For two decades, I enjoyed traveling throughout North America and the Caribbean creating global alliances, facilitating executive briefings, connecting technicians with other technicians, training sales reps, creating and implementing marketing programs and campaigns, and fine-tuning supply chains to create just-in-time inventory. One common thread amongst these executives made my heart grieve: 95% of them had never executed their innovative ideas! As I dug deeper into the reasoning behind their lack of pursuit, I discovered that many who shared their ideas with colleagues or loved ones were laughed at; "Why would you want to do that when you have a successful career now?" was a common response. Occasionally these executives tried to implement their ideas with brothers-in-law or neighbors, but because none of them had any expertise in those areas, the executives were usually unable to bring their products to market, to implement their services into their offerings, etc. However, 5% did implement their ideas and reveled in extraordinary successes. Why? Because those executives knew they needed to hire experts for assistance.

Norman Vincent Peale, one of my mentors, always told me to “find a need and fill it.” Through his direction, I became determined to fulfill the needs of executives seeking to hire expert consultants. In 2002, Commanding View, Inc., Connecting Consultants with Companies was founded.

One day, I was in a strategy meeting with leaders from around the world, when I received a voice message from a client who needed a mediator immediately. By time I was able to return the call, two hours later, I was already too late. This experience led me to the discovery that conventional consulting agencies and speakers bureaus were riddled with bottle necks.

Executives know the exact motivation and direction that their companies need. The problem, however, lies in the chain of communication: the executives tell the consultancy agency’s business development manager their circumstances; the business development manager then translates those challenges to their internal research teams; the internal research representatives search their databases of consultants, coaches, and trainers for the best candidates and then contact those expert consultants based on what the research representatives believe to have understood the executives’ needs to be. These steps are only the beginning; any additional communication between the executives and experts must be mediated through the consultancy agency. It can take months for executives to get all of their questions answered and to request and receive all appropriate promotional material from the experts, not including the time it takes to negotiate and sign contracts.

Decision time . . . We could continue to network, attempt to translate executives’ needs, and connect them with what the middleman deems to be appropriate expert consultants, or we could streamline the process for everyone by implementing leading-edge, interactive Web tools. I made the decision to tackle this challenge that many of my colleagues insisted could not be done. My experiences, however, have taught me that as executives continue to pursue innovation, there is an ongoing, urgent need to connect with the perfect expert consultant, coach, speaker, trainer or event professional to assist in the implementation of their ideas, before their competitors. I knew that expert consultants, coaches, speakers, trainers and event professionals needed an interactive marketing platform in which to showcase their unique products and services but that they did not have the time or resources to create leading-edge marketing tools when they should be focusing on their expertise.

We are confident that the LinktoEXPERT Web portal is your answer. Together we will enjoy extraordinary success!