It was a beautiful winter day in a small Illinois town.

I had been invited by two financial planners to do a day of consulting at their site, and I recall how starkly beautiful the morning was; about 10 degrees, clear blue sky and bright sunshine.

We got an early start and I asked them how they earned their business and they replied it was by referrals, which is common in the financial community.

And as the day developed, we finally got to the areas that were most helpful: what they were avoiding and what their perceived limitations were.

Neither was confident over the phone, preferring instead to shake hands and to see people eye to eye. Both were very affable in person, but I knew that their phone demeanor was lacking. They sounded suspicious and reticent, and we needed to work on that.

The problem with most small businesspeople is that they fail to devise systems for sales and marketing, preferring to leave their fortunes to chance or to habit. What we did that day was develop some presentations for the phone for both of these planners as well as for their office manager.

Every inbound and outbound call was discussed and mapped. Instead of hoping for referrals, they asked for them, directly.

They wrote me a note afterwards that said: We learned more about our business in one day than we had in the last five years.

And that was saying a lot because they were already successful when I arrived on the scene.

Coaching and consulting can be invaluable for small businesses providing it is focused on developing and delivering new practices. Owners and managers dont need business friends, which is what some coaching organizations purport to sell.

They need dos and donts, and if this is what your consulting or coaching enterprise is about, youll prosper, too.