These three simple steps can help you boost your impact and boost your income as well.

Now, you and I know that building a thriving consulting business isn’t always about the big things that we do. It isn’t about how we undertake some dramatic reinvention. Very often, it’s the small things. And I’ve discussed before, it’s the levers that make the biggest difference.

I’d like to take a look at some of the subtle strategies that are often hiding in plain sight. And that’s the problem. They’re there, but they can be hidden by our habits. When we get this right, we get a compounding effect, a bit like compound interest. It’s that slow growth that builds a solid business and not what we might just call a flash in the pan.

1. Time That Actually Makes Us Money

The first one is this. It’s about time that actually makes us money. It’s often stated, but nevertheless true, that time really is our most precious asset, our most valuable resource. And the challenge, as we know, is that once we spend it, unlike money, we can’t get it back. That’s a shame, isn’t it?

And the question I like to ask myself on a regular basis is, am I spending my time on the right stuff? Or can I delegate some tasks and actions that really do not need me? Is there somebody who can do it faster or more inexpensively and probably enjoys doing it more than I do?

Draw a Line

I see this as a challenge for some people, not because they don’t understand the basic idea, but because they haven’t taken the moment to simply draw a line around what they do and what someone else can do.

So, my suggestion would be to take a look at your diary, take a look at your to-do list, take a look at your journal, whatever it is that you use, and decide what’s there that needs you and what’s there that definitely doesn’t need you.

So, why is this profitable? Well, because when we focus on the stuff that we love to do, we probably do it well. In fact, I know I do. And when we do it well, you can be certain there’s going to be somebody who’s going to pay handsomely for the impact we can create for them by doing the stuff we do well.

2. The Principle of Unexpected Value

The second one is the principle of unexpected value. You know, there’s a question I regularly ask myself in business and when I’m sharing my ideas, and it’s based on this. I call it the next level.

The Next Level

The question is, how do I take this, whatever this is, to the next level? Now, I’m thinking about clients, and this doesn’t need to be anything particularly dramatic. It might be simply a follow-up email that covers the major points we discussed in the conversation.

I know when I’m having my client conversations on Zoom, I get a summary of that conversation because I’ve got Fathom running. So, I get the complete transcript, I get the video, I get everything that I could possibly need. And I take a moment and I go through that summary. I make sure it’s accurate, because it does make a few mistakes. And then I forward it to the client. After that, I create a PDF of it and I add it to my GoodNotes file, which is where I keep all the information about my clients.

Now, another thing we can do to go to the next level, and perhaps provide something special for the client, is to create a template of what we do or the idea we’ve discussed with somebody. I love creating templates because it makes it easy for my clients to take action with the ideas I share with them.

I think of it in this way. I think I’d rather be the exception than simply a me-too person, or doing what everybody else is doing. And of course, some of what everybody else is doing is good stuff, but you know what I mean.

The Client Engagement Strategy

Recently, I’ve created a report for myself. It’s not finished, so I’ve got more to add to it, and it’s called the client engagement strategy. I’m considering what I do before I meet with a client, when I meet with a client, and after I meet with a client, in order to take my service, if you like, to use the words of the moment, to the next level. No doubt when I’ve finished it, I’ll do another video or something about it.

3. The Hidden Gold Mine of Efficiency

Number three is this: the hidden gold mine of efficiency. And if we can change our view for the moment to inlook rather than outlook, we can find some great information and ideas that can help us grow.

We’ve seen in our clients’ businesses things slowing them down. And what it often can be is clunky systems. So here’s the challenge. When something’s been done the same way for a long time, most people, myself included, don’t question it, or at least we don’t question it often enough.

Inefficiency Hides in the Comfort of Routine

And here’s the expression I created for it. Inefficiency hides in the comfort of routine. I thought that was pretty good, actually. Inefficiency hides in the comfort of routine.

So, no wonder it’s worth taking a fresh look at things we’ve been doing and the way in which we’ve been doing them. And I’m sure with AI, we can probably find a workflow or a different calendar or an agent in order to question the system and find improvements.

What One Hour a Week Is Worth

Just imagine if we could save one hour a week. One hour a week. It’s not that much time, is it? If we do a five-day week, what are we talking? We’re talking 12 minutes a day. I mean, that’s more than possible, I’d have thought. But that’s 50 hours a year. I wonder what that’s worth to us. 50 hours? That’s a whole week, or for some people it’s two weeks.

But there’s an old expression that says little hinges swing big doors. And I think that’s true when it comes to things like time and how we use time, and we can’t manage it, as we know.

4. Strategic Curiosity

The fourth one is strategic curiosity. Now, when things don’t go quite as they’re planned, and that’s bound to happen from time to time, we can either resist the learning that takes place or ask ourselves, what can this teach me? And that really is strategic curiosity.

Constructively Discontent

I remember in Lead the Field, a fantastic programme by the genius Earl Nightingale, he talked about this idea of being constructively discontent, which is a wonderful expression, isn’t it? Or in other words, yes, we’re not happy about something, we’re discontent, but we’re constructively discontent. We’re going to do something about it.

So we get a choice whether we’re simply going to react or we’re going to respond. And there’s a difference, isn’t there, to what happens? Are we going to react to it, “I’m annoyed about it”, or are we going to respond appropriately? And the great part about this is because it’s a mindset, no one can ever take that idea away from us.

5. The Quiet Power of Consistency

And number five is consistency. In fact, the quiet power of consistency. One of my favourite expressions, which I didn’t write (I do write a few), is from John C. Maxwell, who said this: “Success will be found in your daily habits.” Thank you, John, wherever you are. And I think that is so true and so important.

Again, it’s back to those small things that we do that make such a big difference. For example, reaching out to one person a day, taking 10 minutes to review our goals at the start of the day, having a weekly systems check to say, “How can I improve by, I don’t know, 1%?” You’ve got the idea of this. You and I know it’s not the hours we put in, it’s what we put in the hours that makes the difference.

Bringing It All Together

So, let’s bring it all together. Strategic delegation, making sure that we’re only doing what only we can do. And that expression was said to me by the late Sir John Harvey Jones: “Only ever do, Peter, what only you can do.” Great expression. Then unexpected value, taking it to the next level. Then systems optimisation, strategic curiosity, and consistent action.

Now, none of these are designed to impress our clients particularly, except maybe the client engagement idea I discussed a minute ago, but they’re simply designed to help us improve everything we do. And like most things, when we get better, we can provide better service to our clients. And as a result of that, we get paid more.

Outcome and Income

The way I think about it is this. The outcome my clients get is a direct reflection of the income I get. Perhaps it’s better if I said it the other way around. The income that I get is a direct reflection of the outcome that they get. You understand what I’m saying there? And I think that is just so true.

So until next time, I wish you continued success

Peter

Peter Thomson.

‘The UK’s Most Prolific Business Development Author’  

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