Is a coach's effectiveness reflected in his own lifestyle? If so, it would appear that Sullivan takes his own advice. He and wife/co-coach Babs Smith take more than 150 "free days" per year together. The 17 coaches Sullivan keeps on the payroll help make this possible.
Strategic Coach programs range from $4,000 to $15,000 for four sessions per year, depending on a firm's income level and the type of program chosen.
Tracy Beckes: "Helping professionals create effortless, outrageous results"
Many coaches of recent vintage have gotten their training at Coach U or The Coaches Training Institute, but not Tracy Beckes. These entities appeared around the time Beckes was getting into the field. "I started so early in coaching's evolution that I thought I'd invented it," she says.
Unaware of these coach training systems, Beckes trained with psychologists Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks at The Hendricks Institute, who teach action-based, forward-looking coaching. "They have a coaching model that focuses on high-performing individuals, like entertainers Kenny Loggins and Bonnie Raitt and entrepreneur Michael Dell," says Beckes.
Who is Beckes' typical client? "Most of my clients are between 40 and 75, they've been in the business over ten years, and they're inquisitive and very intelligent. What gets in their way is something inside, an inner block. That's where I can be most useful, and that's what makes me unique. There are relatively few business coaches who have the ability to look at life and business challenges from that perspective." But Beckes, whose home is Stanwood, Wash., isn't purely about the inner being. She also has undergraduate degrees in marketing and finance as well as an MBA.
Whereas advisors go to Sullivan for a concentrated set of reasons, Beckes' clients are "all over the board. Sometimes they have very traumatic early events in their personal histories that regular coaches won't even pick up on." Due to the intensive nature of her work, Beckes requires a two-year commitment, more than that demanded by most other coaches.
While Beckes was hesitant to name names due to the highly personal nature of her work, she made it clear that her clients' success isn't necessarily measured in dollars and cents. "Because my clients tend to be high-achieving people in the first place, they're more likely to be looking for personal freedom. My longer-term clients, who've worked with me seven or eight years, have issues like improving self-esteem as well as increasing income. I have one of the highest-achieving advisors in the country who hired me just to figure out how to experience more joy in her life." Her clients do improve their financial circumstances, though. "After just two sessions, a client who hired me last year switched one little thing in his business that added $40K to his income."
Is Dan Sullivan a competitor? "I see Dan's style as complementary to mine. In fact, some of my clients work with both of us simultaneously, and I've referred clients to him," she says.
Beckes, whose services tend to be more individualized than those of other coaches who often work in a group dynamic, charges fees that are comparable to those of her competitors. Including phone time, preparation for coaching sessions and debriefing after a coaching engagement, Beckes charges $6,000 for 11 monthly sessions or $12,000 for two years of coaching (22 sessions). Being true to her own advice, she reserves one month a year for her own vacation and renewal.
Tom Gau: "The Million Dollar Producer"
Tom Gau, who calls his coaching program out of Roseville, Calif., "The Million Dollar Producer," wants you to know his advantage over other coaches who work with financial advisors. "Most coaches can't know how it feels to deal with clients after three years of a down market unless they've been an advisor." Gau was and still is a producer, unlike most other coaches, and owns Oregon Pacific Financial Advisors, with offices in Ashland, Brookings and Medford, Ore., which manages more than $400 million in assets.