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Clients

What Our Strategic Planning Clients Say About Us
"All of the major initiatives our company has undertaken over the past several years are the direct result of our annual Strategic Planning work with your firm." - Douglas F. Brush, Chairman Sentry Group Rochester, New York
"One of the key things about Craig Stokely that would be easy to overlook is his use of very simple but proven questions to approach complex business issues like strategic planning or customer satisfaction. He is excellent at running meetings, facilitating teams through difficult decisions, making them prioritize and select. He has a well-defined, proven process that begins with gaining a consensus on the current situation and then steps through a set of strategic questions to arrive at an action plan. This action plan is an excellent tool for management to use to establish key activities, create accountability and a time line to report on. You don't end up with a book that's going to sit on a shelf and gather dust with Craig. You end up with an action plan that is unrelenting. At Clarke it's been impressive to see Craig grasp the core business issues of a set of companies that are in service, distribution, manufacturing and chemical blending. We are a diverse set of players with different levels of business skills in an old company that needed to rethink things. Clarke has been able to grow substantially, in a managed fashion, and organize itself as a company at an entirely new level. During the period of time Craig has been involved with us we have doubled in size. Clarke has recently been selected as the winner of the Loyola Family Business Award." - Joseph A. Drago, Chief Financial Officer Clarke Mosquito Control Companies Roselle, Illinois
"Our management team is focused and excited about the direction set forth in our strategic planning session. Your facilitation and guidance was instrumental in creating the perfect 'roadmap' for Power Sentry. We look forward to implementing/achieving our goals and continuing our relationship with your company." - Mark A. Schaffner, President Power Sentry, Philips Accessories & Computer Peripherals Ledgewood, New Jersey
"Craig Stokely did an excellent job in facilitating our strategic planning meeting. He kept us focused on the strengths and weaknesses of our company and the markets we sell to. The end result was a set of optimistic yet achievable goals and an action plan to reach those goals that all top managers agreed upon." - Karen Whistler, President Redi-Tag Corporation Cypress, California
"It was amazing to me that we were able to accomplish so much in just two days. Your ability to stay "on track" with the process and expertise in keeping us focused on our objectives and goals made it possible." - James R. Bankes, President/CEO Samsill Corporation Fort Worth, Texas
"I wanted you to know how pleased we were with the entire strategic planning process conducted for our board of directors and staff. From your precise articulation of how our goals should be established, your coordination of the marketing research phase, and your excellent leadership of the strategic planning session with the board, you demonstrated your professionalism. I am convinced that the new Association for Corporate Growth will be a direct outgrowth of your efforts." - Carl A. Wangman, CAE, Executive Director Association for Corporate Growth Glenview, Illinois
"Our strategic planning session was successfully accomplished because of Craig Stokely's experience in keeping the focus on the important issues, by establishing discipline in the process, the objectives and the schedule, but most importantly by facilitating in a way that everybody's opinions were heard and taken into consideration." - C.P. Luis R. Fernandez I, Director General/CEO Novamex El Paso, Texas
"Craig Stokely did a great job helping Mortar Net USA, Ltd. define it's goals and set a course of action. We were all amazed at how much progress we made in just three days....and we had fun." - Karren Lee, General Manager Mortar Net USA Ltd. Gary, Indiana
"Craig Stokely did a great job 'digging in' to better understand our business. These efforts along with his professionalism made our planning session extremely productive. We look forward to working with Craig in the future." - Mikel S. Briggs, President Bretford Manufacturing, Inc. Franklin Park, Illinois
"Fox Valley Volunteer Hospice was certainly blessed to have you share your knowledge and talents leading our retreat. As board president, I feel much more confident that we will achieve our goals. We now have an easy to read and concise document to refer to when planning for the future. We wouldn't have accomplished this in one day - and with fun - without your guidance." - Pat Engel, President Fox Valley Volunteer Hospice Geneva, Illinois
"Your strategic planning process gives our company the opportunity to break down what is important and what our focus needs to be." - David Gould, President Gould, Inc. Duluth, Georgia
What Our Mergers & Acquisitions Clients Say About Us
"Craig Stokely did an excellent job in working with us in our efforts to locate an acquisition candidate. He gained an understanding of our business and our goals as step one. He then located several candidates worthy of consideration. He did a fine job in communicating with prospects and helping evaluate these opportunities. He was always professional in his dealings with us and with prospects." - George L. Leasure, President Ghent Manufacturing Inc. Lebanon, Ohio
"You worked tirelessly to find the right buyer for our company, and then represented us with integrity in negotiating the transaction. I will be using your services again." - Walter Smith, President Advantage Office Systems Mountain View, California
"While you represented the seller of the company we purchased, I am so impressed with how you created a Win/Win for both of us that we want to retain your firm for our own acquisition program." - Shaffique Verjee, President and CEO The International Source for Ergonomics Toronto, Canada
"The Stokely Partnership has been an invaluable asset to Innovative Market Solutions. During the InView product development, licensing, and commercialization they brought robust industry expertise and an established network of key industry players. The Stokely Partnership added additional credibility to a strong product concept providing concrete development and marketing feedback through the development cycle. Furthermore, they secured industry presentations and made huge efforts on our behalf throughout contract negotiations and execution. We have every confidence in The Stokely Partnership and look forward to continuing our relationship." - Steve Kraus, President Innovative Market Solutions Stamford, Connecticut
"We appreciate and value the role you played in this successful transaction." - Gary S. Miller, Executive VP Herman Miller Inc. Zeeland, Michigan
"You have our unqualified recommendation to anyone seeking to sell their business. You are a pleasure to work with." - Dale Montague, Co-owner Envirogen International, Inc. Costa Mesa, California
"You found the right buyer for our company. I am impressed with the way you represented us in this work." - Everett T. Bahre, Chairman T-Com, LLC Sunnyvale, California
What Our Marketing & Marketing Research Clients Say About Us
"Before I met Craig Stokely we had run the gauntlet of improving the business efficiencies of the company as much as we could, and we still were not getting traction in terms of profitability and growth. Craig did a great job understanding our very niche, marketing based company. He helped us get a focus on our customers. We reorganized our publishing along readership lines, and this had dramatic impact on customer satisfaction. Additionally he focused us on the key business metrics, including direct marketing. We were able to make decisions faster and grow the company very substantially. I was impressed with the depth and breadth of his knowledge. Through this work we were well positioned to be acquired by a larger company at an excellent price." - Joseph A. Drago, President Dartnell Corporation Chicago, Illinois
"You helped our company understand what it takes to be successful in the new market we want to penetrate, and how to do it." - Laura Milani, President Organizing Products Inc. Chicago, Illinois
"We have found no better way to understand the experiences of our Customers and Employees than through your research techniques. The investment we make in these satisfaction audits continues to pay us dividends. We plan to implement them regularly." - Brian Ziegler, President Ziegler's Ace Hardware Group Elgin, Illinois