Update: New EDMIS Error Dashboard & 641 Intake Form for your website

We keep improving GrowthWheel NG (Next Generation) for SBA-funded agencies with a new simple way to get an overview of errors on the 641 form — before you submit to EDMIS!

With the new “EDMIS view” you can now see any errors all your clients 641 data including the intake form and the counseling sessions.
With a list of error count it’s very easy for all advisors to check missing client information or wrong data and make the updates needed.

In this way you always know — in advance — when your client's records are ready to be reported to SBA.

You will also have a new “Last Updated” date indicator that will turn red after 90 days without any update on the client’s 641 information. This way you can make sure your clients' information is up-to-date.

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In this short video, Elizabeth Binning will show you how this feature works:

Updated 641 Intake form sharing settings
— Share or embed in your website your 641 intake form 

You can now share the 641 intake form with your clients online.

Find your custom link sharing on the new "Intake Form" submenu under your “Profile Settings” menu. Each advisor on GrowthWheel Online will have a unique link to share. 

You can also embed the 641 intake form on your website. Copy the embed code from your intake form settings page and copy it to your webpage. 

We continue our work with GrowthWheel NG (Next Generation) to be EDMIS (SBA) Compatible...

What is coming next?

• Register your 888 training sessions with aggregated numbers

What is coming later?

• Simple Export: All 641 and 888 report files in XML format for upload on EDMIS NG.

• Easy migration: Seamless import of your historic 641 and 888 data

• Register your 888 training sessions with individual participants

New feature: SBA Counseling Sessions

As part of our new GrowthWheel NG features, you can now easily track your Client’s Impact Records on each counseling session with our recent update in GrowthWheel Online.

With the new SBA Counseling Record you will have a pop-up which makes gathering impact information from meetings with clients easy and simple.

As on the 641 form you will get instant notifications for missing or invalid data.

This release will help you:

• Add all your SBA required information from each meeting

• Register impact data, if the client has received funding

• Select which sessions are reportable to SBA

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In this short video, Elizabeth Binning will show you how this feature works:

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Track your Client’s funding
— And choose which sessions you will report to SBA

We have integrated conditional logic so you will see the funding specification only if you check that your client has received funding.

Also you get to choose which counseling sessions are reportable to SBA or not. Only reportable sessions will be included in the EDMIS report.

New feature: Client Intake Forms Lets Your Clients Self-register

We think you will love everything about the new way for your clients to selfregister through the GrowthWheel Client's Intake Form, our most recent update.

Having clients sign up to your programs, register for training courses from your website, and immediately have their information in your CRM system has never been easier.

Sharing your custom link with clients to self-register will automatically create a new pre-client on GrowthWheel Online, under your organization, which you can later invite to the platform to continue collaborating.

This release will help you:

• Access your intake form sharing options from your “Profile Settings” page

• Embed the intake form into your website for online registrations

• Open your client's intake form from the “Client Relation” menu to review or make changes

• Each advisor has their intake form custom link, so clients are associated with them

• Clients can accept and give permission to your custom terms at the intake form

We hope that this new user-friendly feature makes gathering data and onboarding your clients into your program simple and easy.

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In this short video, Elizabeth Binning will show you how this feature works:

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Intake form sharing settings
— Share or embed your intake form with just a few clicks

Find your custom link sharing on the new "Intake Form" submenu under your “Profile Settings” menu. Each advisor on GrowthWheel Online will have a unique link to share. This way, all clients signed up using their link will be associated with them immediately.

You can also embed the intake form on your website. Copy the embed code from your intake form settings page and copy it to your webpage. Clients can self-register to your services, courses, programs or else, with the GrowthWheel Intake Form.

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Keep your client’s profiles up to date
— All information is instantly added to GrowthWheel Online!

Once an intake form is received and the new pre-client is created, you will find that the information entered on the intake form will also be saved across the different pages in GrowthWheel Online: the business profile, demographics, engagement, etc. This way, you can keep updating it as you continue working with your clients.

You can also click the intake form button under the client relation menu to reopen the initial intake form for review or make necessary changes.

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New feature for SBDC’s: 641 Forms on GrowthWheel NG (beta)

We are happy to introduce GrowthWheel NG (next generation) for SBA-funded agencies as a beta version, and — yes — you can use it to report to SBA in the near future!

You can now have your clients fill out their own 641 form in GrowthWheel Online. When you review their information, you will see an indicator if the information is missing or has improper validation.

With this release, you will be able to:

• Have your clients fill out their 641 form on their GrowthWheel account

• Fill out the 641 form yourself on GrowthWheel Online under "the “Client Relation” menu

• Share with clients the intake form and see the information on their 641 form

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In this quick video, Elizabeth Binning will show you how it works:

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Instant validations indicators
— Get error-free reports right away!

The system will automatically recognize fields with missing information or wrong validations, show an indicator with the error count, and highlight the field that requires changes.

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And this is just the beginning...

What is coming (very) soon?

• Register your counseling sessions with all SBA requirements.

• Have your clients fill out the 641 form as an intake form.

What's next?

• Register your 888 training sessions. 

• Export the 641 and 888 report files to upload on EDMIS NG.

Update: Improved design for tracking “Interactions”

This month we re-designed the interaction’s dialog so you now have an even better experience when you invite clients for a meeting or make meeting notes.

It is easier now to focus on the separate sections throughout the meeting with clients. You can open or close the different sections on the pop-up to add information through the meeting.

Now you can download the interaction directly from the pop-up. And as usual, decide to share with your clients with one click on the share button!

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In this video, Elizabeth Binning will show you the recent upgrade to the “Interactions”:

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Instant updated interaction’s drafts
— All added information is automatically saved!

All interactions are automatically saved as Drafts, that means your clients will not see anything until you share the interaction with them.

We also added an “auto-save” functionality, so every time you make a change or add some new information, it is automatically saved without the need to click the save button.

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New update: Google Address Lookup

With our newest addition of the Google Address Lookup you and your clients will have an easier, faster and accurate way to enter a business address. 

You now can:

• Quickly lookup for your client’s address information using Google’s database

• Have your clients search for their address when filling out their intake form

• Add a second address; personal, P.O. Box, or any other address in a separate field

We hope that this upgrade helps make sure your address information is always correct.

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In this short video, Elizabeth Binning will show you how to use this new feature:

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It could not be easier to find your client’s address
— Use the Google Address Lookup function!

Start typing your client’s address and select an option from Google’s suggestions. The rest of the fields like, county, city, state, and postal code will automatically be calculated!

Remember you can add any alternative as a second address in a separate field.

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New update: Framework Videos

Everybody loves videos and now, we have added new videos you can share with clients to all the Frameworks in GrowthWheel Online!

If you like to use and share GrowthWheel Frameworks to give clients a visual inspiration for making decisions you now have videos to go with them.

In GrowthWheel we are all about making your job easier, so you can be the Best Business Advisor you can be. 

We hope that these new short videos will save you time explaining a concept and make sure your clients are better prepared when they meet you.

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In this quick video, Elizabeth Binning will show you how it works:

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Short and animated videos
—for each GrowthWheel Framework

Click the orange video icon to open and watch the video. They all have a 90 second animated, descriptive video made to improve the GrowthWheel experience.

When you send a GrowthWheel Framework to a client they will also see the icon next to the thumbnail in the email.

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Update of the GrowthPlan: Updated 360º Screening Colors

We continue to improve our user interface and experience with every release we make to our software. This month, we are happy to introduce a nice enhancement to the GrowthPlan menu on GrowthWheel Online.  

You can now see different color schemes while scoring the different types of screening wheels. 

For the Status Assessment wheel, we added a color scheme that matches our main focus area colors. 

Following with the Opportunity Assessment Wheel we choose a warm scheme to make allusion to a heat map, a graphical representation of data, very useful to identify new opportunities. 

And lastly, for the Skill Assessment, we chose a light-to-dark grey scheme, a neutral color grading, which represents the strengthening of the skills you are about to assess. 

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Updated 360º Screening Wheels colors also visible
— On the downloadable PDF file.

As always, you can download your Screenings. But now with a new and updated color scheme, as separate visual PDF files - or as part of the GrowthPlan report.

New feature: New Quick Access & Help menus with shortcuts

Create records with fewer clicks! With our new “Quick Access” and “Help” menus on GrowthWheel Online, you now have shortcuts to create different records for your clients along with accessing our support center and much more. 

You can now create a client company and add a decision or action to an existing client from our new "Quick Access" menu without navigating through all menus on the platform.

On this menu, you have an overview of all the main features on GrowthWheel Online, which helps you quickly add records for what’s next for your client.

In the new Quick Access Menu, you first select from the dropdown the client you work with. Then you simply click to create a new company, add a team member, add a file, a link, or a note.

You can also add decisions, actions, ambitions, and outcomes with one click or start a 360° Screening directly from the new menu.

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Access Support and Service, Training and Updates
— on the new quick and accessible “Help” menu!

On the new “Help” menu you will find shortcuts to different support options we have for you (previously they were in the footer menu on the page)

You can choose to contact support by email, schedule a coaching call, send your suggestion on how to improve GrowthWheel online or check our monthly release updates or future roadmap directly from here. 

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Manage your licenses, languages, and purchases in the new “Store” menu

You can now access a link to our GrowthWheel Store, request a quote, and manage your language licenses directly from the new “Shop” menu, in addition to request the transfer, or termination of a license.

2020 in Review: New Releases on GrowthWheel Online

Over the course of 2020, we have improved and added new features on GrowthWheel Online thanks to our users' valuable feedback!

We are committed to making continuous and never-ending improvements to the software in collaboration with our users. We release new features every month, and we have hundreds of upcoming features on our road map.

In 2020 we released 10 new features. Check them out below or see them in action on the GrowthWheel Online platform.

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Release overview

January: Update to Financial Overview: Financial Ratios added

We started 2020 with a bang and with a major improvement over the existing Financial Overview menu on GrowthWheel Online.

We added the Ratios feature where you - or your clients - can see all the standard financial ratios automatically calculated as soon as basic financial information is entered on other pages, like the Balance Sheet page or Revenue page.

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February: Geomaps: All your clients. On a map

With this February update to the GrowthWheel Online platform, you now had the ability to get a visual overview of your clients’ locations and easy access to information about them.

On the newly added Geomap, you can see where your clients are located. You can also zoom in on the map or search for cities and postal codes in order to find exactly the area you are interested in.

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March: Update of the GrowthPlan: Improved Mapping of Ambitions

COVID-19 took the world by storm, and the main focus of our March update was to help businesses navigate the challenges that came with the pandemic and rethink their long-term strategies.

We released new features to our Ambitions page, which will support the ongoing process of defining and tracking ambitions, milestones, goals, or visions for the future.

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May: Budgeting Investments

The world was going through turmoil, but our commitment to helping businesses rethink their approach and push through these unprecedented times remained ever so strong.

With this in mind, we released the new investment feature thus aiding businesses in planning and keeping track of current and future investments.

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June: Revenue Budgets. Specified by Products and Markets

We continued developing and improving the GrowthWheel Online platform to help you and your clients cope with the crisis that has affected so many businesses worldwide.

This time, we expanded on our previous update and included the revenue budgets for products and markets feature, thus providing you with an effortless way to budget the revenue per quarter and year.

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July: Improved Budget Feature: Complete Profit and Loss Budget on GrowthWheel Online

For our last update, we released Revenue Budgets broken down by products and markets. We now took this to the finish line and launched a complete budgeting feature to be used by advisors and clients on GrowthWheel Online - the simplest and fastest way to make a budget.

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August: Add Tags and Filter Your Client List

For our August release, we introduced you to the new tagging feature, which will be used to quickly filter and find your client companies by categories that you define yourself.

A very simple feature where you just select your client, type any word you want, click enter, and the tag will be added to that particular client.

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October: Chat with your clients and colleagues

A major feature has been added to the GrowthWheel Online platform - Chat in Real-time.

With this new feature, you can quickly get in touch with a client while simultaneously working on their business.

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November: Advisors’ Personal Notes + Zoom links for meetings

With our November update, we released a brand new Personal Advisors’ Notes feature, where you can now add unlimited notes on all your clients on GrowthWheel Online. 

You can now also add all your custom Video Conference links and choose the one you want to use for each meeting.

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December: Upgraded “Contact View” & new Pre-Clients list

Our December release enabled you to manage your clients more easily via the new and improved menus for all your clients and the new “Pre-Clients” submenu where you can manage potential clients.

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That's all for 2020! Be safe, be well, and stay close by since we will constantly be rolling out new features for the GrowthWheel Online platform and make it better and more productive for you and your clients.

7 Ways to Be the Best Business Advisor You Can Be

After having trained and certified more than 3,500+ business advisors in 49 US states and 60+ countries, this is our take on how to be the best business advisor you can be.

Being a first rank business advisor requires you to become a trusted advisor to your clients. An advisor who understands all aspects of the business focuses on the most important decisions and leaves the client with clear actionable steps after every meeting.

#1 Take a 360° View on the Business

From a glance, it is difficult to know the root cause of a client’s problems or which key decisions will take them to the next level.

The best business advisors take a holistic view of a business before they give advice.

In practical terms, this can be done by using different kinds of assessments, like the GrowthWheel 360° Screening, or other tools like Business Model Canvas, SWOT analysis, and similar.

#2 Focus on Key Decisions

At any given time every business has 100 decisions it could be working on, but some of these decisions are better left for another day.

The best business advisors define the scope of work and focus on a few key decisions at a time.

The way to do this can be to make a list of decisions that are on the agenda and indicate the timing for when a decision should be made. The GrowthWheel 30-60-90 Day Plan can be used for this.

#3 Give Each Client a Custom Experience

All businesses in all industries in all life-stages and of all sizes have the same basic challenges. The solutions, however, are not the same.

The best business advisors assemble a custom toolbox for each client.

The business advisor’s toolstack will consist of anything from presentations, PDF-files, documents, spreadsheets as well as links to online resources. Ideal platforms to keep the tools are cloud-based platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive, or our own GrowthWheel Online.

#4 Create a Process with High Productivity

Many business advisors interact with 50 to 100 client companies a year. Each of them requires special attention.

The best business advisors constantly seek ways to increase their productivity to produce more outcome or to produce the same outcome with less effort.

When working with productivity it may be useful to look at the framework “6 Steps in the Business Advisors Workflow” which is also used in the GrowthWheel Certification Course.

#5   Always Conclude with Action Steps

Entrepreneurs have little patience for conversations that do not produce actions to immediately move them forward.

The best business advisors are action-oriented and always conclude each one-to-one session with a list of next steps.

Many tools can be used to keep track and follow-up on agreed actions. When using the GrowthWheel 30-60-90 Day Plan advisors make sure to check that actions are planned for all decisions.

#6 Track Client Progress

Business owners can easily be distracted from focusing on the most important decisions and action steps.

The best business advisors know they might be the only person to hold clients accountable, and they help keep clients on track.

This can be done by creating and maintaining a list of Ambitions at the beginning of each quarter and end each quarter with a list of outcomes. This the key element in the GrowthPlan on GrowthWheel Online.

#7 Build Consistency and Quality Throughout the Organization

Client companies build trust in an advisor when they experience quality and consistency throughout the organization.

The best business advisors take part in building a quality brand around themselves and their team.

Teams who are committed to using the same platform and the same tools have already taken the first step. If GrowthWheel is that tool it even comes with a world-class training program that allows advisor teams to share the same approach while being able to customize their work to both their own style and the clients’ needs.

New feature: Upgraded “Contact View” & new Pre-Clients list

Manage your clients more easily with our re-designed menus for all your clients and the new “Pre-Clients” submenu. Also, keep in contact with them with our new “Contact View” for easy and fast communication.

With our new release, you now have “Contact View” where you can see the total days of engagement when your next client interaction is scheduled and the days since the last contact. Also, you can now manage potential clients with the new Pre-Client submenu. You can create “Pre-Clients” and fill out their information without inviting them to the platform and without including them in your analytics.

You can quickly convert pre-clients to current clients, so or decide to archive them if you are no longer working with them.

This release will help you:

• Easier contact your clients by phone or email

• Check your upcoming interactions and days since the last interaction

• Work with Pre-Clients, Current Clients, and Archived Clients

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In this quick video, David Madié will show you how it works:

View on VidGrid

Manage your Pre-Clients and Current clients
— Click the bulk action button to change their state

You can now change your client state from the bulk action button. Take into consideration that you will only be able to invite users when they are a current client. Active team members will still have access to the platform after they are moved from Current to Pre-Client or Archived. 

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New feature: Advisors’ Personal Notes + Zoom links for meetings

With our brand new Personal Advisors’ Notes, you can now add unlimited notes on all your clients on GrowthWheel Online.

We are stepping up our Notes feature so you — and your advisory team — can add notes about your clients on the following 3 pages:

• Engagement

• Demographics

• Interactions

You will be able to add, edit, and see who added the notes from your team with the “last updated” date. You can only edit your own notes. If other advisors have added notes you will see who created the note and when. 

In the future, we will continue adding notes on many different pages and records across the system.

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In this quick video, David Madié will show you how it works:

View on VidGrid

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Advisory Team Personal Notes
— Take notes of your clients under Client Relation

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Save default personal Video Conference links
— Access directly from the interactions page

Add all your custom Video Conference links and choose the one you want to use for each meeting. You can also add a new specific link for a one-time interaction.

Click the “Go” green button to go straight to the meeting or click the “Copy” icon to share it.

• Under “Account Settings” add a personal video conference link

• Add custom names to identify each conference link

• Access, copy and delete any link

New feature: Chat with clients (and colleagues)

This month, we are happy to release our new big feature across GrowthWheel Online: Chat in Real-time. Quickly start a conversation with your clients or colleagues inside our online platform for a brief and fast exchange of information.

The new chat window is always visible and will let you start a chat with any contact you have on your center or network, including clients, team members, other advisors, and mentors.

With this feature, you can quickly get in touch with a client while working on their business in the meantime. 

Additionally, you can manage your chat notifications settings where you can choose to receive a chat summary with unread messages.

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In this quick video, David Madié will show you how it works:

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Turn Chat Notifications On/Off
— Contact Status, Notifications Indicators, and more.

Identify when a contact is online or offline on the platform with the new status indicator on the contact photo. A red circle icon will show the number of messages you have received on your contact list. Additionally, if a contact has turned their notifications off, you can choose to contact them directly by email from the chat function.

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New advanced tool: GrowthWheel for Crisis Management

In light of the current pandemic and the major impact on many businesses, your job as a business advisor may be more important than ever before.

On GrowthWheel Online we have a Crisis Management Tool that helps you support businesses during a crisis, and we have decided to offer this tool for free to all our certified advisors because of the current demand as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The tool has 20 visual one-page Decision Sheets that makes it easier to prepare a conversation, or which can just be used as a thinking tool for the business owner him- or herself.

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Some of the tools are: 

• Crisis Description: Make an honest description of all aspects of the crisis

• Solution Planning: Find the best solution to get the company out of the crisis

• Crisis Agenda: Put the most important topics on the management agenda

• Rescue Team: Map out the people that can help save the company

• Contract Negotiation: Explore possibilities to renegotiate contract terms

• Cash Management: Find ways to create better short-term and long-term cash flow

We hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to become an even better business advisor and help your clients navigate through this challenging time.

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