How signature mechanisms emerge
I’ve always wanted signature mechanisms: those sticky phrases and smart frameworks that get cool names, that sound so intriguing on sales pages, that people remember and repeat.
But while I’m great at developing frameworks, I am terrible at naming things, especially when I’m trying to generate names from the ether.
Here’s what I've observed:
My best mechanisms didn’t come from brainstorming.
They’ve come from things I’ve said or drawn offhand while coaching, teaching, or explaining something time after time.
So, what is a signature mechanism?
A mechanism is a named concept, tool, or process inside your larger methodology that explains how a result happens.
It makes the invisible visible—turning your intuitive expertise into something teachable, repeatable, and trust-building.
If you’ve been around my work for a while, you might recognize some of mine:
Roots to Fruits Metrics
Six Growth Systems
Business Model Spectrum
Sacred Sales Hour
Relationship Rhythms
(And soon: The Authority Loop)
None of these were created out of thin air. Every one of them emerged in response to real client needs.
A few examples from my work:
🪴 Roots to Fruits Metrics
I kept seeing a pattern:
Clients who were tracking what was happening beneath the surface—outreach, collaboration pitches, event attendance, email list growth—were making more progress than those only watching inquiries or sales.
Because I’d been using nature metaphors for years, it felt natural to encourage these activities using the metaphor of “planting seeds.” And I didn’t want to default to business jargon like “leading and lagging indicators.”
So I took language I was already using (e.g., planting metaphors) and named a new approach.
That’s how the Roots to Fruits Metrics mechanism was born.
It’s now the heartbeat of how we track and steward business health—both in the membership and with private clients.
🧭 Six Growth Systems
Longtime clients often asked, “How am I doing? What are we focusing on next?”
I had an internal compass and navigational direction, but nothing visible we could track together.
So I built the Business System Assessment.
A sample of how I use this in a client assessment
This wasn’t something I set out to build. It came from paying attention to the questions people kept asking.
It took three months to write, three months to test, and a few months to build into ScoreApp. Now, it's a tool that clients (and anyone!) could use directly.
I was inspired by Daniel Priestley’s 24 Assets assessment, but I needed a framework that actually fit my clients and their business models.
🔄 Sacred Sales Hour and Relationship Rhythms
For years, I’ve encouraged clients to set aside one hour per week for outreach and relationship building.
I called it one of the 5 core activities I never skip, and it changes the trajectory of clients’ businesses.
But “outreach hour” didn’t reflect the intention behind it. And because I kept calling it a ritual… the name Sacred Sales Hour emerged.
When clients started asking, “But who do I reach out to?” and “What should I say?”, I found myself saying: “There’s a rhythm to it.”
That rhythm became a full course: Relationship Rhythms.
The underpinning of these names?
Underneath every one of these mechanisms, three things were present:
A clear intended user
These systems and approaches don’t work for larger businesses. In fact, that’s why they had to be created, because I couldn’t find languaging for the concepts I needed to use with small/solo expert-led businesses.
Pattern recognition
I paid attention to what I said often, what clients asked for, where they got stuck, and what they needed. I hunted for patterns where tools and frameworks would be the most helpful.
Familiar language and metaphors
Every mechanism derives from an existing language and metaphor set I already used.
I’d been talking about how business grows like nature for years: why tending is a radical act of ritual, and how we can look at the roots of our business as a system to guide what to nurture next.
One of my mentors is an engineer at heart, and his language is very technical with mechanisms like the Lead Refinery and Conversion Engine. That’s not my language, no matter how much I would love to use the words like “engine” that seem more action-oriented.
Other people use geographical metaphors, moon metaphors, financial or artistic language.
There’s no right answer — only your language that comes from your writing and speaking over time.
So ask yourself:
What concepts am I explaining to clients repeatedly?
What phrases or metaphors do I use all the time?
What visuals show up in my writing or design?
What words do clients repeat back to me?
This is how mechanisms are born.
They’re not just clever names; they’re patterns, language, and meaning that crystallize through experience.
They’re the building blocks of your Authority — and a key part of the Authority Loop.