The published standard
The Eleven Surfaces.
The eleven things a buyer of expert advice actually checks, in the order they check them. Free, ungated — a standard you have to ask for is not a standard.
The eleven surfaces, in order
First screen
“Do these people operate at my level?”
Failure mode / A stock template and no position stated anywhere on the first screen.
The enquiry response
“How fast, by whom — and did they read what I wrote?”
Failure mode / An auto-reply, then silence, then an answer to a different question.
The proposal
“Is this a document worth keeping?”
Failure mode / A price in an email thread, or forty templated pages written for someone else.
Named results
“Has this worked for someone like me, with a number attached?”
Failure mode / “Trusted by hundreds” — no name, no number, no date, no way to check.
Third-party evidence
“Does anyone outside the firm vouch for them?”
Failure mode / Credentials exist but appear nowhere the buyer actually looks.
The practitioner's track record
“Has this person personally done the thing?”
Failure mode / The firm's history stands in for the practitioner's — and the buyer notices.
Peer proof
“Who else in my world already uses them?”
Failure mode / The practice cannot say, because it never asked permission to say.
The fee explanation
“Is the price reasoned, or is it a number?”
Failure mode / “Contact us for pricing” — which the buyer reads as: it depends on you.
What happens after
“Do they stay, or hand over and go?”
Failure mode / Nothing about the first ninety days, so the buyer assumes abandonment.
The physical impression
“The office, the print, the room we meet in.”
Failure mode / A considered website; a meeting room with someone else's branding.
Consistency across all ten
“Do I get the same firm every time I look?”
Failure mode / Strong on three surfaces, absent on four — and inconsistency reads as risk.
Score yourself
Surface 11 is where most practices lose.
Not bad on any single surface — inconsistent across them. And inconsistency reads as risk.