When Steve and Dodie Bell, owners of Bell Forms & Supplies, Inc,
first opened the doors of their company 8 1/2 years ago; they soon realized
that there was more to operating a business than sales. Selling was the
easy part, running a business required skills and planning that far exceeded
their collective experience. A mutual friend introduced the Bell's to
Dr. Lois Zachary of Leadership Development, who specialized in helping
businesses do business better. After their first meeting with Dr. Zachary,
the Bell's immediately realized that they could not afford to pass up
the opportunity to be mentored in the art of "business".
Steve Bell recalls the completion of the 5 year plan that Dr. Zachary
helped the Bell's to formulate and implement. "After our first 5
year plan was completed we reviewed our successes against the Business
plan which Lois helped us to develop and immediately realized that we
would not have accomplished even 10% of our "wins" without Lois'
guidance. Early on, there were times that we wouldn't make a business
decision on our own until we consulted with Lois. Shortly thereafter,
she guided Dodie and I in exercises that equipped us with the skills which
caused us to depend less on Lois and more on our training. Everything
from a 25% increase in annual revenue to buying, designing and the construction
of the office that Bell Forms occupies can be directly linked to the training
that we received from Lois".
Bell concludes, "There are some things that you cannot afford to
do and other things that you cannot afford not to do. Working with Lois
Zachary of Leadership Development is something that you cannot afford
not to do. If I had it to do all over again, the only thing that I would
change is that I would have started our work with Lois sooner. Our business
would be that much more ahead of the game".
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