Policies

Variable Payments

Normally payments are made using the Credit Card or PayPal buttons in the blue boxes. However, you can make a custom payment to William B. Cole Consultants by going to the page for making payments of any amount.

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.

Additional Services

There is no additional charge for reading and responding to reasonable length emails. For emails or attached documents that are longer, any time spent with these activities will be counted as hours in the package you purchased. If the hours exceed the package hours, they will be invoiced weekly.

We can assist you in many other ways in addition to coaching. This is a menu of how you can utilize our expertise to create a robust program of improvement. Any time spent with these activities will be counted as hours in the package you purchased.

• Reading, reacting to and editing documents.
  
  
• Reviewing videos.
  
  
• Reviewing audios.
  
  
• Creating customized audios.
  
  
• Creating and editing documents.
  
  
• Creating coaching plans, lesson plans, training plans, development plans and any course syllabus.
  
  
• Writing reports or summaries about your coaching sessions, practice sessions or performances.
  
  
• Writing and editing speeches and training materials.
  
  
• Creating and conducting surveys and questionnaires.
  
  
• Creating and conducting 360 degree reviews.
  
  
• Speaking to people you designate, as part of your coaching program, such as teachers, tutors, coaches, school administrators, therapists, consultants, relatives, parents or any other people on your success team. We often consult with parents on how to maximize their involvement with their child's sport experience.
  
  
• Having us conduct web research, or other research on your behalf.
  
  
• Attending your performances or workplaces, or in the field, observing and debriefing you.
  
  
• Speaking by phone or Skype to debrief you after your performances, while you are still on site, or soon thereafter.

These additional services can be paid for in two ways, which we will ask you to designate before beginning them. They could be counted as part of your existing package hours, or charged as additional services beyond the package, at the hourly rate within the package you purchased. If these services exceed the hours in your package, they will be invoiced the week they are delivered, with payment due at that time.

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

Urgent, emergency, rush service and after-hours project and coaching requests count as double the normal, prevailing hourly rate in your package.

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.

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 Fremont, California

Travel time begins when we leave our offices in Fremont, 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.

Our Coaching Sessions Are Guaranteed

I guarantee the quality of our coaching sessions. I guarantee to you that each coaching 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 coaching, 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 coaching 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 coaching 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 coaching session in question. If this coaching 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 coaching package monies. This will be prorated per the package you purchased, not at the full non-package hourly rate. Whenever you make the next coaching package payment that is due or make a pay as you go payment, this indicates that you are satisfied with the coaching up to that point, and that you wish to continue the coaching program.

Our Coaching Is Confidential

Trust forms the core of the coaching relationship. We respect what you say, and will not repeat your material to anyone or to any entity. We maintain your confidentiality and privacy in all communications and we maintain safe and secure written records of your account. We do not disclose that you are a client if you do not want that known.