Peter Winick contrasts two service models: programmatic, where you sell discrete offerings like workshops and keynotes, versus systematic, a four-stage workflow that diagnoses problems, designs solutions, delivers them, and measures results. Most practitioners default to programmatic but lack the infrastructure for systematic work, which commands higher perceived value.
Hi there, it's Peter Winick. I'm the founder and CEO at Thought Leadership Leverage. And here's the idea I want to share with you today, and that's this: when you're presenting to a client or potential client, are you presenting in a way that conveys that you are programmatic by design or systematic by design? And what do I mean by this? Well, programmatic is responding to the client by saying, well, here's the things that we do, right? I can do a workshop, I can do a keynote, I can do a half-day, I can do a full day. And it's a program that has to fit into something larger in the context of the client's goals and objectives and such. Systematic is, hey, this is how we work with our clients. First, we diagnose a problem together. Maybe that's you putting on your consulting hat. Then we design solutions collaboratively. What do those solutions look like? Well, it depends what we define— what we find out in the diagnose phase. Then we deliver on those solutions, right? Some of that might be in person, some of it could be remote, some of it could be licensing tools, whatever the suite of services that you have. And then we want to monitor the outcomes against the metrics that we're hoping to achieve for the client over time. That's a systematic approach, and it has a different value proposition. It's perceived differently by clients, and it puts you in a different realm in terms of what clients are considering and thinking about. It's not necessarily an either/or. There are times where being programmatic is absolutely the right way to present yourself, but the question really is, do you have the systems and processes and such in place to present yourself in a more systematic way? Love to hear your thoughts.
