Funnel Map: Claude Skills for Independent Consultants

⚠️ This is the STRATEGIC product-ladder map (tripwire → PBOS → Cohort rationale, expert-framework alignment). It is NOT the live operational funnel. For the live SLO funnel — both acquisition paths, full cart sequence, current prices, nurture state, routing — the single source of truth is the ## Funnels section of the SLO campaign STATUS: content/business/marketing/campaigns/claude-skills-for-consultants-lto/STATUS.md. That section is reviewed + re-stamped on every status update. Do not treat the prices/stages below as current. PBOS and the Cohort (Stages 2–3 below) have NEVER LAUNCHED. They are aspirational rungs — no live membership, no live price, nothing to route a buyer to today. Treat everything from Stage 1.5 onward as future-state planning, not current funnel.

Principle: Each stage sells the next rung only

The tripwire stack's only job is to get someone to PBOS. PBOS's only job is to get someone to the Cohort. Don't sell the whole ladder — sell the next step.

Stage 1: Tripwire Stack (Cold Traffic → Customer)

Goal: Turn a cold lead into a buyer. Build familiarity with the product ecosystem. Create the conditions for PBOS conversion through the nurture sequence.

Max cart: ~$61. Three products, each earning its position.

What the buyer walks away with:

• 52 production-grade Claude Skills (the engine)
• A personalized skill map for their practice type (the starting point)
• 40 SOPs that define when to run which skill (the rhythm)

Why three products, not four: The Client Deliverable Template Library was evaluated and cut. The 52 skills already produce polished, client-ready output — proposals, SOWs, recaps, and emails come out formatted and ready to send. The Template Library would solve a problem that doesn't exist.

Key design principles:

• Bump addresses purchase anxiety (Hormozi: perceived likelihood of achievement)
• Bump makes the main offer work better (Brunson: best bump completes the core product)
• SOP Manual answers the natural "and then what?" after the buyer knows where to start
• Shorter stack = more buyers reach OTO1 (Pittman: every page loses buyers)
• Three offers that pass the value equation > four with a weak link (Hormozi)

Stage 1.5: Nurture Sequence (Customer → PBOS Member)

Goal: Bridge the gap between "I own tools" and "I need to transform my practice." This is where PBOS conversion happens — not in the tripwire stack.

What the tripwire stack built: Product familiarity. Belief that AI skills work. A buyer identity.

What the tripwire stack didn't build: Relationship with Kathryn. Diagnosis of the buyer's specific practice problems. Awareness that tools alone aren't enough.

What the nurture must do:

1. Introduce Kathryn. Her voice, her pattern recognition, her thinking. Not a sales pitch — real insight delivered via email. The buyer needs to experience what it's like to have Kathryn's brain on their practice before they'll pay monthly for access. (Kern: results-in-advance through content, not product.)

1. Surface the tools → transformation gap. "You have 52 skills. How many have you run? What happened?" Most buyers will use 3-5 skills and stall — not because the tools are bad, but because tools without accountability, diagnosis, and community aren't enough. The nurture names this reality. (Hormozi: the gap between owning and achieving is the PBOS value proposition.)

1. Create the felt need for diagnosis. The Practice Diagnostic lives inside PBOS onboarding. The nurture should preview what the Diagnostic reveals — "most practices I see are leaking in 3 places" — so the buyer wants to find THEIR leaks. The diagnosis creates urgency to join. (Deiss: behavioral email that creates desire for the next rung.)

What the nurture does NOT do:

• Sell the Cohort. The buyer isn't ready. PBOS is the only next step.
• Sell more products. The buyer has enough products. They need a relationship.
• Pitch aggressively. The emails build trust and surface awareness. The PBOS offer is the natural conclusion, not a hard sell.

Nurture → PBOS pitch:

• SOP Manual buyers at $47 (nurture price) also enter this sequence
• Non-buyers from the thank-you page get the 52 skills pitched at $47 in the nurture first, then enter the PBOS sequence after purchase
• PBOS pitch lands after the buyer has: (a) used at least one skill, (b) experienced Kathryn's thinking via email, (c) felt the gap between tools and transformation

Pricing note: $49/mo founder's rate. $97/mo standard. The founder's rate bridges the gap from $35 one-time (OTO1) to recurring — $49/mo feels like the same price tier. Psychological continuity from the tripwire stack.

Stage 2: PBOS — Practice Builders OS ($49/mo Founder's Rate)

Goal: Transform the buyer from a tool user into a practice builder. Build the relationship and deliver the results that make the Cohort feel like a natural next step.

Regular price: $97/mo Founder's rate: $49/mo (half off for early members)

Buyer's question: "I've got the tools — how do I actually transform my practice?"

Why the founder's rate works:

• Bridges from $35 one-time (OTO1) to recurring — same price tier, psychological continuity
• Creates real urgency — "founder's pricing" is genuinely limited, not a fake countdown
• Early members become proof — invested enough to use it, priced low enough to stay
• Retention anchor — "You're locked in at $49/mo, regular price is $97/mo" rewards loyalty

PBOS Onboarding (Day 1 Experience)

The Kit + Diagnostic + Command Center together make PBOS onboarding feel like a $500 experience on Day 1. The member feels smart for joining before the first month is up. (Hormozi: value equation for retention.)

PBOS Monthly Content

Monthly rhythm: "This month we're covering pricing architecture. Here's the playbook. Here are the skills that execute it. Bring your questions to the community."

PBOS → Cohort bridge

PBOS's secondary job (after retention) is to prepare members for the Cohort. This happens through:

• Practice Diagnostic reveals the member's primary constraint
• Monthly playbooks build strategic thinking capacity
• Community shows members what deeper work looks like
• 3-6 months of membership builds enough relationship and trust for a $7,500 commitment
• Cohort pitch lands to PBOS members who've been active 3+ months — not to cold traffic, not to new members

Stage 3: Cohort — The Practice Foundry ($7,500)

Goal: Deploy one complete operational system in the member's practice over 12 weeks.

This stage is documented separately. See:

• advisory-os-vault/content/business/marketing/campaigns/practice-builders-os/wip/2026-04-24-cohort-concept-brief.md
• advisory-os-vault/content/business/marketing/campaigns/practice-builders-os/wip/2026-04-26-cohort-program-design-principles.md

Cohort members come from PBOS. The tripwire stack does not sell the Cohort. PBOS members who've been active 3+ months are the natural Cohort audience. The price gap ($49/mo → $7,500) requires months of relationship, demonstrated value, and a diagnosed constraint that the member wants to solve with guided support.

Cohort Deliverables

Expert Framework Alignment

Build Priority

Products 2-3 have pre-filled briefs ready to feed into /build-product. Product 4 needs to be written — it's the bridge between the tripwire stack and PBOS. Products 5-6 are captured with strategic rationale but need full briefs when ready to build.