The field of consulting and business training has a reputation, especially among companies' finance executives, as being high on promises and rhetoric and low on results that actually improve performance or increase the bottom line.

The five executives who run Provo-based VitalSmarts have a simple answer to that problem: they offer a guarantee.

President Joseph Grenny, Chief Executive Officer Al Switzler, Chief Development Officer Kerry Patterson, consulting vice president Ron McMillan and executive vice president Mike Carter are well aware of the hurdles they face, even at the helm of a company that has worked with major corporations.

So it is not unusual for VitalSmarts' consultants to put their own fees at risk. For example, for one client, VitalSmarts promised to refund 30 percent of its fees if the client did not see productivity improve by 30 percent, quality by 30 percent and on-time product delivery by 30 percent. The contract also guaranteed a 100 percent bonus to VitalSmarts if the company far exceeded those goals.

VitalSmarts collected the bonus.

VitalSmarts builds its reputation with such best-selling books as "Crucial Conversations," translating the books' reputation and teachings into consulting and other products.

The company's current goals include publishing a best-selling book every two years, as well as publishing research that supports VitalSmarts' effectiveness.