FSOC – Exponential Practice

In today´s Friday Shot of Clarity, we’re going to explore Multiplier Number Nine: Exponential Practice

Once again, impact is what people pay you for. It’s your ability to help them create the results they desire and transformations they want to experience.

This ‘multiplier’ is the ninth in a series of articles taken from a tool and a short book I created a few years back for helping people grow their professional practices. It covers 10 ‘multipliers’ that can amplify the impact and results you’re creating in the world.

And while I created it with coaches, therapists and other transformation professionals in mind, I’ve had plenty of feedback from people outside those professions telling me how useful it is.

Whether you’re a transformation professional or not, you’re going to discover that these 10 multipliers apply to almost everyone (at least, with a little creativity).

 

 

 

This is about maximizing the impact you have, the value you create, the value you receive and the enjoyment you, your team, your suppliers and your clients experience. 

In the first row (the stuck row), you have few or no paying clients and don’t know how to change that. You feel hopeless and helpless about growing a practice. This is a tough one but as I’ve said before, you have reason to be hopeful. Lots of people who have exponential practices today were where you are not so long ago. 

In the second row, you probably charge by the session. You see some paying clients but don’t have a steady stream of them. You wish you had a full schedule. I see this a lot among transformation professionals. The challenge here is to realise that ‘charge by the session’ business models aren’t really conducive to significant transformation. All too often, people try and minimize the number of sessions they come for which is counterproductive as they end up not getting the results they desire. 

In the third row, you grow your practice steadily and systematically. Your client´s schedule is fully booked and you have a waiting list. Almost all transformation professionals who have a waiting list also have a system. They have some approach or method for finding prospective clients, cultivating a relationship with them and educating them to the point where they’re ready and willing to make an informed buying decision. 

 

In the fourth row, we go exponential in a variety of ways. You leverage your time, impact and income exponentially via products, packages and groups. Clients and colleagues look to you for inspiration. That’s an important point. Your clients and colleagues look to you for inspiration. Remember I mentioned how Sam Jarman is now working with other golf pros to help them transition to coaching package models? This is a great example of someone who has been able to leverage their time and create something that can have a bigger impact in a way that has their colleagues looking to them for inspiration and leadership. 

To make progress and improve in this practice multiplier, start by asking yourself this question: If I could wave a magic wand and you could have your practice however you want it to be, how would you know the magic wand had worked? What would you see? What would you hear? What would you feel? How would you work? On what and with whom? What would you be doing? Where would you be doing it? Which kinds of audiences would you be working with? What kind of impact would you be having with them? 

 

Another question I love is the miracle question: If there was a miracle tonight as you sleep, and when you woke up tomorrow, everything in your practice was exactly the way you want it to be, how would you know the miracle had taken place? What would you see? What would you hear? What would you feel? What would you experience? What would you know, that would let you know the miracle had taken place? 

Now, the purpose of these questions isn’t for you to come up with specific answers necessarily. It’s for you to get reflective and start getting a sense of what you’d love your exponential practice to look like, to sound like and to feel like. Once you have a sense of that, you can connect with your inner results creator and ask yourself: What’s the next step? 

 

Once again, Clarity + Action = Results. Once you have a sense of where you’re headed, just take the next step and you’ll be amazed at the progress you can make. 

A great example of this is Certified Clarity Trainer Clare Tanner. Clare was already a successful executive coach when we started working together. But she wanted to teach others how to coach people within larger organizations, so she’s now running a coach training programme for leaders in one of her larger clients. 

Another example is Emma McDevitt. When we first started working with her on our Coaching Package Power programme, she was focused on growing her 1:1 practice. But she took the exponential practice idea to heart, and developed The Coaching Exchange, a platform that facilitates coaching sessions between both trainee and more experienced coaches. The service is taking off, and means she can leverage her time and her impact more effectively. 

 

A final example is Stuart Anderson. Stuart is a high-value tax consultant who designs and builds the “architecture” for very wealthy clients’ investments, pensions and taxation matters. 

When we first started working with Stuart, he was working hard but not getting as much leverage as he wanted. So Stuart did a Clarity CEO 1:1 Intensive with me, and had some really profound insights. He ended up restructuring his practice, and getting enormous leverage in the process. 

He told me “I have clients falling over themselves to do business with me and have undertaken and completed three projects in the first quarter of this year that have delivered more than two years’ income.” As a result, he’s spending a lot more of his time with his family, travelling, exploring and enjoying life. 

 

And this is really the essence of your Exponential Practice. It’s not just about multiplying your income; it’s also about multiplying your enjoyment and exponentially leveraging your time, so you can do the things that really matter to you. 

Big love