The point of this process is to give you something to say that customers will remember, and then to coach you on how to say it with confidence. The total process typically lasts two months.

There are three phases. They are:

Phase One: Puke.

This phase typically takes place in weeks 1, 2, and 3. You just take whatever’s floating around in your head and dump it out on the table. It doesn’t need to be organized. It doesn’t need to be pretty or sound coherent, or be “thought through.” Remember, it’s just you and Matt here, and we’re the only two people who are ever going to see it.

The point is just to find out what’s rattling around in that head. You make use of one of the biggest benefits of doing this with another person, which is that shapes and connections begin to appear where before there was just a tangled mess of threads and miscellaneous thoughts.

Phase Two: Clean.

This phase typically takes place in week 4. In this phase, we take the idea in your head and make it easier for you to explain and others to understand.

Actually, behind the scenes, Matt started this phase in week 2. What was he doing? Looking to see what other thought leaders are out there in your industry and making sure that what we’re ending up with at the end of Phases One and Two is significantly different from what they are saying, but that it can be explained and defended. After all, we want you to be taking a non-obvious position, but we don’t want you to sound crazy.

Phase Three: Coach.

This phase typically takes place in weeks 5, 6, 7, and 8. At this point you have a nice, coherent, shiny, and clean idea, but you need some “stage skills” in order to present it well, whether your audience is one customer in a conference room, or 500 people sitting in chairs in a conference hall. Plus, lots of people are going to agree with you, but some people are going to ask questions, and you’re going to need to sound clear and coherent when you answer those questions.

This period is for developing those stage skills and rehearsing the answers to those questions. 

After that:

Some clients want to keep going after the initial two or three months, for things like keeping their POV up to date, getting additional practice for presentations to specific customers, working on advanced skills, etc. Other clients prefer to stop after the initial few months.