Consulting For Professional Services Firms, Executives and Small Businesses

William B. Cole Consultants provides business consulting services that maximize your productivity, reduce your stress, increase your creativity and expand revenues and profits. We'll help you reach for more excellence in your business.

We consult with you in these areas:

• Sales and Marketing
• Customer Service
• Employee Performance
• Products and Services
• Business Writing

We help organizations with limited staffs or those that need specialized, expert help. We help these busy professionals:

Specifically, we help you in these ways:

• Write and edit your internal and external materials.
• Conduct surveys and questionnaires for you and your staff.
• Perform sales assessments and coaching by going on sales calls with you and your salespeople.
• Shadow coach executives and staff while they work.
• 360 degree reviews of you and your staff.
• Write speeches for executives, sales people and anyone who speaks.
• Teach you how to "speak to market" your professional services.
• Show you how to create products that people will want to buy.
• Help you create a comprehensive, coherent marketing plan, and help you execute it.
• Facilitate a retreat or team building event.
• Train your staff in customer service skills.
• Provide team coaching in presentation/sales skills.
• Conduct a mystery shopper review of your business operations.

We Can Help You Write

If you need to attract more business or achieve higher revenues, perhaps you need assistance with writing or editing your sales and marketing materials.

Sharp, benefit-focused sales copy will attract more high-quality (and high-paying) clients to your business and allow you to charge higher fees. People making decisions to do business with you need substantive and compelling reasons to engage your services.

What writing projects do you have that we can help you create or improve? We'll edit or write from scratch virtually anything in your business--sales letters, newsletters, e-zines, one-sheets, web sites, business forms, assessments, quizzes, program materials, workbooks, special reports, books, speeches, audio books, marketing materials and more.

How We Work: We can assist you by telephone, mail, e-mail, or in-person.

Our Timetables: We'll work out a satisfactory schedule with you for every project in advance. Sometimes we can offer 24-hour turn-around, depending on the project.

Our Fees: We can give you a per-project flat quote, work on an hourly rate, or work on a retainer basis.

When We Can Start: We're booked year-round, but we'll be able to schedule your project once we mutually determine how we'll fit together, and then coordinate calendars.

How Do We Get Started? Give us a call and let's discuss your needs and how we can help, or click on one of the buttons below to sign up for consulting services.

Our Guarantee: I guarantee the quality of our consulting sessions. I guarantee to you that each consulting session will be of the highest quality, and will give you the best cutting-edge content and success strategies. However, I cannot predict, know, monitor or guarantee what you will do with the lessons, insights and content learned in these sessions. Therefore, when you use our consulting, materials and products you are not guaranteed to improve learning, performance, income, health, fitness or specific earnings. No one can guarantee such outcomes because your results will depend on variables and factors outside our control including, but not limited to: your motivation, your diligence and discipline, your capabilities, your creativity, your health and fitness, your compliance with our recommendations and suggestions, and other factors which neither party has control over.

I will ask you, many times in each consulting session, if things make sense, and if you know how to practice and actually use what we discuss, and what I teach you. At the end of each consulting session, I will ask if that session met your expectations. If you say yes, we will consider that session successful. If you say no, I will spend additional time with you, at no additional charge, at that time, or at a mutually convenient time, to resolve your concerns. If I cannot resolve your concerns at that time, I will refund all your monies paid for that particular consulting session in question. If this consulting session in question was part of a package, when you receive a refund for that session, we will also refund the rest of your unused consulting package monies. This will be prorated per the package you purchased, not at the full non-package hourly rate. Whenever you make the next consulting package payment that is due or make a pay as you go payment, this indicates that you are satisfied with the consulting up to that point, and that you wish to continue the consulting program.

Order Consulting Services

The standard hourly consulting rate for one person in corporate, governmental, academic, military, professional sports or other organizational entities is $275, with some potential adjustments, based on a quote as part of a custom volume package, and for example, when we include speaking, training and consulting. For consulting sessions with more than one person, additional consulting fees apply. We also offer two discounted packages, one of five hours and one of ten hours. If we are engaged as an expert witness or consultant to a legal firm or association, those fees are $400/hour, plus expenses.

The hourly consulting rate for one person in corporate, governmental, academic, military or other organizational entities is $275.

Buy one hour of Consulting ($275USD - one person, organizational rate)      Purchase using:

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Consulting Five-Pack (Organizational): Buy five hours of consulting and instead of paying $275/hour, you pay only $265/hour. You SAVE $50.

Buy five hours of Consulting ($1350USD - one person, organizational rate)      Purchase using:

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Consulting Ten-Pack (Organizational): Buy ten hours of consulting and instead of paying $275/hour, you pay only $260/hour. You SAVE $150.

Buy ten hours of Consulting ($2600USD - one person, organizational rate)      Purchase using:

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Payment And Scheduling Policies

• 24-Hour Cancellation Policy: Please note that we require a 24-hour cancellation notice should you need to cancel or reschedule a coaching session. Canceling or rescheduling a training session, seminar, workshop or keynote requires much earlier notice, with different policies. For those events, please consult our contract for that event. We prefer not to charge for late canceled or no-show appointments, but repeated or egregious late cancellations or no-show appointments will be charged the full hourly rate of that missed session. If you need to reschedule, that is never a problem as long as you give us this full day advance notice so we can offer your time to another client. We are usually booked out two weeks or more in advance for coaching sessions, so the earlier you know your schedule, the easier it is to schedule you in any future slots should you need to reschedule.


• Payment for services is due on or before the first day of services rendered.


• We accept cash, check, PayPal, electronic bank transfer and credit cards issued by American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa.


• We don't invoice, extend credit or accept insurance.


• Clients have the option of paying the standard hourly rate or availing themselves of various discount packages.


• Package prices are based on payments made prior to, or at the time of the first session.


• Purchase of a package is not valid retroactively, after a coaching session has been concluded.


• Normally payments are made using the Credit Card or PayPal buttons on our web site. However, coaching services payments may be made in installments, by special arrangement. Please contact us for details. To make an installment payment or to make another payment to William B. Cole Consultants, go to the page for making payments of any amount.


• Checks returned by the bank for insufficient funds will be subject to a $20.00 collection fee and a $20.00 insufficient funds fee.


• To prevent fraud, refunds are not allowed by means other than the same credit card or PayPal account used to make the original charge.


• To be eligible for any reduced-price discount package you must both pay for the package in one lump sum in advance and actually complete the full hours in the package. If you opt to stop the package prematurely for any reason this voids the discount rate in the package. We will refund your remaining unused time, and your refund will then be prorated based on our standard hourly rate, not on the package rate.


• We do not offer family or group discounts. Each person in a family or a group is subject to the published payment schedules on this website.


• Clients who purchase a coaching package have the option of allowing specified other people to be a guest within that package, with our advance notification. A guest can be a parent, a relative, a neighbor, a friend, or anyone who is new to one of our programs, or who has not completed their introductory package. Someone who has already completed their 3-hour introductory package (only applicable in exam anxiety, interview coaching and sport psychology) is not eligible to be a guest in someone else’s 3-hour package.


• The introductory 3-hour new client package discount offer (only applicable in exam anxiety, interview coaching and sport psychology) is only valid for a one-time use. This package is only for brand new clients who have never had coaching with us before. Clients who have already completed this introductory package are no longer eligible to use it again. Their options are then to pay as they go at $125 per hour, or $75 per half hour, or to purchase a package of 4, 6 or 12 hours.

Policies And Pricing On Urgent, Rush Service And After-Hours Project Requests

Urgent, rush service and after-hours project requests count as time-and-a-half. These rates apply upon your approval only.

We have many interview clients, executives, business owners and others who often need immediate turn-around of resumes and cover letters, and other documents. We wish we could accommodate everyone instantly. We know that speed is of the essence in responding to job announcements and last-minute interviews. We do our best to accommodate you so you can be nimble on these, and so you can apply for these positions early.

Most of our clients are working full time and cannot properly respond to a job announcement during their workday. They come home and then ask us to respond with their written work, at the end of their day. We are happy to do so. We do have time constraints, but if we are able, we respond as quickly as possible, often the same day.

However, when you ask us to produce a work product on an urgent basis, or to work outside our normal working hours, we find it necessary to charge a premium for that. The premium we charge for this expedited service is time and a half. So, for example, if you have a coaching-consulting package of 3, 4, 6 or 12 hours and you engage us in rush work, each hour is counted as 90 minutes, and would be deducted from your package accordingly.

We will only designate your work "rush service", or as an "after-hours project" if you specifically tell us this, and if you agree to pay the time and a half rate. Only you can designate such a rush order. We will always ask you to confirm this before proceeding.

Alternatively, instead of engaging us in a rush order, you can simply make your project normal priority. We'll get it done as fast as we can, in our normal business hours, and you won't get charged a premium. Your non-priority work may not get done immediately. In fact, we can't guarantee it will be done quickly if there are other folks ahead of you who have paid for priority rush jobs. And if your request comes in on a Thursday, Friday or weekend, the following week may be the first we can get to it.

Read These Articles on Business Productivity

Over 100 of the 500 published articles written by Bill Cole appear in the article archive on this website. Many of these articles will give you insight into our areas of expertise and a few of the ways we can help you with our consulting services.

The Mental Game Of Personal Achievement Reach Your Goals Like The Superachievers Bill Cole, MS, MA How would you rate yourself on personal productivity? Top achievers have a systematic plan for motivation, self-coaching and focusing on successful behaviors. Read this article to learn the 10 special ways top producers are able to drive themselves up the ladder of success. Winning The Mental Game Of Project Management How To Improve Personal Productivity Bill Cole, MS, MA What rating do you give yourself on personal productivity? Do you have a systematic plan for improving your effectiveness in your daily work? Superachieving business people and athletes know what it takes to motivate themselves, stay on track, maintain focus in the face of obstacles and drive forward to completion of their vision and dreams. Read this article to learn the top ten tips of how superstars do this. Manage Your Mind To Manage Your Time 28 Tips For Working Smarter, Not Harder Bill Cole, MS, MA Are you working longer hours but getting less done? Are you being asked to do more in less time? Productivity problems can make you feel incredibly stressed--and then you're just spinning your wheels. But there is help. You can use your mind. You can win the mental game of personal productivity. Peak-performing sales professionals work smarter, not harder, by using the 28 mental strategies for improving personal productivity that are described in this article.

Meet Bill Cole, Your Consultant

William B. Cole Consultants founder and CEO Bill Cole, MS, MA is an internationally and nationally recognized peak performance mind coach. He is a Wall Of Fame Honoree, an award-winning scholar-athlete, published book author and articles author, and has coached at the highest levels of major-league pro sports, big-time college athletics and corporate America.

Bill published his first article in 1975. Since then, his 200-plus articles have been read around the world, from glossy newsstand magazines to journals, newsletters, newspapers, books, e-zines and web sites. Over 30 of these articles appear in the articles archive on this website. Bill has written extensive marketing materials and even for T-shirts.

Bill authored the book Tennis The Mental Game in 1987 and over the years has edited chapters of two other authors' books and has written or edited countless articles, sales letters, business forms, assessments, one sheets, workbooks, special reports, audiobooks, brochures, web site copy and marketing pieces. For many years Bill authored a monthly column on sales for the national financial trade magazine Transaction World. These columns and Bill's other 300 articles on selling and business have appeared around the world countless times.

His current personal writing projects are a revision of his well-selling book, Tennis The Mental Game, and the writing of two new books, Winning The Mental Game Of Life and The Mental Game Of Golf. He is also co-authoring the book Speaking With Excellence with Michael Lee, CSP, Past-President of the National Speakers Association, Northern California Chapter.

Bill is the former Executive Editor of Professionally Speaking, the official publication of the National Speakers Association, Northern California Chapter. He was a member of the NSA/NC Board Of Directors from 2000-2002. When Bill is not busy speaking, training or writing, he enjoys cycling, working out, playing tennis and golf and reading about and discussing current events, politics and international spymasters. Once upon a time he taught Bill Cosby and Chevy Chase how to play tennis. He also provides coaching in these arenas: executive, sales, presentations, business, personal, exam & interviews, and sport psychology.

For more about Bill, see his full bio.

Travel Expenses For Coaching And Consulting

We handle travel differently for speaking and training versus coaching and consulting. For speaking engagements we can build the travel, hotel and per diem and other expenses into a custom-quoted all-inclusive fee, or itemize these expenses separate from the speaking fee. For this type of engagement, there is no separate per-hour travel fee in addition to the actual travel expenses incurred. You simply cover our actual travel expenses.

For consulting and coaching engagements, we have two tiers of travel fees. When we drive our company car to such an engagement, our hourly travel fee is $100/hour. We charge that because our time is valuable, and while we are driving we are unable to do work or engage in client coaching or consulting. In addition, there is wear and tear and an increase in mileage on the vehicle, and gas and oil expenses. If we travel by air, train or boat, our hourly travel fee is reduced to $50/hour, since we do not incur expenses to our company car.

Travel From Palo Alto, California

Travel time begins when we leave our offices in Palo Alto, California, and ends when we arrive at your door or the door of the place you designate. Travel expenses include: Taxi, shuttle, ferry, subway, train, or any other conveyance, and tolls and parking fees. We fly out of any of three nearby Bay area airports: San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Jose International Airport (SJC) and Oakland International Airport (OAK).

Travel time is not computed only by distance via an online map service for driving. It's based on time, since once we get near your office we may be searching and waiting for a parking spot, taking another conveyance and walking to your offices. We also may be held up by heavy traffic, road work, detours or traffic accidents. All this time counts towards the total travel time. Travel time is also counted the same way when we return from your office.

Travel, Other Fees And Expenses And Time Frames

Travel, hotel and per diem expenses and fees can be handled in any of these ways: You can book and pay for our travel expenses, we can invoice you, or we can take these expenses and fees off any coaching package you purchase.

We serve our clients far beyond normal 9-5pm Monday-Friday working hours, because our clients work across the US and the globe, and because we often travel to observe and coach our clients as they perform, compete and work. We often work early in the morning, late at night, and on Saturday and Sunday to best meet their needs. Travel fees are due anytime we drive our company car to you or an event for you. When we travel to you or to an event for you by plane, and the plane leaves after 8pm and arrives prior to 6am, there are no travel fees assessed, since we could not be serving other clients at those times. Travel fees are waived if any daily coaching / consulting contract exceeds $4,000.

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