuck. There is something the matter with staying stuck. we’ll do our best to get you unstuck on that call. And just a note, you aren’t making as many mistakes as you think you are. High-performing professionals tend to be hyper-critical.

Have a question we didn't cover? Email us here and we'll do our best to answer it for you. [email protected]

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