During his successful corporate career, Michael G. Wachter discovered the importance of teaching executives to effectively help other staff members develop revenue enhancing strategic plans and get those ideas implemented. He began performing contract consulting in 1981, and in 1984, along with his wife, Georgann, formally founded Corporate Impact. We met with Michael recently, and listened as he described the services Corporate Impact offers;
Corporate Impact provides coaching, consultation, facilitation, and training services to help clients develop a business capable of delivering sustained shareholder value and growth. We offer consulting services for organizational development and growth, training programs for individual development and growth, and also publish training materials that are available to other independent training consultants on subjects as diverse as support coaching, teamwork, applied creativity, mentoring, problem solving, and sale skills.
We follow a customer intimate strategy, working very, very closely with a select few clients. Working closely with those clients enables us to thoroughly understand their needs in great depth at a strategic level. Due to the confidential nature of the knowledge we share with each of our clients, our policy is to never work with competitors within the same industry.
We select our clients based on three basic criteria:
The work we are asked to do has to look like it is going to be fun because we focus more on building lives rather than simply earning a living.
The opportunity has to be challenging. We look for projects that will stretch our abilities as well as those of our clients.
The client must have the financial ability to pay our fee.
Once we have established that the first two criteria meet our expectations, we are on track to developing a long-term client relationship guaranteed to make the third criteria possible.
We do not come with answers, but come with questions and a process that is designed to encourage more people to think at a strategic level. The vast majority of people working for wages in corporate America are so caught up in the day-to-day tasks that they do not have time to think about, envision, or implement strategies that will help the business realize its full potential in the future. We strive to create venues where people have the opportunity not just to think about what they want the business to be, but to understand what has to happen on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to make these ideas a reality.
We approach new client projects from three perspectives. First, we address how they compare with their competition operationally and how well they are presently meeting customer expectations. Next, we seek to understand where they are from a product development standpoint, and finally, we look at their current efforts to build strong, long-term customer relationships. From this equation, we identify which of the three has the most potential to become the driving force behind the company's quest to become the market leader in their industry. We focus on making sure the client is competitive on the other two, but that they become the industry's leader in the third area. We are so confident in this approach that we will offer not only to double the business of any client having sales of at least $150 million year, but will do so for only a percentage of the increase in revenue.
Our systems revolve around helping companies improve their internal performance management and gaining greater productivity from their employees. We avoid performance appraisals that are often painful for the employee and the manager alike while doing nothing for the organization aside from creating dissension. Instead, we create performance-based objectives for each individual and provide monthly coaching to help them achieve those objectives. If their objectives are met, they then qualify for incentive income which translates as the opportunity to make more money. We believe in setting expectations, monitoring individual progress, and compensating those who meet their objectives.
Corporate Impact enhances client potential through clarity of vision, consistency of purpose, and continuous skill improvement. Call Corporate Impact today, and don't forget to tell them Avon Lake Business & Living sent you!
