ep008: The Magic Tool to Differentiate Your Services from Everyone Else

So far in this first season of the podcast we’ve covered some of the foundational principles of the Business (R)Evolution model and the Client Champion Formula – which is at the heart of that model. 

In Episode two, I discussed how you need to identify the right people, the right clients for your business, those that I call the bullseye of your target market, the ones that you love working with and that see the best results.

And from there you start to design your business around those people. In Episode four, I talked about how you create programs for those right people, those bullseye people. 

You create the programs and packages that are going to deliver what your bullseye clients need to achieve the ultimate results they’re after. 

Now, how YOU do that is unique. The process you use with clients is uniquely yours.

What YOU bring to your work, no one else does. 

Even if someone has the exact same education, credentials and title as you, they’ve had different life experiences. 

The work you do with your clients is informed by so much more than just your training and education. 

A previous career you had, if any, influences who you are and therefore how you do your work. 

Your upbringing and family dynamics have influenced who you are, and therefore how you do your work.

Your traumas or greatest challenges in life have influenced who you are and therefore how you do your work. 

The culture and community you are surrounded by influences who you are and therefore how you do your work. 

My point here is that you have a unique perspective about your clients and the work you do that no one else does.

Maybe you already realize that and this is an affirmation for you. Yes….you think, see and do things a little differently than others in your field or related fields.

But maybe you’ve never thought about this or realized it, in which case, it’s time to think about what makes you and the way you do things different. 

Or…you may HAVE realized that you have a unique perspective!

But you’ve felt like you’re supposed to “fit in” with everyone else in your field and not show your differences. 

Well guess what? Understanding and defining the way you see and understand and do things in your work – understanding what makes you different from others in your field – is a powerful asset in your business. 

It’s powerful, emotionally and energetically, in that when you understand that your differences are a good thing, it allows you to feel more grounded and secure in who you are, which in turn allows you to show up authentically in your business. 

You’re not trying to imitate others or present how you think you’re supposed to present because that’s what everyone else does. 

Instead, you just ARE yourself. That makes business so much easier. You just get to be YOU. Because who YOU are, is unique – there’s no one else just like you – and that is going to be attractive to the right people. 

Furthermore, if you can codify your unique perspective, you will have an actual tangible asset for your business that increases the value of your services and the value of your business. 

Let me explain what I mean, because this is important: the definition of CODIFY is “to arrange according to a plan or system.”

What I mean by “codifying” your unique perspective, is that you create a THING, something tangible, that explains what YOUR way of seeing and doing things is. 

You get it out of your head, or out of your instinct, and into words or onto paper or into some form that can be shared with others. 

And it becomes a key piece of your Intellectual Property, or “IP” – which can be worth monetary value if you were to evaluate your business. 

And that’s the topic of today’s episode. I’m going to share how I help students in the Business (R)Evolution Academy codify their unique perspectives and processes and are therefore able to share with the larger world how they do things that are unique to them. 

The way we do that is through a visual framework. 

What do I mean by that? What are visual frameworks?

An example of a visual framework that you very likely know is Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs”.

It represents a hierarchy – which is itself a particular structure – and uses a triangle as its primary shape to represent that hierarchy. 

And I want to give credit here first to Carol Cox of the Speaking Your Brand podcast who originally introduced me to using frameworks, just through listening to her podcast years ago. 

And then to Simon Bowen, who I worked with to create several of my own frameworks. Simon Bowen teaches what he calls “The Models Method” – he calls the frameworks “models” and what he calls the Genius Model is the structure I use for my Client Champion Formula.

If you haven’t learned the Client Champion Formula from me, and you don’t know what I’m talking about, I have a free masterclass on it for you. It’s a series of videos, where I walk you through my system for practitioners to get long-term clients and steady predictable income.

The Client Champion Formula is a visual framework. It uses 3 circles, like a Venn diagram, but with 3 circles instead of 2. 

It has places where the circles overlap, and each of the 3 circles has 3 different “ingredients”. 

So the Client Champion Formula, as a visual framework, has 3 core pillars to it, 3 different ingredients for each pillar (which makes 9), 3 results where the 3 circles overlap, and then the ultimate result of all of this stuff put together goes in the center.

So there’s two examples of visual frameworks:

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which uses the shape of a triangle, and represents a hierarchy of stages. This framework shows that a person needs to pass through one stage in order to reach the next and next.

A question to get the juices flowing for you: Does your work involve a hierarchy like this, where your client needs to achieve or master a specific stage before they can reach the next one? 

The other example I gave so far was my Client Champion Formula, which uses the shape of overlapping circles. There’s no hierarchy in the Client Champion Formula – instead it demonstrates several core ideas and actions that when put together make something new and profound and powerful.

I’ve noticed that a lot of my clients really like that shape. Many students that join the Business (R)Evolution Academy – and this may be you as well – are bringing together multiple modalities in a way where the sum is greater than the whole of its parts. 

It’s not just different modalities on their own. When they’re combined with each other, which the overlapping circles demonstrate, there’s something NEW created.

So let me give some other examples of possible visual frameworks. 

Your framework might be a linear set of steps. Step 1, Step 2, Step 3. 

And this could be represented in a variety of ways. This one could be a triangle showing hierarchy too. 

Or it could be a set of stairs, an upward moving staircase.

Or maybe your work has a cyclical nature to it, where there are 3-5 steps that you do over and over – so maybe it’s represented as a circle. 

Or to take that further, maybe each time you take your client through those steps, they’re getting deeper and deeper into the work. 

So maybe a spiral is the shape that represents that best to you. 

You can choose whatever shapes you want to use to express what you want.

There are bell curves. 

There’s an X-Y axis. 

There’s a priority matrix – if you’re not familiar with the Eisenhower matrix, that’s exactly what this is, and I’ll try to describe it here. 

It’s an x-y axis where the X line represents a spectrum of urgent to not urgent, and the Y line represents a spectrum of important to not important and it’s used to prioritize tasks. When you see it visually, imagine a square with a horizontal line through the middle, and vertical line through middle, so the two lines intersect right smack in the middle and you end with 4 smaller squares – the top left corner, the top right corner, the bottom left corner, and the bottom right corner. 

And each of those 4 corners is labeled to represent – in this case, in the Eisenhower matrix, what to do with a given task. 

The top left corner is labeled Do Now, because that’s the urgent and important stuff. 

The top right is Schedule (or another D is usually used, which is Decide) – because it’s important, but not urgent. 

The bottom left is Delegate – this is stuff that’s not top importance, but is urgent. 

And the bottom right is Delete – that’s the stuff you’ve determined is not important and not urgent. 

There are visual frameworks all around you, if you pay attention.

And, having your own visual framework to represent the complexity and uniqueness of how you work with clients is a powerful asset. 

It is what I see when I’m teaching the framework creation process in the Business (R)Evolution Academy. 

Is that it’s incredibly empowering for practitioners to finally have a way to explain what they do, especially when what they do is complex. 

We start by just creating one framework that represents how you do what you do. How you work with clients helps them achieve the ultimate results they’re after. What the different ingredients, or steps, or modalities are and the results of that combination or process. 

And in the Academy, I call it “birthing” your framework. 

That framework – that students in the Business (R)Evolution Academy create –  can be used in a variety of ways.

One place it can be used is in the sales process to help explain to a prospect what you do, or what they need. Walking a prospect through your framework can help them make a decision about whether you’re the right fit for them. It’s how you show a prospect what you do and how you do what you do in a very concrete way. 

So if you’ve ever struggled to explain what you do – you need a visual framework. 

Or it might be used in marketing, to differentiate your service from others that have the same type of business as you. 

So I use my framework as the basis of a whole workshop or webinar, but it also can provide the framework for ALL of your content marketing. 

I can write or produce different pieces of content to share each piece of my framework. 

So for example, I’ve produced a podcast episode for each of the 3 primary pillars in the Client Champion Formula, and I’ve also produced some episodes just focusing on one of the nine ingredients, for example Episode three was about pricing your services and that’s one of the Client Champion Formula ingredients that’s titled: Calculate Profitable Pricing.

And you can too…

So in the Business (R)Evolution Academy we start by creating that one framework, but in the long run, frameworks can be used in all aspects of your business like client onboarding or staff onboarding.

You can have different frameworks for different phases of your client journey.  

This is powerful stuff. 

And the process of creating your framework or frameworks is powerful too! 

I love helping practitioners do this. It’s really empowering and meaningful for you to declare and own what makes your service special. 

So you can attract and enroll great-fit clients that you get to work with deeply and really help them experience the life they want.  

And that’s why I created the Business (R)Evolution Academy for innovative practitioners. 

In the Business (R)Evolution Academy, I work with you step-by-step to create the structures and systems your business needs for you to get long-term clients, better client results, and steady and predictable income in six months. 

If you’re an experienced practitioner and you lack structure and process, and struggle to create a clear plan and strategy for sustainable growth on your own, or you’re getting by just fine, but you’re tired of just getting by…  

Then just imagine…

• Every new client invests in a long-term program with you — which gets them better results so they achieve their big goals, and you can forecast revenue months into the future.
  
• Feeling more fulfilled with work that really reflects YOU and the innovative way you do things
• Having steady, predictable income… so that you can properly plan your marketing, hiring, and business growth (and stop the feast-or-famine roller coaster) – and so you can feel financially secure and save for your retirement
  
• Having this powerful sales process to turn prospects into perfect-fit clients so you can stop spending time with one-timer or sporadic clients and start spending quality time with fully-committed clients
• You have regular, allotted time for your self-care, family, relationships and can go on vacation…
  
• You have a fulfilling profitable business that you love, and you have the freedom to live your life the way you want.

As you can imagine, this is intensive work we do. I work deeply with my clients, to help them build businesses they want and love.

So I only work with a few, carefully selected folks at a time.  

Let me tell you more about who exactly this is for. This program is right for you if:

You have clients. You’re not just starting out.

You are experienced and skilled at your craft. 

You have proven client results. There’s no question that you know what you’re doing when it comes to client treatment and care – and you get referrals from current and past clients as proof.

You’re ready (and excited!) to really take your business to the next level – and to do the work required for that. 

You are willing and able to commit the time and energy (3-4 hours per week) to take a leadership role in your business to make it profitable and sustainable. I provide the steps and guidance, and I help you through the whole process, but you are the one implementing the steps in your business. 

You are willing and able to make a significant financial investment to get the results you’re after. 

For the right student, the return on this investment is easy. Successful graduates of this program generate five figures monthly. 

Now, a quick note about that: if you are unwilling to invest in yourself and your business…you are signaling to the universe that you’re not worth investing in, and you’re going to attract that same energy from clients and prospective clients – people that aren’t willing to invest in themselves.

I’m not woo enough to understand how that works or have an explanation for it…I just see it play out. 

When practitioners invest in themselves and their personal and professional and business growth, they begin to attract clients that also invest in their own growth and change. 

So, the Business (R)Evolution Academy is for practitioners that are ready for that step forward, that next level stage in their business. 

You’re gonna need help to get there. We all do. 

Even as a business strategist myself, I am always invested in other strategists and coaches to help me to see my business in a way that I can’t see myself from inside it. 

Ok? 

So this is an invitation to you, to talk with me about your business and see what it will take you to get to that next level!

We do this in a discovery call. 

In the discovery call, I do an assessment of your business. I look at where you’re at and then I identify and lay out for you what your specific steps are to reach your business goals.

And I’ll also determine whether the Business (R)Evolution Academy (or one of our other programs) is a good fit for you, whether it matches up with exactly what you need. 

If it’s not a fit, I’ll still help you however I can. I can offer you some free resources to help, or refer you to other people that may be a better fit. 

If you are a good fit for the Business (R)Evolution Academy, you can ask me any questions you have in order to make a decision about joining. I do not use (or teach) high-pressure tactics here – the choice to join us is yours to make!

Ok? 

I love meeting with practitioners in discovery calls, it’s a favorite my day – 

So I invite you to schedule a call with me. 

You can do that at https://joannasapir.com/discovery-call. 

Alright, until next time…

Bye now!