FAQ

You have a right to as much information as possible ahead of a buying decision. So here are a few more thoughts about us.

Sean’s business consultant David Baker says, “the primary factor in who you hire should be whether or not they can solve your problem. Once you’ve identified that source, the money should be secondary (your time should be more important than your money, anyway. It would actually cost quite a bit more not to hire that person than to hire them.” We agree David.

Feel free to ask for any clarification you’d like, but please do read these FAQs. Expectations plus performance = satisfaction. Deep good satisfaction, the kind you want. This is what we strive for.

    1. What is seanmdoyle.deployedweb.com?
      We are a consultancy that helps clients overcome sales and marketing barriers. We do this by focusing on four primary areas: writing; online training; consulting; and speaking. We focus on the underserved market of small business and do so through remote and productizing of thinking that works, is repeatable and helps at small scale up through the first barriers growing firms experience. Well, they work well beyond small firms too! The small business market only has access to low-end tactical help or retail driven tools that do not fit the need of B2B companies. Small business also likely has at the helm a person who is untrained to lead marketing. We love this and exist to help these leaders.
    2. Can I get real and effective help remotely?
      Yes, but we do not want you to hire us because we are close. We want you to buy our products and services because we know what we’re doing. In fact, if there’s a sales and marketing consulting firm nearer to you that has the same expertise and experience it would make more sense to hire them. We find that most agencies will state they do what we do but lack the business acumen. Most freelancer that help small business with craft projects often state they are good at strategy too. Sort of like a brain surgeon who says, “we are good at this so let’s offer lung and liver work as well.” Hummm. We serve only one interest. Yours. We do not sell help with craft or doing work. We give that craft work direction so its effective. We help well beyond craft and advertising work. Marketing is an oft-misunderstood and underutilized tool by business leaders. We help you bring to bear the right aspects of marketing and often in ways you never even thought about or know of.
    3. What do we sell?
      Thought leadership for SMB executives who want to run sales and marketing operations better. Most if this help is remote but sometimes face to face work is the best. If you need help with the application of our teaching we have offerings to do so…see or speaking, coaching or retreat offerings.
    4. Who do you help?
      We help the executives of 1 to 25 FTE companies. We help the 79.95% of small business that are lead and owned and operated by one person. We help sole proprietors break through the barrier of being a one person entity. We help the leaders of the companies that have pushed through to be 10 FTEs (full-time employees) and are looking for the boost to the next level. We help the leadership team of the 25FTE firm and help you find a pattern to work and leadership. We celebrate all the hats you wear, and we want this hat, the sales and marketing hat, to be one that helps you the most instead of being the one that is confusing or expensive with little ROI. When you are larger, you need different help…and we look forward to pointing you to those experts.
    5. What makes you different?
      Our clients say it’s our ability to uncover the underlying needs and problems of hard to see growth barriers and translate those insights into better ways to work, to go to market. And our unique team of thinkers are dedicated to work with you in a collaborative, multidisciplinary way to bridge the gap between strategy and execution.
    6. Oh, another consultancy, yeah, no for me? Right?
      We operate differently than other consultancies because we believe YOU have a lot of answers, but you need a way to see the problems and break down the model into understandable chunks, then and only then can our insights from the years be brought to help you. We help YOU solve current business challenges.
    7. Can I get a referral?
      Hope this is not off-putting…but, no, we won’t work hard to make this happen because it requires considerable time, time needed to solve problems for our clients. Sean has served hundreds of clients for nearly 30 years. He has a solid reputation, or his work would not have lasted this long right? You can even buy the book SHIFT and get a very low-cost trail of his skills.
      We, and by “we,” we’re talking Sean, will spend time answering questions by phone or email to help you understand our approach, and how we’ll work for you. This site also contains clues, as well as free help that will provide insight into how we think. Oh, also, we will not share samples of other projects. You would not want us to show your work around, right?  OK, enough grumpy, was that grumpy? I hope not.
      It also great to know this. Hire us, and if we are horrible at what we do, all professional services fees are come with a money-back guarantee.
    8. What is the best benefit of your thinking?
      Too often, business owners get too close to the problem to find clarity in a solution. Outside thinking offers fresh perspective, which leads to greater clarity. Our position outside of your staff allows us to speak in a way that your top executives might find difficult. In absolute honesty. Most CEOs find that extremely helpful.  Think about us as radar for a plane flying in the thick fog. It illuminates what cannot be seen from inside the plane.
    9. Does it always work?
      No. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we will not be able to solve the problem. The problems our  clients face are hard, often times existential. There are often myriad factors involved. Over the years, we have seen solutions that should have worked, but the market shifted, or the implementation failed for any number of reasons. Sometimes a firm is just not ready yet to try the best solutions, and they have to grow into them. When that happens, we will do our best to make it right, even if it means referring you to a competitor. However, our batting average is exceptional.