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Most Consultants arrive long after
client decisions have been made
Capable consultants don’t lose business because they lack expertise.
They lose because their judgement arrives after the decision is made.
What’s happening:
You’re invited once direction is already set
You’re evaluated on certainty, polish, or price
Your thinking is treated as input, not judgement
Procurement appears after trust has already been allocated
By the time selling begins, relevance has already been decided.
This isn’t a skill gap. It’s a timing and proximity problem.
Find out where you are in that timing problem.
The PxM Maturity Assessment helps you see:
Whether your work enters before or after decisions form
Which kinds of proximity you do and don't have
Why your effort is high while influence remains low
AI Transformation Systems
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Level 1
Static Credibility
Most potential clients don’t know you exist unless someone introduces you.
Level 2
Visible Expertise
Some people recognise your name, but you’re rarely the obvious choice.
Level 3
Emerging Recognition
Your thinking is shared internally, but you have little or no influence.
Level 4
Proximity in Practice
You are sometimes involved early, but only when you act with discipline.
Level 5
Systemised Proximity
You are consistently involved before decisions are made, without pitching.
PxM Explained
Proximity Management for Independent Consultants
Proximity Management (PxM) is the discipline of becoming trusted before decisions are made.
It exists because, in most consulting situations, by the time a consultant is invited to pitch, the real decision context already exists — and they are not part of it.
PxM focuses on how judgement and trust enter organisations upstream of procurement, scope, and selection processes. It aligns with how decisions actually form, not how they are later formalised.
PxM isn't marketing or selling.
It's a way of working that changes when relevance is established.
The Structural Problem PxM Addresses
Consultants do not lose work because they lack expertise.
They lose because trust forms earlier than they arrive.
Most effort is spent improving:
• visibility
• positioning
• credentials
• pitch quality
None of these affect the moment that matters most:
the moment when people decide whose judgement they trust to help them think.
By the time selling begins, that moment has already passed.
How PxM Is Practised (High Level)
PxM is not about persuading buyers. It's about shaping understanding before problems are locked in.
There are many legitimate ways proximity can form inside organisations.
This system teaches one disciplined approach.
That approach works by:
• engaging with work organisations already care about
• clarifying what that work signals, assumes, or changes
• allowing that interpretation to circulate internally without pressure
• letting trust form through usefulness, not persuasion
Restraint isn't a style choice. It's the mechanism.
What Success Looks Like
PxM is working when:
• your thinking is referenced before you are present
• you are involved before scope or procurement exists
• conversations begin with framing, not selling
The outcome is not more leads.
It is earlier access — and better conversations.
Who PxM Is For
PxM is for Consultants Who:
• Are capable and credible, yet consistently arrive too late
• Are tired of pitching into decisions that are already settled
• Value judgement more than visibility
• Can tolerate silence and delayed return
• Want to be involved before scope, procurement, or pitching
PxM is Not Those Who:
• Need quick wins or predictable deal flow
• Rely on pitching to survive
• Equate activity or visibility with progress
• Want tactics, scripts, or templates
• Don't think long-term
PxM filters rather than persuades.
That boundary is deliberate.
The Core Shift
Before PxM
Consultants arrive after decisions have begun to form.
Selling happens at the boundary.
Trust is requested under pressure.
After PxM
Judgement is already familiar.
Meaning has already circulated.
Trust exists before decisions are made.
PxM does not improve selling.
It changes when trust is formed.
PxM is transformation for consultants — not of what they know,
but of when their judgement enters the organisation.Before PxM
Why Most Consultants Arrive Too Late
Most consultants don't lose out because they lack expertise. They lose out because they enter the conversation after meaning has already formed and decisions have been made.
Decisions rarely begin with requirements. They begin with uncertainty, quiet testing, and internal sense-making.
By the time a formal process appears, people have already decided whose judgement they trust to help them.
Pitches don't shape that moment. They confirm it.
This is why capable consultants feel interchangeable, and why selling feels harder each year.
The problem isn't visibility. It's timing.
By the time persuasion begins, relevance has already been decided.
The Method Practised Here
This system teaches Proximity Management (PxM).
PxM is practised in many legitimate ways, but we focus on one disciplined way of practising it.
Here, Proximity Management is practised through interpretive work.
Rather than selling expertise or proposing solutions, the consultant contributes judgement by clarifying the meaning of work an organisation has already created.
That work may be a strategy, announcement, initiative, framework, or commitment that already carries internal significance — but whose implications have not yet been clearly named.
The consultant produces a single, finished interpretation:
clarifying direction, constraint, or trade-off that already exists.
The work is complete and self-contained.
It is allowed to circulate without explanation, defence, or pursuit.
Nothing is pitched.
Nothing is requested.
Trust forms through exposure to judgement, not persuasion.
This is not the only way proximity can form.
It is the only way Proximity Management is practised in this system — deliberately, precisely, and without dilution.
Proximity Management in Practice
The examples below are not tactics to copy.
They illustrate a recurring pattern: how trust forms when judgement arrives before decisions.
In this system, PxM is practised through interpretive work.
Each example follows the same discipline:
Real organisational work → One finished interpretation → Quiet internal circulation → Early access
No selling.
No follow-up.
No performance.
1. Data & AI Consultant (Enterprise Context)
A data consultant is repeatedly asked to price pilots after strategy is fixed.
They interpret an internal data-platform announcement, clarifying what it assumes about governance, ownership, and decision rights.
The interpretation circulates among programme leads struggling with feasibility.
When delivery risks begin to surface, the consultant is invited into early conversations — not because they pitched, but because their judgement had already reduced uncertainty.
2. Agentic AI Consultant
An AI specialist encounters high interest but shallow engagement.
They interpret an AI roadmap, clarifying where accountability has shifted from humans to systems — and where new failure modes quietly emerge.
A transformation lead shares the work internally as leadership confidence begins to wobble.
The consultant becomes a trusted reference point before any formal discussion takes place.
3. Enterprise Transformation Consultant
A consultant known for delivery is rarely involved upstream.
They interpret a newly published operating-model framework, naming the tension between central control and local autonomy.
Senior managers use the interpretation to articulate concerns without appearing resistant.
The consultant is later invited into framing discussions because their way of naming the problem is already trusted.
4. Platform / Ecosystem Specialist
A platform specialist is confined to implementation roles.
They interpret a partner-ecosystem move, reframing the discussion from features to organisational readiness.
The work circulates among strategy and product teams debating future direction.
When alignment issues arise, the consultant is approached early — because excluding their perspective now feels riskier than involving it.
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