The Alan Weiss
Framework
Value-Based Fees & the Million Dollar Practice
Alan Weiss represents one of the most distinctive thinking patterns in their field. Alan Weiss's approach, captured in this framework as mental models, decision heuristics, and the signature questions they would ask.
The value-based fees & the million dollar practice framework distils Alan Weiss's documented approach into a .md skill file you can load into Claude, ChatGPT, or any LLM in seconds.
Where most AI personas generate generic output, this framework is grounded in real documented work: interviews, writing, published frameworks, and the specific decisions Alan Weiss made when it mattered. Use it for decision-making, writing, strategy, or any situation where you want your AI to think with Alan Weiss's distinctive patterns rather than a default model voice.
A glimpse of Alan Weiss's thinking.
Weiss argues that time is the enemy of value: the moment you price by the hour, you commoditize your expertise and create a perverse incentive where the client benefits from your inefficiency. The consultant's job is to identify the business outcome the client actually needs, quantify what achieving that outcome is worth to the organization, and then set a fee that represents a compelling return on that investment. A solo consultant operating at this level is not a freelancer selling labor; the consultant is a peer of the economic buyer, offering intellectual capital that produces a measurable result.
- 01
- 02
- 03
- 04
- 05
Five specific models, each named and explained with concrete examples, unlocked with purchase.
"What is the business impact if this problem is not solved in the next twelve months, expressed in dollars?"
4 more questions in Alan Weiss's voice are unlocked with purchase.
Full list of anti-patterns unlocked with purchase.
The full framework adds: detailed explanations of all five mental models with real-world examples, the decision heuristics Alan Weiss actually used, remaining signature questions, the complete list of anti-patterns, a copy-paste activation prompt, and a worked example.
Unlocked the moment you purchase. ~2,000 words total. Delivered as a Claude Skill and plain .md within 60 seconds of checkout.
- ✦Core philosophy: 2–3 sentences grounded in Alan Weiss's documented worldview
- ✦Five signature mental models: each named, with concrete examples from their work
- ✦Decision heuristics: the concrete rules they actually used
- ✦Signature questions: five questions that sound like Alan Weiss, not a generic MBA
- ✦What they would NOT do: the anti-patterns this framework rejects
- ✦Copy-paste activation prompt: drop straight into Claude or ChatGPT
- ✦Worked example: the framework applied to a realistic scenario
- →alan-weiss.zip: a native Claude Skill. Upload to Settings → Skills in Claude, or unzip to
~/.claude/skills/ - →alan-weiss-framework.md: plain markdown. Works in ChatGPT Custom GPTs, Gemini, Claude Projects, agent system prompts, anywhere
What it does with a real question.
A founder is deciding whether to take a large but difficult client.
Take the client only on terms that price the difficulty. A large client is attractive because of the invoice, but the founder has already told me the part that matters: the work is hard. Difficulty is a cost, and it will be paid in the founder's attention, in team morale, and in the opportunities that go unpursued while the account consumes the week. If the fee does not reflect that cost, the client is a bad deal regardless of size.
The founder's first question should not be "can we handle this?" but "what is the problem worth to the person who owns it?" If the economic buyer will say, in their own numbers, that solving this is worth several times the fee, then a premium that absorbs the difficulty is easy to defend. If the buyer cannot or will not quantify the value, and the conversation keeps returning to rates, scope creep, and who else is in the room, that is the client previewing the engagement. Haggling over a fee that is small next to the value created tells you how every future disagreement will go.
Pay attention to who is actually in the conversation. A difficult client reached through an intermediary is far more dangerous than one where the decision maker is engaged and accountable.
Next move: request a meeting with the person who controls the budget, establish what success is worth in dollars, then quote a fee with a built-in difficulty premium. If they balk, walk away without regret.
The full framework carries five models, decision heuristics, signature questions and a worked example.
Written by claude-sonnet-5-5 with this framework loaded, 2026-10-11. Checked automatically for length and for copied framework text.
Save up to 40% with a bundle
Works as a Claude Skill (.zip) and as a plain .md for ChatGPT, Gemini & every LLM
Delivered to your email within 60 seconds · Secured by Stripe
Price includes UK VAT where applicable
Inspired by the documented thinking of Alan Weiss. A mental-model toolkit, not a literal representation. Delivered as a .md file compatible with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and any LLM.