Testimonials

"Excellent, helpful for my everyday performance in how to engage with employees and for personal situations. The program helped me to become a better leader."

"I found the discussion and tools very helpful with handling calls. My confidence will increase with these tools over time."

"As always, Doug is well-spoken and easy to follow. the program covered a wide variety of topics effectively."

"What fresh, new ideas about leadership. It was terrific. Different style, great instructor!"

"Doug has been working with us to improve communications within the Finance organization since the summer of 2011. I have personally worked with him for the past three months to develop my own management skills. Both Doug's group presentations and one-on-one coaching sessions have produced remarkable results in opening up the lines of communication within my department, and have challenged me to grow as a manager more quickly than I thought possible. I look forward to working with him in the future." 

"The program offered a lot of valuable information. Doug was excellent!"

"Very informative with great interaction. Allowed co-workers who normally would not know each other to interact."

"Interesting, effective, makes you think, makes you aware of the strengths you have already, but haven't utilized or realized."

"Very informative. Great program!"

“Invaluable. How do you put a price tag on this content? The ideas and values are viral. They spread to the people we as leaders have committed to serve with our guidance. I can’t thank you enough!”

"Purposeful and driven towards success. Deliverables and desired outcomes clearly defined prior to meeting and achieved."

"Great presentation!"

“Excellent communication and engagement! Very detail oriented and great explanation of the material and concepts.”

"Hi Doug, I really enjoyed the two sessions I took with you at the APC conference in Orlando.  I’ve been able to immediately put some things in use – so great success and ROI!  I have also raved about your sessions to my boss and the CEO. "    

"Content was relative, presentation was very good. Doug kept all of us involved and interested"

"The program was amazing. Many useful tools and techniques resonate with me. I am confident and know I will continue to be a successful leader."

"Please come back and continue this! Thank you so very much for being here - loved hearing you."

"Loved the program. Strong, easy to use content. Great handouts. Doug used situations and examples many encounter regularly. Very applicable."

"Doug's Sales Simplified program was very helpful to me. I learned how to have more productive and engaging conversations with my customers. I liked the interactive nature of the presentation."

"Very well done. Morale booster for the group. Happy we had it."

"Very positive and good insight for sales opportunities."

“Lots of energy, easy to understand and extremely informative!”

"The best sales/motivational class I've taken in 30 years of sales and marketing."

"Working with Doug Van Dyke over the past few years has been a great experience. Doug's training and coaching has strengthened each of the individuals in Profit Management as well as the overall team. He has given me tools to improve my communication skills and leadership abilities. This has had a positive impact on my entire team. This coaching process has proven to be an integral part of our team moving forward. Doug possesses an energy that is stimulating, motivating, and fun. I look forward to working with him again in the future."

"When I first learned about the program I was a bit overwhelmed and concerned that "leadership" was going to be so broad I wouldn't know where or how to apply it in my real life. But I quickly learned that was not a problem!" 

"The course was excellent. I need to go review all the concepts since it is content-heavy and put them into practice one or two at a time."

"I thought there were many great ideas and takeaways. If we are able to implement even one idea it will benefit us greatly. I appreciate the content and will use it to grow as a leader."

"Very informative and exactly as advertised, very interactive, big plus!"

"Effective, informative and very useful. Good review of concepts of active listening and personal selling."

"On behalf of Partnership for Philanthropic Planning of Tampa Bay we thank you for sharing your knowledge, tools and techniques to help our members achieve success in their work place.   The feedback we received from today's program was wonderful! The program was very enlightening; an important topic with valuable information and useful strategies.   Thank you again for sharing your wealth of knowledge and I hope we can work together again in the near future."  

"Great program, very informative. Doug creates an atmosphere that allows people to open up, face their fears, and triumph without fear of failure. The constructive feedback from the group is so well structured."

"Enjoyed the program very much - very informative. Lots of great 'usable' information."

"I really enjoyed the program. I will be doing a lot of public speaking & presentations in my new role at Trustmark. Your insight, wisdom, and tools are of great value. Thank you."

"Thank you for your assistance in keeping us focused and from becoming overwhelmed by the work ahead of us."

"It was great! Well thought out with useful suggestions such as Priority Communication Tool, Delegation, and Time MGMT."

"Thank you Doug, You are a wonderful facilitator and I truly believe you have helped us develop a great working relationship between the conservation, sales, administrative and conservation teams. Looking forward to possibly working together during our annual meeting as well as with other internal departments."

"Thanks again for the training session this week. I received excellent feedback from our leaders and was surprised that many of the attendees had little if any knowledge of the many techniques you so effectively demonstrated. I'm already forecasting the future financial gain as a result of the improved productivity and collaboration!"      

“Starting a new restaurant or any business involves many critical factors and one of the most important is a solid business plan. DVD Consulting not only made the process enjoyable, their skill and professionalism far exceeded my expectations. Many thanks to Doug Van Dyke for creating a plan that is comprehensive, intelligent and most of all, honest! I will certainly use your services again in the near future.”

“Steel In The Air retained DVD Consulting for the purpose of evaluating a number of potential business ventures that had presented themselves to the organization and were causing deep division in focus. Doug Van Dyke (the facilitator) created a one day event to assist us in weighing the merits of each venture and in ferreting out the real “expense” to the organization in both time and money. Doug thoughtfully and expertly led discussions, keeping them from derailing off track or getting too heated, funneling the creative process in a productive manner. At the end of the day, we had a road map to follow, one decidedly different than any of the management members expected going into the event. This roadmap eventually proved to be successful and we won a large contract. What truly impressed us was the way in which Doug guided conversation without ever steering the decision making process. He asked thought provoking questions and managed our sometimes heated discussion with tact. Doug then presented us with a thorough copy of notes from the discussion and a game plan crafted from the meeting.”

"Good, presented a different perspective that I have seen before."

"Very good and productive! Great information on holding effective meetings."

"Very helpful. I am always in learning mode and appreciate when my expectations are met."

"Doug is an amazing teacher with a lot of experience. He shared many valuable examples of his own and ways to handle the situation. His class is very helpful in addition it will help you in your workplace dealing with an array of personalities."

“Very informative and is relevant to my work as a team leader”

“Dear Doug, I wanted to let you know the good news, that we just this week sold our shop. As you may remember, Eddie and I purchased Marion Smith Florist 10 years ago with virtually no equity to our name. We were able to get $650,000 for the business, and are holding no notes, during a challenging retail environment. I think back often and realize that none of this would have been possible without your dedication and creativity. I can’t thank you enough for not discarding our intentions and instead working with us to help us realize our dream. Now I have new dreams, and am looking forward to investing in another business, but this time with an MBA degree behind me and significantly more equity.”

"I felt this was a robust program. I found you to be direct and engaging. You listened to our challenges and then introduced tools to help us succeed."

"Lots of great ideas, very well-presented."

"Doug's strategic planning session was very good for our team. We moved along. The exercises were applied to help give construct."

"Great day of focusing on skills often forgotten in the day to day business world. Learned a lot: goals, time management, numerous sales techniques, leadership and communication." 

"Great! Good skills to learn that can be adapted and work on a daily basis."

"I thought the program was excellent!"

“I have worked with Doug Van Dyke over the past couple years. His techniques and coaching have made me a more confident and successful sales consultant. In 2009, I was awarded the top sales consultant in my company!”

"Much more detailed action items, 'deeper' items to handle and prioritize. Glad folks were honest."

"The Leadership Development Program provides tools and concepts that will allow a leader to heighten their skills and bring the value back to the company. Excellent presentation of how to utilize the tools and concepts with lots of 'stickability.'"

"Very practical and good tools. Good examples throughout will help me be a stronger team leader and coach others."

"This program really pushed me to question my own leadership style and challenged me to improve, develop, and grow - both myself and my team."

“The program was very engaging. Really enjoyed the personal stories that ‘drove the message home!’”

"Great content. Doug was terrific at adapting message to the audience."

“Thank you for all of your work with our team. The initiative was a complete success. Your unique team building activities and the individual coaching sessions made a tremendous difference in our team. You helped create a positive and productive work environment. The individual coaching sessions were especially meaningful. You not only helped in my management development, but you helped make me a better person. Please feel free to use my name as a reference. I would be happy to speak with anyone regarding the quality of the work that you do.”

"Excellent topics and very well organized. Tools I can go back and immediately begin applying."

“Doug Van Dyke and Leadership Simplified have conducted numerous leadership programs for the Clerk's office and the results have been remarkable. His one-on-one coaching with my management staff has helped these leaders perform at a higher level and lead their teams with confidence and clarity. His ability to effectively interact with a wide-array of personalities simply amazes me. Doug has also performed his 360-degree peer review for many of my leaders and their teams, which provided important feedback to both management and staff. This resulted in better communication, a common vision, and less workplace conflict. Doug’s teambuilding training has increased collaboration and productivity in multiple departments at the Clerk’s office. I am very pleased with Doug’s work. He is a wonderful coach, educator and mentor.”

"The program is very informative and effective. I can apply it directly to my job to be better at what I do. The real-life scenarios were very helpful."

"Doug turned on some of the topics such as delegation, priority management, power plan that were very beneficial to me."

"Very well done - perfect timing for me"

"I have worked with Doug for several years now. What always amazes me, is the scope of knowledge that he brings to the table. Whether it is customer service, time management, management, leadership, vendor relations, hiring, etc. Doug is definitely a great asset and he has helped me and my company be more productive multiple times."

"Best class ever. Day flew by!"

"Great program. Common sense that is summarized neatly in an easy to use tool."

"Thank you for a great day of training.  The material was both informative and engaging.  I appreciate the material you delivered and am amazed that you are able to keep your energy up for an entire 8 hours the way that you do.  I spent 2-3 hours with you years ago and the same energy you had for that 2-3 hours was shown for the entire 8 hour training yesterday.  Thank you for the great tools offered and I look forward to implementing both the Working agreement and also more focused meetings starting with the 15 minute standing meeting."  

"Especially at this point on our many change initiative journeys, this was perfectly timed. i will begin working with working agreements and power paraphrasing immediately."

"Excellent. Extremely helpful. Great examples..."

"What a great way for us to open up about our issues in the workplace."

“Hi Doug,  Thanks for sharing tonight at the Centre Club’s Social Media panel presentation. I really appreciated your insight on LinkedIn strategies. I learned a ton!!”

"Doug has the uncanny ability to present a topic in straight forward, easy to understand language. Many people find themselves moving from a worker role to a leadership role with little formal training. This book lays the groundwork for a new leader to rise to the top. Fundamentals presented in a straightforward manner makes this one of the best books on the subject available today. I highly recommend it."

"Great program!! I gained a lot of valuable information."

"I attended your Leadership Simplified Boot Camp last Friday. I enjoyed the training very much and have already implemented some of your suggestions. Thank you so much."

"I thought it was great and I plan to utilize the concepts immediately."

"Great reminder of what top performers must continually practice to WIN!"

"This program has helped me communicate in the work place and in my personal life."

“Very informative and opened my eyes to areas of leading that I have been neglecting of late.”

"Awesome program! I learned a number of new techniques to more effectively lead, not only in corporate America, but at home, interacting with my family as well. Doug has an extremely positive, wonderful attitude. I truly enjoyed real-life examples Doug shared through his consulting practice."

"This program really hit the target today in meeting the needs of the organization. Great boot camp!"

"This program was easy to understand. It was a great experience for me and helped me to re-think how to do my job better."

"Fantastic! Informative. Doug's material and delivery is creative. I am now able to see and observe things that were not obvious to me before. I can use these techniques in my professional and personal life."

"I like Doug's interactive, casual yet natural presentation style. It makes the information easy to hear and retain."

"Very impressed that Doug could keep us so engaged/entertained through an entire day. I am excited to put what I have learned to practice."

"Very valuable; especially in the tech world with all the linear thinkers."

“Doug Van Dyke from DVD Consulting facilitated our multi-day, annual retreat and he was excellent. He kept a very diverse group of people on track and helped us accomplish much more than we could have dreamed. Doug was a great choice and I highly recommend him.” 

"Lots of very valuable information, presented in a clear and concise manner. Great tools for leadership."

"Thank you for the excellent job you did in facilitating our strategy meeting. As you know, our company is going through some major changes related to growth and we requested your help in leading an all-day, offsite strategy session. We were primarily looking for a high energy agenda that would promote team building. We also wanted the experience to be valuable to our entire team as all company employees would be in attendance. Not only did you deliver what we were looking for, your personality was pleasant and not overbearing as has sometimes been my experience. You were very attentive to the needs of our particular group and the activities that you arranged were both fun and meaningful. As a result, we are now a more closely knit team. Everyone enjoyed their day and we are looking forward to our next similar event."

"High value in short time"

"I enjoyed learning about the various tools that can be implemented to have a more effective and accountable organizational structure."

"Great experience, provided effective tools for the workplace in a positive and open environment."

"I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed the Speaking Simplified course. It was phenomenal! I learned a great deal and will not forget the golden nuggets of information that were provided."

"On behalf of Leadership Pinellas, I thank you for your outstanding presentation to kick off our speaker series. We have received such positive feedback from many of the attendees on how much they benefitted from your message. I look forward to our paths crossing again in the near future!"

"Doug is a chamber member, trustee and valued resource. He leads our trustee monthly peer exchanges which many describe as the enduring value of our program. Doug's breadth of knowledge of the business environment allows him to expertly cover virtually any topic that comes up in these often-spirited discussions. Doug is very incisive in his ability to assess issues and his manner allows me to work through the options and personally 'own' the solution. Unflappable, Doug is a trusted friend and advisor."

"Written by an experienced speaker and training expert, Leadership Simplified presents a breezy, fast-paced guide to becoming an effective leader. Based on work with thousands of professionals, the book blends anecdotes and practical advice as it breaks down the steps toward becoming a successful leader into a series of well-defined tasks. With an informal style, clear action points, and intriguing stories, the book is a refreshing antidote to the more ponderous works dealing with the issues of leadership."

"A very good review of tried and true methods as well as a great introduction to new ideas."

"The team building program was very informative and helpful. I loved the day planning ideas. Doug's sessions are always a great time!"

"Doug was an engaging and inspiring speaker. I hav ebeen to several leadership trainings in the past and I can say that this training was excellent. The material was clear and easy to apply. I will be using some skills I leaerned to better communicate with other managers and my team. I also have new tools to use when managing my time to make sure all my efforts are geared towards meeting our organization's goals."      

"Really Really Good!! You do a wonderful job!!"