Stories That Work™ Training & Coaching

Thank you so much. Your workshop was extremely helpful! I gave a summarized training to our interns today and I know they enjoyed it as well.

I work in a multitude of capacities (research, new business coordination, managing our internship program and various other internal projects), so it meant a lot to me that I was able to extrapolate learnings into all areas of my unique role. I look forward to implementing your lessons.

—Lauren Durand, Strategic Planner, Momentum Worldwide, St. Louis

5 Stars. Best writing class I've ever taken. Gerry's presentation is clear, the content completely relevant, and his style is perfect for those who are scared to write.

—Brenda Silva, Account Executive, Ogilvy, NYC

I really enjoyed Gerry's class. He worked in exercises that were real world and they make the learning tangible.

—Ali Smith, Account Manager, R/GA, NY

I highly recommend Gerry Lantz to companies who want to raise the performance level of their managers in business communications. He's a great teacher and brings a wealth of experience to his sessions.

For Ogilvy, he has taught basic and advanced business writing courses which consistently get top ratings. Our account managers speak very highly of his skills and what they learn.

He's effective, creative, and a great guy to work with.

—Ms. Laura Tessinari, Senior Partner, Director of Organizational Learning & Development Ogilvy

Gerry Lantz is excellent - smart, straight-shooter, relevant, receptive, constructive, balanced and inspirational. Have already begun to employ the learning.

—Maryanne DePresco, Partner, Management Supervisor, Ogilvy

This course captures and delivers so much writing wisdom and put it right at my fingertips. I can apply a more persuasive structure to my business writing right away. Gerry is so human and positive.

—Chris Gierlich, Director, Experience Design, DRAFTFCB

Gerry made the entire room feel welcome and unafraid to share their work and ideas. I will now write clearer and simple emails. Gerry is persuasive, engaging and energetic.

—Jon Morgan, Copywriter, R/GA

Gerry is very charismatic and understands the challenges and barriers to peresuasive communication.

—Shirley Wong, Assisant Director, Data Intelligence, R/GA

Gerry's class offers insightful and useful tools for those of us business profession who've gotten a little rusty and need some tuning up. The content and Gerry's style are just awesome.

—John Charles Scott, Account Supervisor, DRAFTFCB

I found your training session extremely helpful and something that I will be able to draw upon to improve my writing on a daily basis. Not only was the content extremely relevant, but it was presented in an engaging and fun way. Very captivating.

—Michael Harp, Account Supervisor OgilvyOne

Gerry made this subject fun and informative. I learned how to simplify my writing and get the reader's attention. I'm actually looking forward to writing my next email!

—Randi Silverman, Partner,Account Supervisor,Ogilvy

The exercises were helpful, real-life, and actionable. They brought learnings to life. I've been persuaded by this course!

—Brook-Lynn Luat, Senior Planner, R/GA

Gerry made it a point to tie each exercise to my day-to-day work.

—Matt Barnes, Media Supervisor, DRAFTFCB

Gerry clearly has the experience and know-how it takes to make all of us in the client service business better writers.

—Mike Fayne, Sr. Producer, R/GA, NYC

Gerry is very charismatic and understand the challenges and barrier to persuasive communication in business.

—Shirley Wong, Associate Director, Data Intelligence, R/GA, NY

Gerry Lantz rocks the writing game!!

—Carlene Mahanna, Creative Recruiter, R/GA, Interactive, NYC

Gerry Lantz from Stories That Work is my “go-to” trainer for business writing. From the basics to more advanced persuasive communications, Gerry customizes his approach to address the unique challenges of people in distinct roles. His many years of experience in our industry make him uniquely qualified to deliver relevant and experiential courses teaching the 5 CoreStory Outlines for Business Documents. Participants consistently give his classes rave reviews and can immediately put their learning into action. Plus, Gerry has been great to work with. He’s flexible and always helps find the right solution for whatever challenge we’re facing.

—Leslie Heller, former VP, Manager of Professional Development, DRAFTFCB

I strongly recommend Gerry Lantz to any company which wants to give itself an extra edge. Because when it comes to teaching writing skills to mid-level and senior managers, I know of no better coach and mentor than Gerry.

For us here at OgilvyOne, he has gotten rave reviews for both his advanced business writing course and his seminar on "How to Write and Manage E-mails".

The content is relevant because he uses writing samples from students' own workflow. He tailors everything and gives loads of individualized attention so that outcomes are relevant to both the student and the organization. And that's why we bring him back again and again.

—Chuck Guariglia, former Director, Career Development,OgilvyOne, NYC

I printed Gerry's "5 CoreStory Outlines for Business Documents" and have them on my wall. After applying them a couple of times, business writing, even complicated documents, became second nature. Gerry's course doesn't just cover how to write, but how to think. He teaches you how to use writing as a way to organize your thoughts.

—Gina Ciniglio, Partner, Account Supervisor, Ogilvy

Gerry taught me to think more and therefore, write less. He is down to earth, clearly someone who has been in the trenches.

—Robert Sadowski, Senior Producer, R/GA

Gerry speaks with knowledge about both writing and our business, so it is easier to everything we learned right away.

—Chris Emond, Account Manager, R/GA

Gerry's course was the perfect refresher for those that have been bogged down by stale and overused phrases. He teaches you how to be more personal and direct in your communication.

—Account Director, DRAFTFCB

Gerry is very in-tune with current communication needs . . . refreshing to see that someone feels our pain.

—Liz Solomon, Account Executive, Ogilvy

BUSINESS WRITING: THE WHAT VS. THE HOW

For most people in business, WHAT to write is not their problem — they are experts about their work, their product, or their service—

BUT, they struggle with HOW to get their messages down on paper, into an email or a presentation, or out verbally in a speech or pitch.

After writing professionally for nearly 30 years in marketing and communications and having read thousands of business documents across many industries, I am convinced there only five outlines to any business document you may want to write.

And, if you could learn these outlines, have them injected into your veins so they come out of your keyboard or pen naturally when you sit down to write, you will never struggle again with the question "how should I write this?"

Whether your purpose is to:

inform or report,
confirm or document,
analyze,
plan,
persuade,

. . .the documents that fulfill these purposes have a three-part outline, just as any story does: a beginning, middle and end.

These beginnings, middles, and ends are different and specific to each business purpose for writing. Yet, they are simple and learnable. So short and easy that all five CoreStory™ Outlines fit on a page. No matter how complex or long a document is, these five outlines can simplify your writing task.

THE STORIES THAT WORK® APPROACH TO BUSINESS WRITING IS:

relevant
customized
reinforced over time so learning "sticks."

Why?

The method is not lecture, but lots of practice. Participants write and edit early and often: before, during, and between sessions, if there are multiple sessions. Multiple sessions are recommended so learning "sticks." Skills and solutions analyzed and taught in the first session are practiced between sessions and reinforced in second or third sessions.
Training and coaching is diagnostic and remedial: moving participants from what they know and can do to what they don't know and a higher and more confident skill level.
Course content is relevant: because I take multiple consultative steps to get actual working documents from clients, so that learning occurs within the stuff that they write everyday.
Grammar, syntax, and usage is taught within the context of actual working documents: rather than as principles or as exercises in some off-the-shelf seminar.

Variable Class size based on goals:

Fifteen or fewer is ideal for the most individualized attention.
Large groups are possible, especially when the goals are tightly focused, e.g., effective emails.
Individual coaching for intensive skills development or document or presentation development and editing.

Flexible Sessions:

lunch-n-learn
half day, full day
two and three session workshops
30-60-90 Day Guaranteed Improvement Program
retained coaching, consulting and editing