Gone are the days of lengthy analysis phases, mammoth reports, and protracted implementation timelines.
Today's clients demand speed, clarity, and measurable outcomes.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Robert Streeter, an experienced consultant who transformed his practice by productising his expertise through maturity models and frameworks.
His insights reveal a paradigm shift that every consultant should consider.
The podcast audio is above and the full video recording below:
The Fatal Flaw in Traditional Consulting
Most consultants face a fundamental problem: they sell their time rather than their impact.
As Robert put it: "What are people buying from you - are they buying your hours or are they buying your value?"
This single question reveals why so many consultants struggle to grow.
When you sell time, you create an inherent ceiling on your earnings. Worse, you inadvertently penalise yourself for becoming more efficient.
Consider this scenario: You develop a methodology that allows you to deliver the same results in half the time. What happens next?
Most consultants make a critical mistake: they reduce their fees because the project took less time. But as Robert emphasised: "If you can reduce the time to get it done, you should be DOUBLING your fees."
This counterintuitive approach recognises a fundamental truth: clients care about outcomes, not your timesheets.
The Maturity Model Method
How do you shift from selling time to selling value?
Robert's approach centers on developing structured frameworks that make your expertise tangible, measurable, and repeatable.
Maturity models provide a powerful vehicle for this transformation. They allow you to:
Map the client's current state across multiple dimensions
Create a clear progression path that shows incremental improvement
Measure progress quantitatively rather than subjectively
Demonstrate value in concrete terms
"In the real world, you don't go from zero to perfect,"
Robert explains.
"The maturity model gives an understandable and digestible approach - let's do it in short hops, let's do it quickly."
This approach creates two significant advantages:
First, it makes your value proposition concrete and easy to understand. Instead of vague promises about "strategic improvements," you can show precisely where a client sits on your model and what moving up the scale will mean for their business.
Second, it creates natural opportunities for ongoing work. "It immediately leads to an upsell," Robert notes. "You haven't achieved perfection yet. We've done one step, and you can see the benefits. Let's do the next step now."
Here’s a glimpse of theax.ai platform with one of my own maturity models built into it:
The Value Bullseye: Proving Your Impact
One of the most powerful concepts I added into the onversation was the ‘value bullseye’ - the practice of measuring and documenting actual outcomes against initial projections.
Most consultants make big promises at the start of an engagement but rarely circle back to verify whether those promises materialised. This creates a credibility gap that makes selling future work harder.
We talk about establishing a clear "high value hypothesis" at the beginning: "If we do this project, the potential results will be X, Y, Z." Then, critically, follow up months later to compare actual results against those projections.
This feedback loop creates a virtuous cycle. When you can show that your work delivered a 50% increase rather than the 40% you projected, selling the next phase becomes dramatically easier.
From Consuming Time to Consuming Services
Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of Robert's approach is how it changes the sales process itself.
Traditional consulting sales are notoriously lengthy, multiple meetings, lengthy proposals, complex negotiations. This creates friction that kills deals and wastes everyone's time.
The alternative?
Creating "consumable" offerings that lower the barrier to entry.
"If I'm going to spend huge amounts of money with you and I don't know you yet, that's a big risk,"
Robert explains.
"If I spend a little bit of money with you, there's not much risk. I'll trust you because I can see what you can do."
This insight led Robert to create clearly defined "products" that clients could easily understand and purchase:
"Here's a session I run with your leadership team. It only takes two days. You get all these lovely outputs, and it's really affordable. That was my first ability to start getting work - by making it consumable, easy to try, and affordable."
The Lead Magnet Ladder
Robert's framework naturally lends itself to a progressive engagement model:
Lead magnets: "Answer these questions and get a free report" based on your model
Initial workshop: A focused engagement delivering specific outcomes in a defined timeframe
Assessment process: A deeper application of your framework to the client's specific situation
Implementation support: Helping clients move up your maturity model
This approach creates a natural progression that nurtures prospective clients through increasing levels of commitment.
"If you've got an easy-to-consume lead magnet based on your model, you can then provide an extended audit or workshop based on the same model," Robert explains.
"Your model becomes a consistent theme throughout."
The AI Acceleration
What previously took months to develop can now be created in days with the help of AI.
Robert is now applying his methodology to an AI platform (Theax.ai) that helps consultants create these frameworks and assessment tools rapidly. Instead of spending months developing complex models and assessments, consultants can build customized frameworks in a single day.
"One day's investment to build your product is very different from spending months,"
Robert notes.
"If I was starting out today, it's the ideal vehicle to get to the point that you need to get to deliver productized consultancy."
The Path Forward: Productize Your Expertise
The lesson is clear: to grow your consulting practice, you must transform your expertise from an amorphous service into concrete, tangible products.
This means:
Structuring your knowledge into frameworks and models
Creating assessment tools that make your expertise tangible
Defining clear "products" with specific deliverables and outcomes
Building progressive engagement paths from free lead magnets to high-value implementations
Focusing on value and outcomes, not hours and inputs
As Robert put it: "You really gotta be clear on what your value is, and you really gotta be able to deliver it really fast."
In a world of accelerating change and shrinking attention spans, this advice has never been more relevant.
"People don't want [lengthy processes] anymore,"
Robert concludes.
"They want quick consumable outcomes. The world's faster now."
The question is: Will you adapt your practice to meet this new reality?
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If you want help getting clarity on your consulting offers and getting new clients then reach out and talk to me here. I have a number of different solutions form 1 To 1 coaching to inhouse workshops.
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