An anecdote tells you the price of knowledge

This is a version of a story that I’ve heard a long time ago.

A plumber is called to a home to fix the clog of the pipes in the old house. He carefully inspects each pipe for a few minutes, then takes out a hammer and bangs it against a pipe.

Magically, the pipes became unclogged. Delighted.

The owner of the home asks for an invoice. The plumber hands over an invoice for $500.

The owner complains because the plumber had been there for less than 5 minutes! He asks for a breakdown and gets one.

It reads: One perfect swing of the hammer at the pipe $1

The knowledge required to know where to swing at $499

Are you in the service experience business? or are you also in the knowledge business? Does it require your special knowledge and expertise to do what you do well? Are you charging for it? Or are you stuck trading your time for a silly hourly rate?

Businesses don’t go to a marketing agency expecting them to carry out a well-written marketing plan by following directions. There’s no marketing plan and there are no instructions – at least not a healthy one.

They go to agencies hoping that the agencies can do what is necessary to help insert marketing goal here because the agency knows better. Their fear? What if what the agency produce is not what they like? Add A and take away B – then you have a pretty compelling position.

Oh, and don’t forget to charge for it. What about the prospects who say things like “well, it shouldn’t be too hard or take you too long.”? Ask them to do it themselves since it shouldn’t be too hard or take too long.