SCALE UP Training for Massachusetts Small Businesses

175+ Massachusetts organizations have taken the training.

Accutech Packaging ACE Activate Care Acupuncture Herbs & Beyond Addiction Treatment Center of NE All About the Massage All Sports Heroes Allston Contractors AquaPoint Atlas Analytics AutoGen AXiA Group Axis Technology BEAT Bellforge BES BioBuilder Body Soul Salem Boston Catering & Events Boston Electric Boats Boyajian Inc. The Bridge Group BWA Architects Cambridge Biotherapies Campora Construction Castaway Technologies Central Source Century Tywood Charles River Insurance CIDARE Classic Metal Roofs Cloud Bridge Solutions Cosgrove Construction Creators Financial Dareth Colburn Dissertation Editor Divorce Financial Solutions Ecologic Entomology EMBRACE Boston European Architectural Supply Every Little Word Faulkner HomeCare Feon Energy Fitzgerald Law Company Five Star Companies Green Labs Recycling H2R The Healing Point Hexalog Inc. Hopkinton Center for the Arts Horizons Health & Wellness Hostess Catering Hueson Wire Human Service Forum IG Marston Infra-Red Building & Power Innotech Precision Medical Innovative Cost Solutions Instrument Technology, Inc. Integrated Strategy Consulting Intercultural Productions Interlearn J. Rose Back Office JDE Civil Kathleen A. Morgan KingFish & Partners Leading Cities LEADS M.T. Mayo Corp Maple Bookkeeping Marchand Financial MedSafe MIDE Mueller Corporation Musicians Playground New England Hydropower North Star Recovery Center NourishRX NU Café Nurturing Minds in Africa OHS Training & Consulting Path To A Green Home Persistent Productions Phoenix Inc Pilgrim Innovative Plastics Pirozzi & Associates Plum Pointe Wealth Management PowerPlay Energy Group Prism Benefits Prison Dharma Network Prosper Solutions QCI Engineering Quantum Leap Engineering The Revolutionary Story Tour Rocheleau Tool The Run RX The RX Consulting SMILE Mass Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters Sociedad Latina South Shore Staffing Sportsmens Tennis Enrichment Center Springfield School Volunteers Static Solutions SurgiBox Thorn Industries TillieStar Transcend PM True Wave Corp. TurningPoint Systems Uplift Physio Vecna Technologies Verdolino & Lowey Victory Human Services Wellness Croft Women's Fund SouthCoast World Class Logistics Mgm't WS Associates ZIPIT

Who this is for

Built for the engine of the economy.

Small businesses and nonprofits employ most of the people in this state, and they carry every function on a handful of shoulders. The owner is also the head of sales. Nobody has a spare quarter to figure out AI. These are the five things we hear on nearly every intake call.

Pick a challenge to see how the program answers it

The challenge

“We sound like everyone else in our category, and we have no formal growth plan behind it.”

Module 01 · Strategic Planning

Learn to build positioning you can defend — and the growth plan behind it.

Seven working sessions teach you how to sharpen messaging and positioning so a prospect can tell you apart from the other three quotes on their desk — then how to structure a formal growth plan and the scorecards to track it, working your own draft as you go.

Frameworks and templates covered

Differentiated positioning

A USP that holds up

Formal growth plan

Company scorecards

The challenge

“I cannot afford to lose my best two people, and I have no plan if I do.”

Module 04 · Lead Generation

Learn how to build a retention plan for the people you cannot replace.

How to describe your culture to a candidate, how to run recruiting and onboarding that holds under growth, and how to use the hard-conversation frameworks — Radical Candor, the 5 Dysfunctions, the 5 Whys — on your actual team rather than a case study.

Frameworks and templates covered

Retention plan

Defined culture

Onboarding process

Feedback framework

The challenge

“We have no formal marketing or sales strategy driving our growth — we just react to whatever comes in.”

Module 03 · Marketing Strategy

Learn to document a marketing and sales strategy your growth can run on.

You train on a marketing plan template built specifically for small organizations with minimal paid budgets — mapping how your customers really decide, pressure-testing your position against the competition, and structuring a plan and content library, so growth is driven by a robust, detailed strategy leveraging cutting edge tactics, tools and platforms

Frameworks and templates covered

Written marketing strategy

Customer decision journey

Competitive positioning

Content library

The challenge

“Our pipeline is thin and inconsistent. We need a real way to generate leads instead of waiting on referrals.”

Module 04 · Lead Generation

Learn to design a lead generation system that keeps the pipeline full.

You audit your own website and fix what is actually costing you leads, then learn which channels are worth your time — SEO, AI search, paid advertising, retargeting, email, social media, guerilla marketing and sales outreach — resulting in a lead generation engine that drives consistent leads.

Frameworks and templates covered

Website audit

Prioritized lead channels

Email & outreach playbook

Repeatable pipeline engine

The challenge

“We sound like everyone else in our category, and we have no formal growth plan behind it.”

Module 01 · Strategic Planning

Learn to build positioning you can defend — and the growth plan behind it.

Frameworks and templates covered

Differentiated positioning

A USP that holds up

Formal growth plan

Company scorecards

See all five modules

Tell us your challenge on a call

01 — The Funding

Most organizations pay nothing.

Every for-profit Massachusetts company already pays into the Workforce Training Fund through its unemployment contributions. The Express Grant is how you get that money back — up to $3,000 per employee, per course.

Skayle 360 is a registered provider in the Express Course Directory, so our courses are pre-approved. We prepare the paperwork, you sign it.

✓

Registered training provider — Commonwealth Corporation Express Course Directory

How the grant works

Check your eligibility →

Grant administered by Commonwealth Corporation. Award subject to eligibility and approval. Skayle 360 does not control grant outcomes.

$3K

per org, per course

What it covers

Up to $3,000 per organization, per course, with a $15,000 annual cap per company. SCALE UP is built to fit inside those limits — most companies see 100% of training cost reimbursed.

≤100

W-2 employees

Who qualifies

For-profit Massachusetts businesses with 100 or fewer W-2 employees and a physical location in the state. You will need a Certificate of Good Standing from the DOR and a Certificate of Compliance from the DUA — we help you gather both.

21d

to approval

How fast it moves

Express Grant applications are typically reviewed and awarded within 21 business days. We complete the application, assemble the documents and submit — so the timeline stays predictable.

02 — The Curriculum

Five modules, one operating system.

The Foundation

Strategic Planning

Your Why, values, USP, vision and plan — the layer every later module points back to.

What you learn to do

How to write a clear Why, define core values, sharpen a USP, and structure a strategic plan and scorecard — practiced on your own business using our training templates.

Hands Module 2 the values its culture gets built on.

10 hours

7 sections

Sections covered

◆

Crafting Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

◆

Mastering The Golden Circle Framework

◆

Defining Your Core Values with Clarity and Impact

◆

Building Out Detailed Customer Personas

◆

Developing a Compelling Company Vision

◆

Creating a Strategic Plan That Delivers Results

◆

Building Company Scorecards for Measurable Success

The People

Building Your Team

The people who carry the strategy, and the rhythms that keep your best ones.

What you learn to do

How to write a clear Why, define core values, sharpen a USP, and structure a strategic plan and scorecard — practiced on your own business using our training templates.

Hands Module 3 the team that will actually execute the plan.

10 hours

6 sections

Sections covered

◆

Building a Strong Company Culture That Lasts

◆

Developing a Retention Strategy for Your Team

◆

Strengthening Marketing Through the Lens of Leadership

◆

Overcoming the Growth Killer — Tackling Unproductivity

◆

Navigating The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team

◆

Leading By Example — Inspiring Through Action

The Difference

Marketing Strategy

What makes you different, said in the customer's words, inside a working plan.

What you learn to do

How to run a Five Forces read, choose three defensible differentiators, validate a persona, and structure a marketing plan around three channels.

Tells Module 4 exactly what to build and where.

10 hours

6 sections

Sections covered

◆

Developing Your Marketing Strategy for Maximum Impact

◆

Differentiating Your Brand in a Crowded Market

◆

Becoming Customer-Centric Across Every Touchpoint

◆

Mapping McKinsey's Customer Decision Journey

◆

Mastering the Paid, Owned & Earned Media Framework

◆

Building Out a Comprehensive Marketing Plan

The Engine

Lead Generation

The website hub and the few channels that put the plan in front of buyers.

What you learn to do

How to audit your website, prioritize the channels worth funding, and design a lead generation engine your team can run without an agency.

Hands Module 5 the assets AI will multiply.

10 hours

6 sections

Sections covered

◆

Website Tools & Fundamentals for Conversion-Ready Sites

◆

SEO & Paid Strategies That Get You Found

◆

Retargeting Strategies to Recapture Lost Leads

◆

Email Marketing Best Practices That Actually Convert

◆

Mastering Social Media for Lead Generation

◆

Sales Enablement — Aligning Marketing and Sales for Growth

The Multiplier

AI for Growth

The multiplier that strengthens all four — at a fraction of the old cost and time.

What you learn to do

How to use AI to strengthen your personas, plans and content library — plus prompt technique and a tool stack you can operate yourself.

Loops back and strengthens Modules 1 through 4.

10 hours

6 sections

Sections covered

◆

Artificial Intelligence Introduction — What You Need to Know

◆

The Rise of AI Agents — Your New Business Partners

◆

The Power of the Prompt — Perfect Your AI Output

◆

Leveraging AI to Perfect Your Strategic Growth Plan

◆

Using AI to Strengthen Your Marketing Plan + Content Library

◆

Additional AI Tools to 10x Future Growth

Book a 15-minute call

See the full program

→

Fall 2026 cohort · limited seats

What leaders ask before they enroll.

Mostly about the grant. If yours isn't here, call — we
answer grant questions even for companies that end up
training elsewhere.

Ask Chris directly

→

Does my company actually qualify for the Express Grant?

If you are a for-profit Massachusetts business with 100 or fewer W-2 employees and a physical office, factory or warehouse in the state, you almost certainly qualify. All for-profit MA companies pay into the Workforce Training Fund through unemployment contributions — that is what funds the grant.

We confirm eligibility and gather the three required documents (Certificate of Good Standing, Certificate of Compliance, W-9) as part of intake.

How does reimbursement actually work?

You pay for each course as your employee completes it, then submit a reimbursement request to Commonwealth Corporation with the invoice and proof of payment. The state reimburses the full amount, up to the cap.

We provide every document you need and walk you through the first reimbursement submission at no charge.

What are the actual grant caps?

The Express Grant caps reimbursement at $300 per instructional hour, $3,000 per organization per course, and $15,000 per company per calendar year. SCALE UP is structured to fit comfortably within those limits.

If you want to send several people or run a larger program, the Express Grant can be paired with the WTFP General Program in the same year — we will help you map the path.

Can I send more than one leader through the program?

Yes. The $15,000 cap is per company per calendar year, so you can send additional leaders the following calendar year. Or pair the Express Grant with the WTFP General Program (allowed simultaneously as of April 2026) for larger rollouts. Or you can fund additional seats out-of-pocket.

We'll help you map the path that fits your team's size and timeline.

Do trainees need to be paid during class?

Yes — this is a WTFP requirement. Employees must be paid their regular wages while attending training. The grant is intended to upskill working employees, not to fund unpaid time.

For SCALE UP, that means roughly 2.5 hours of paid time per session, twice a week, for the duration of the cohort.

What if my application gets denied?

Denials are uncommon when eligibility is confirmed up front, which is why we walk through it before you apply. The most frequent reasons for denial are missing documentation or being out of compliance with the DOR or DUA — both of which we help you check before submission.

If something does come back rejected, we work with you to address the issue and resubmit.

Unlocking your company's growth potential.

Fifteen companies. One cohort a season.

What leaders ask before they enroll.

SCALE UP, in print.