The Advising Session Playbook: A Step-by-Step System for Small Business and Nonprofit Advisors

Every advisor has met the client who asks for a loan and actually needs a pricing plan. Most advisors also have files full of sessions that ended with good conversation and no clear result. The Advising Session Playbook gives you a repeatable system that turns each client engagement into a documented outcome.

This fillable guide is written for generalist advisors at SBDCs, APEX Accelerators, and Women’s Business Centers, for SCORE mentors, and for independent consultants, advisors, and coaches. It comes from roughly 20 years of advising founder-led businesses and nonprofits, and it reflects what works with real clients.

What you will learn

• prepare for a first meeting so the client sees right away that you studied their business.
• tell a startup-phase client from an operating business and send each one to the help that fits.
• run a first session that finds the real problem behind the request.
• one goal the client owns and build a plan around it.
• much more

What is included

• Eleven fillable worksheets that you can use with clients the same week.
• Ready-to-send templates for client emails, scripts, and introductions.
• Survey question bank built around the outcomes funders count.
• Examples featuring a small business, a nonprofit, and a startup-phase client.
• Plain-language definitions of every program name and acronym.
• 
  

Built for paid and unpaid (funded) clients

Many program clients pay nothing for advising, and many advisors also take private clients. Every part of the Playbook shows how the process works in both settings.

Train your whole team

A companion Facilitator’s Guide turns the Playbook into a one-day workshop for new advisors. It includes a full agenda, role-play scenarios, and printable handouts.

The price shown covers a single-user download. The guide also suits advisors who learn best by working through material on their own.

Get your copy today and run your next client session with a clear plan.

Request organizational licensing for your center, network, or team: https://ticalearningsystems.com/licensing, or call 312-878-8824.