Doctor Not Pharmacist Positioning

Mental model for AI consultants: do not be a pharmacist who dispenses what the client asks for (give me an AI agent), be a doctor who diagnoses the problem before prescribing a solution. Often the best answer is a 30 dollar SaaS product, a simple automation, or a custom GPT, not a custom AI build. The positioning shift turns the consultant from a vendor into a trusted AI thought partner, which justifies higher fees, opens the door to retainers, and protects clients from expensive over-engineering. Closely tied to value-based pricing because diagnosis is how you quantify the ROI that anchors the price.

Source references

  • [src-008] Nate Herk cluster — Nate Herk — AI consulting and business cluster (11 videos)

Robin Cartier perspective

This page is part of Robin Cartier's working AI knowledge graph: a practical research layer for production AI, recommendation systems, experimentation, GEO, and agentic web readiness.

The useful next step is to connect this concept back to applied product leadership and operating models.

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