On cost

"Why does it cost so much" is a difficult question to answer. Thankfully, we don't have to.

Sometimes, what the customer wants to know is: "What do I get for my dollar". But this is not the case most of the time so explaining features and processes is counterproductive.

With every purchase, a customer walks in with an expectation of value-to-price. Hearing the ill-mentioned question is a sign that the customer is either very early in their discovery process or is not serious and respectful. There's no incentive to fix either of these issues.

But the question usually means: "To my eyes, this doesn't look that different from this other thing which costs half. The differences that I can see don't account for the large delta."

No feature list can close that gap.

What many of us in professional services businesses need to understand is that it takes a long time to develop this ability to see the difference. In reality, a customer's ability to see the difference with our direct competitors is a sign that we're being compared to sellers in a much lower league. The non-expert customer should only have a faint understanding of the difference.

They don't buy it because they see it. They buy because they're eager to learn about it.

For example, I can't tell the difference between a $1k suit and a $10k suit. It's mostly because I don't see suits that often and I have little interest in them. But I can spot a premium pair of jeans from across the room because I've built that ability over time. Similarly, I can tell the difference between poor and sublime typography immediately while most people I know can't even if you point it out. That's how it should be.

The philosopher Hume was very interested in this dynamic. Refinement is inherently clear to those who have it, while those who don't are completely oblivious to it. He notes that this is the source of endless social issues mostly pertaining to leadership positions in society.

It's a fundamentally unsolvable asymmetry.

In the holy Quran: "Are those who know equal to those who do not know?” None will be mindful except people of reason." 39:9

The lesson here is to not expect the casual customer or even the educated buyer to have the right eye for what we're selling. It's unproductive and unfair on both sides.

We can't get people to reach our level of refinement in our area of expertise in a few sales meetings just like we can't reach their level in their fields. If it were possible, we would not have taken you so long to reach that level.

People buy things from people they trust. The key is to quit rushing and build trust over time by overdelivering for those who give us the benefit of the doubt 😘