Black Professional Coaches Alliance

"Smartsheet is the Answer!"

Veronica Conway has tried to help thousands of people – from CEO’s to truck drivers – improve their professional lives.

And, as a successful entrepreneur with three coaching companies, including the Black Professional Coaches Alliance, which is dedicated to the transformation of people of African descent, Conway wants to enrich her own thriving business, too.

That’s why she’s been searching for technology tools that can enhance collaborative productivity within her northern California-based organization.

Conway tried Microsoft products, but they fell short – “clunky, complex, and not easy to use,” she says; and, when she deployed other solutions, “they didn’t deliver on performance or accountability.”

Then Conway found Smartsheet, and her expanding inspirational enterprise – whose clients include Dell, Chevron Texaco, the National Urban League, the Kellogg Foundation, the NBA and the United Way – gained even more ground.

“Smartsheet is the answer,” explains Conway. “On any project, it tells you with just a real-time glance where you and your team are and whether you’re done. There’s absolutely no time-consuming deconstruction or reconstruction. It’s flexible, the status reporting updates are really robust, and you get that centralized snapshot of your progress, which is so critical in a virtual work environment.”

Conway has been so impressed with Smartsheet that she is now using it throughout her business, and as she moves around the country coaching, training, speaking and promoting her two publications: “The African-American Guide to Business and Personal Success” and “The Black Paper – A Cutting-Edge Manifesto.”

There are six major ways that this creative, driven and passionate small-business owner has harnessed the power of Smartsheet’s innovative software:

Running Virtual Meetings Forward, Not Backward

Conway requires her staff to make all status updates using Smartsheet 48 hours before their weekly meetings. This insures that their time together is spent trouble-shooting pressing problems and assessing critical next steps, both of which have a direct top- and bottom-line bearing on the company. “Smartsheet makes it easier for us to move beyond the previous seven days during these sessions,” says Conway. “That’s looking forward, not backwards.”

Increasing Team Accountability

Conway’s far-flung team is always on the go, and Smartsheet helps the entrepreneur get an immediate fix on who is doing what – and when and where. An intern in New York, for example, uses the task management software to keep Conway posted on how social networking efforts are progressing. “It’s week-to-week accountability from 3,000 miles away,” explains Conway, “And I know what’s happening on every assignment I task out.”

Putting Together a Powerful Project

It’s a very complicated undertaking whenever Conway and her team attend a conference or event where she’s presenting. The logistics are daunting, the coaching materials are content-rich, and the activity timeline is booked solid. Smartsheet helps by pulling it all together. Responsibility and status updates for travel arrangements, developmental case studies and on-the-ground meetings and rehearsals are clearly delineated so there’s rarely a dropped ball or slip up. Even better, all the relevant documents for the trip can be attached to Smartsheet. “There are so many moving parts,” says Conway, “but using Smartsheet helps us execute flawlessly. It’s a powerful project tool.”

Helping Clients Reach Their Goals

Coaching is, for the most part, a virtual profession, and Conway doesn’t always meet her clients face-to-face. But with Smartsheet she can be intimately involved with every person seeking her help. Indeed, Conway has clients enter each of their goals – as well as the step-by-step progress they’re making – on the Smartsheet template. “Smartsheet allows me to understand exactly what’s going on with each person I’m working with,” explains Conway. “This is a technology that makes me much more effective at what I do.”

Launching a New Product More Effectively

Conway and her team are rolling out a new downloadable online product, an audio program that helps motivate and inspire African Americans. And Smartsheet will play a role in making sure the product’s return policy is equitable for both Conway’s company as well as consumers. Here’s how: all users will be asked to enter the specific things they’ve learned from the audio program on Smartsheet for the first 30 days. If they feel the product isn’t teaching them anything, and want their money back, Conway and her team will review their Smartsheet templates. “This isn’t about money, it’s really about gaining insight and knowledge,” explains Conway. “And sometimes people don’t know what they’re actually learning. I believe that Smartsheet will help our users recognize their progress and appreciate the value of the product we’ve created.”

Establishing Productive Partner Relationships

Conway and her team use Smartsheet to manage all their projects with partners. This allows her small company to drive the agenda with even the largest organizations because each interaction is that much more productive. “Some of the huge players we deal with are amazed at our efficiency,” says Conway. “They think we’re a much bigger corporate player than we are, and this has led to expanded and sustained business relationships with them. Our next step is getting all these partners to use Smartsheet themselves.” Conway is definitely a powerful entrepreneurial force to be reckoned with, and as she scales her commercial empire-in-the-making, she’s always thinking about innovative new ways to use Smartsheet’s technology.

“Wherever I go in business,” she promises, “Smartsheet will be right by my side.”