Employment & Contract Opportunities
Leadership Strategies - The Facilitation Company - is the leading provider of professional facilitators and facilitation training in the country. Our facilitators are called upon to lead important executive retreats, strategy sessions, focus groups, conferences and other group sessions. We also provide training classes in facilitation skills, consulting and leadership.
We utilize full-time employees and part-time contractors to deliver services to our U.S. and international clients. Employees have a base salary and incentives, with incentives contributing as much as 50% of total compensation. Contractors are compensated per event, with additional incentives related to participating in sales or referral activities.
Listed below are our currently open positions.
FACILITATORS
Our business continues to expand both in the U.S. and abroad. To better serve our clients, we are seeking dynamic, warm, proactive independent contractors in the Boston, MA area with at least five years experience in training and meeting facilitation.
Facilitator Qualifications
Since we often facilitate executive strategy sessions as well as train other facilitators, we try to hire people who might be considered among the top in our profession. If you often hear, "You're the best I've ever seen," we are interested in speaking with you! Certification by the International Association of Facilitators is a plus.
You may already be aware that great trainers do not necessarily make great meeting facilitators. Trainers frequently lack the intense analytic, questioning and listening skills required for directing a facilitated discussion. Likewise, great meeting facilitators do not necessarily make great trainers. Meeting facilitators can lack the superb presentation skills and energetic delivery often characteristic of great trainers. Successful candidates will likely be superb in both environments.
The key qualities we are seeking:
- Love of people and a sincere desire to be of help
- Dynamic, energetic delivery
- Strong analytic skills (i.e., the ability to rapidly compare, contrast, and translate to action)
- Superb questioning and listening skills
- Warm, personable communication style
- Boardroom presence (i.e., the ability to project confidence and authority as needed)
- A knowledge of self, your needs and your impact on others
- At least five years experience as a meeting facilitator/trainer, with at least one full year in each discipline
- At least two years as an internal or external consultant with a minimum of ten discrete consulting projects
- Experience facilitating IT requirements, workflow design, data or process modeling is a plus
Compensation
Following an intensive certification process to learn to teach our facilitation methodology, "The Effective Facilitator," you will deliver training and meeting facilitation services to our clients on an as-needed basis. Contractors are typically utilized from 3-8 days per month. There are several components to compensation.
- Training fees are up to US $1000 per day after completion of certification.
- Meeting facilitation fees range from US$1000 to US$1500 per day depending upon discounts to the client and your experience level in our methodologies.
- Expenses are typically covered by our clients.
- We pay a computed rate (US$40-50/hour) for travel time outside of your metropolitan area.
- You can receive from 1 to 3% of total fees for assisting in a sale.
You can receive up to 14% of total fees for leading a sale to a first-time client, and up to 7% of total fees for any additional sales to that client, regardless of your involvement in the sale, during the subsequent 12 months.
Selection Process
Our certification program is very intensive, as you will see below. Therefore it is essential that we select candidates who have a very high likelihood of success. Accordingly, the selection process is intended to allow both Leadership Strategies and you to carefully evaluate if there is an appropriate fit. Approximately 1 out 5 who indicate an initial interest become certification candidates.
To become a certification candidate requires four steps.
Step 1.
Send a cover letter and resume to Richard Smith describing your experience and qualifications with respect to the key qualities described above.
Step 2.
Within three weeks, we will contact you concerning our interest in proceeding forward. If appropriate we will hold an initial interview to better assess fit for the type of work we do.
Step 3.
Following a successful initial interview, we will provide you a sample instructional video tape and detailed materials which will allow you to prepare to teach a module of our facilitation class. The materials we send you will include the relevant portions of the instructor and participant manuals and the evaluation criteria we will use in reviewing your instruction/facilitation. Other candidates have told us the preparation requires 2-4 hours.
Step 4.
If you are in proximity to our center in Atlanta, we will schedule a date for you to visit with us to demonstrate a 30-45 minute segment of the module you prepared. If you are remote from our existing center, we ask that you create a VHS-formatted video tape of you teaching the module to two or three of your friends, family members or acquaintances. Whether done in person, or remotely, you will receive detailed feedback on your instruction/facilitation. Numerous prior candidates have indicated that the detailed feedback was highly valuable, even if they were not selected to continue into the certification process.
Based on our evaluation of your abilities with our material and your continued interest in going forward, you will become a certification candidate and begin the certification process.
Certification Process
Upon your selection as a certification candidate, the certification process requires the following:
- Attend The Effective Facilitator course as a full participant.
- Review instructional videotapes and prepare to teach Sequence A (or B) of the course. (Each sequence represents half of the modules of the course.)
- Participate in a one-day, one-on-one session with a certified instructor in which you present and receive detailed feedback on the course sequence you prepared.
- Serve as a co-instructor for a full offering of the course (3-days). In the co-instructor role, the certification candidate teaches the sequence previously prepared. A certified instructor serves as a co-instructor or observer/coach for the class session. The certified instructor provides you with written feedback and rating of performance following each module.
- Review instructional videotapes and prepare to teach the sequence not previously taught.
- Participate in a one-day, one-on-one session with a certified instructor in which you present and receive detailed feedback on the course sequence you prepared.
- Serve as a co-instructor for another full offering of the course,teaching the sequence not previously taught. As before, a certified instructor serves as a co-instructor or observer/coach for the class session. The certified instructor provides you with written feedback and rating of performance.
- Receive a satisfactory rating of performance by the certified instructor following the second co-instruction. This completes initial certification.
During the initial certification process, you receive US$400 for each day that you are co-instructing (Total: US$2400). Upon certification, you are eligible for training and facilitation assignments at the compensation rates described above.
Leadership Strategies offers over a dozen programs to our clients. The initial certification in facilitation serves as the foundation and covers the programs that account for approximately 40% of our revenues. Subsequent certifications, in such areas as strategic planning and consulting skills training, are considerably less intensive.
What Next?
If after reading this information, you believe our program meets your needs and that you have the qualities we are seeking, please take the first step: send a cover letter and resume to Richard Smith describing your experience and qualifications with respect to the key qualities described above. We will contact you within three weeks. We look forward to hearing from you.
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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
As a Business Development Manager, you will cover a specific geographical territory. As a member of the sales team, your ultimate objective each month is to achieve the highest sales volume you can while maximizing your commissions, satisfying client needs and meeting internal support requirements (see below). In achieving this objective, you are responsible for a number of activities. This list below is ranked in priority order based on our beliefs about what is required for your success. Your experience may change this order.
- Establish, maintain and execute a territory plan to maximize the revenue generated from the territory.
- Follow up on all leads provided through the Internet within 24 hours, through in-house personnel within 48 hours, and through the newsletter and other sources within one week.
- Follow up with private class/consulting clients and public class attendees from the prior month within one week of the engagement to review facilitator performance and seek other opportunities and referrals.
- Contact each key account at least monthly and all assigned accounts at least quarterly.
- Prospect and perform mailings/telephone follow-up to a targeted list of at least five prospects per month.
- Average at least 40 telephone sales call per office day.
- Ensure that each public class scheduled in your region is filled and includes, at a minimum, the number of full-pay-equivalent participants to avoid cancellation.
- Meet administrative responsibilities, including timely updating of engagement summaries and track all activities in the CRM system.
- With permission from the client, perform mailings to, or add to our newsletter list, everyone attending a facilitated session.
- Arrange briefings, demonstrations, brown-baggers, presentations to get facilitators in front of clients.
- Manage a quarterly regional budget ($1500) to be used for travel, marketing and other activities in your region, including client face-to-face visits as appropriate.
- As you deem beneficial, attend trade shows, increase skills through training, attend association meetings of facilitators and other outside activities.
Skills
We believe the following skills are necessary for success in this particular position.
- Diagnose a customer’s need and compare to our product set to develop a specific solution for that customer
- Engage clients and prospects in meaningful discussion to help clients envision how our services will address their needs
- Gain a customers trust; establish expectations; and follow through on those expectations
- Identify and communicate when our services are inappropriate
- Think strategically by taking what might appear as a small opportunity and identifying and connecting to the bigger need
- Present verbally and in written form
- Demonstrate business acumen
- Maximize the use of a systematic sales process
- Juggle many priorities at once
- Be proactive in seeking out new opportunities and growing the territory
Attitude
The successful candidate will embody the following attitudes:
- Enthusiasm for work
- Energy
- Professionalism
- Persistence
- Personal responsibility
- Team orientation
- Integrity
Experience
Mandatory
At least three years of B2B sales experience
At least one year in a position requiring heavy prospecting activity
Desirable
At least one year selling in a service industry
At least one year experience utilizing customer centric selling, solution selling, or some other structured consultative sales methodology
At least one year selling training or consulting services
At least one year in a small business with less than $10 million in revenue
How to Maximize Your Chance of Landing This Position
Send your resume and narrative letter to bbrereton@leadstrat.com. In your narrative letter, please address each of the following questions.
We recognize that we are asking you to give considerable information about your suitability for this position. We want to make sure the person we hire understands our needs and that the business relationship with our firm is truly win-win. Answering the following questions in your narrative letter will help us ensure this position is truly right for you.
Please understand that if you send us a standard cover letter that describes your skills without responding to our specific needs, we will assume that this position is not suitable for you.
Your narrative letter should address each of the following questions.
1. Grow territory
Describe your most successful sales position in which you were able to grow the business in your territory over a 12-month period. Tell us what the results were and what you did to achieve those results.
2. Engage clients
We would like to get an idea of your ability to engage prospects over the phone. Choose a product that you have sold in the past, and give us the 2-to-5 sentences you would use if you were contacting a prospect for the first time about that product. How would you get the conversation started? What would you say?
3. Think strategically
We are seeking to understand your ability to help clients think strategically. Tell us about a client of yours that started with one product and you were able to grow to use other products? What did the client start with? What additional products did they purchase? What did you do to get them to make the additional investment?
4. Experience
Explain your experience in each of the areas cited below. Please provide adequate detail (e.g., cite dates, quota, performance) for us to recognize that you meet each requirement. Bullet points are adequate for this section.
Mandatory
At least three years of direct sales experience,
At least one year in a position requiring heavy prospecting activity
Highly Desirable
At least one year selling in a service industry
At least one year experience utilizing customer centric selling, solution selling, or some other structured consultative sales methodology
At least one year selling training or consulting services
At least one year in a small business with less than $10 million in revenue
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Business Development Associate
Success Profile for Our Business Development Associate
- Are you a real go-getter, smart, and a fast learner?
- Do you have 1-3 years of experience selling to business customers?
- Are you looking for an opportunity to build your income and sales skills while working closely with a highly successful professional organization?
If so, our Business Development Associate position might be right for you.
Leadership Strategies - The Facilitation Company is the leading provider of professional facilitators and facilitation training in the country. Our facilitators are called upon to lead important executive retreats, strategy sessions, focus groups, conferences and other group sessions. We also provide training classes in facilitation skills, consulting and leadership. Due to our growth, we are currently seeking two sales professionals who will work closely with our manager to help grow our business.
As a Business Development Associate you will report directly to our Director of Business Development. Your ultimate objective each month is to maximize your commissions by closing business through our public (open enrollment) classes. Additionally, you will be asked to uncover private (onsite) class, and meeting facilitation services needs and work with one of our Business Development Managers to close these larger deals. In achieving these objectives, you are responsible for a number of activities.
- Ensure that each public class scheduled in your territory is filled and includes, at a minimum, the number of participants to avoid cancellation.
- Follow up on all leads provided in a timely fashion (typically 24-48 hours).
- Follow up with public class attendees from the prior month within one week of the class to seek referrals and other opportunities.
- Prospect and provide follow-up to targeted lists.
- Perform any administrative activities to support the sales team, including timely updating of engagement summaries and tracking all activities in the CRM system.
- Arrange briefings, demonstrations, presentations to get facilitators in front of clients.
- Average at least 50 telephone sales call per day.
- Attend trade shows, increase skills through training, moderate webinars, attend association meetings of facilitators and other outside activities as your manager deems beneficial.
This is an inside sales position with 50% or more of your day spent interacting with clients and potential clients over the phone.
Those who are successful in this position have the opportunity over time to become a Business Development Manager.
Skills
The successful candidates will know how to do the following.
- ENTHUSIASTICALLY ENGAGE people in conversation by asking questions to identify their goals and needs. This is not a low energy position. Nor is it ideal for those who love to hear themselves talk.
- GAIN YOUR CUSTOMERS’ TRUST; establish expectations; and follow through on those expectations.
- BE POSITIVELY PERSISTENT. You will be fortunate to close 1 out of 20 leads. If rejection is a problem for you, this is not the place.
- PROVIDE DETAILED follow-up. We insist on the use of our CRM system for tracking progress with leads. If you have problems with the details, we are not a good fit for your talents.
- BE PROACTIVE in seeking out new opportunities and growing the territory. If you are reluctant to pick up the phone or have trouble asking for referrals, inquire elsewhere.
- EXCEL AS A TEAM MEMBER. You and your manager will develop a strong working relationship that allows you to maximize your income. You will interact with all members of our organization, so being a team player is a key element of this role.
- Most importantly, BE A COACHABLE LEARNER. No one is perfect and we find that people are better when they recognize the areas in which they need to improve. If you can’t identify one or two areas you are working on improving right now, or if you are afraid to admit mistakes you’ve made in the past and what you learned from them, or if you can’t name any changes you have made based on feedback you have received, we are definitely not the place for you.
Experience
Mandatory
- At least 1-3 years of direct sales experience
- At least one year in a position requiring heavy prospecting activity
Desirable
At least one year selling in a service industry
- At least one year experience utilizing customer centric selling, solution selling, or some other structured consultative sales methodology
- At least one year selling training or consulting services
- At least one year in a small business with less than $10 million in revenue
Compensation
Base salary - $36K, with commissions and bonuses, expect $45-75K based on performance.
Want to Maximize Your Chance of Landing This Position?
Send to salescareer@leadstrat.com your resume AND a narrative letter that responds to the following items:
Growing a territory
Tell us about a time you grew a territory or expanded your account base.
Engaging Clients
We would like to get an idea of your ability to engage prospects over the phone. Choose a product that you have sold in the past, and give us the
2 - 5 sentences you would use if you were contacting a prospect for the first time about that product.
Coachable learner
Tell us about a change you have made in the past two years in the way you sell, based on feedback you have received.
4. Experience
Describe your experience in those areas sited in the “Experience Mandatory” section above. Also describe your experience for any of the “Desirable” areas you meet. Use bullet points and give dates, quota performance, etc.
We recognize that we are asking you for a lot of information. However, by answering the questions in your narrative letter, you will demonstrate that you understand our needs and are a good fit for this position.
If you send us a standard cover letter that describes your skills without responding to our specific needs, we will likely assume that this position is not suitable for you.
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Training Coordinator
Leadership Strategies - The Facilitation Company is an Atlanta-based organization that has rapidly become one of the national leaders in facilitation. We are a growing company known for bringing practical, dynamic and interactive approaches to training and critical meetings. We are seeking a Training Coordinator to provide administrative,accounting, and logistics support to our public classes . This is a position with opportunity to grow within the company.
Responsibilities will include ● public class registrations, logistics & general support ● public class invoicing, collections and reconciliation ● greeting guests ● general administrative support ● facilitate public class huddle ● secure public class sites ● vendor liaison ● moderate e-learning sessions ● respond to web and phone request for information ● process product orders ●ensure all training sessions are well prepared prior to the training session date & providing on-site support during training sessions.
In order to succeed you must be able to ● communicate via telephone and in person with all visitors in a professional and friendly manner ●understand basic accounting principles● complete detailed tasks accurately and efficiently ● effectively complete tasks both challenging and simple in a timely manner● quickly grasp the meaning and functionality of the business.
In addition, the strongest candidates will clearly embody the following: genuine enthusiasm for work, high energy level, professionalism, persistence, personal responsibility, team orientation and integrity.
Requirements/Qualifications:
Mandatory
- Strong communication skills
- Detail orientated
- Ability to multitask
- Strong in the Microsoft Suite
- Strong organizational skills
- Accounts receivable experience
Desirable
- Experience with Microsoft Access
- Experience with Microsoft Client Relationship Manager
- Experience with Peachtree Accounting
Education and Experience
4 year college degree and a minimum of 2-5 years accounting software experience.
Send your resume and cover letter to swilkinson@leadstrat.com.
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Marketing Communication Specialist
Job Purpose:
LSI’s Marketing Communication Specialist will contribute to finding ways and methods for LSI to optimize the promotional potential of its products and services. They will achieve this by working within the team to create and design promotional tools and materials to market and promote LSI to its target market audience. LSI’s Marketing Communication Specialist will play a number of roles that are all aimed at making the marketing and promotional campaigns successful. Those roles will range from tactical to strategic and will be directed by the department manager.
LSI’s Marketing Communications Specialist must be resourceful and creative. They should have excellent communication skills since they will be responsible for creating individual components of the complete marketing plan. They should have the ability to communicate their ideas and insights effectively. The Marketing Communication Specialist should additionally have equally good people skills and work collaboratively with internal colleagues. They should have outgoing personalities and self-confidence. They should be adept at conducting marketing research, be forward thinking, and possess problem-solving abilities.
Primary Duties:
- Support Product Development by:
- Formatting and proofreading customized program materials
- Assist in building product organization structure
- Support Marketing through:
- Copywriting for a variety of marketing campaigns or vehicles
- Editing/Proofreading
- Archiving and managing all marketing documents
- Continually conveying the voice of the customer
- Support Marketing and Sales by:
- Supporting proposal writing with editing and proofing
- Developing and managing the proposal library
- Maintaining a library of support material to enable proposal development
- Contributes to team effort by accomplishing related results as needed.
Skills/Qualifications:
- Minimum of 2 years of Marketing job experience
- Expert in use of Microsoft Office
- Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, or advertising
- May have previously worked in marketing in the learning and development arena
- Experience in the ability to market and advertise effectively in Government or and/or to Fortune 500 companies preferred
Send your resume and cover letter to kcasariego@leadstrat.com.
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