Overcoming Basic Instincts, 2 . . . When Ice Picks And Hot Chicks Shouldn't Meet
I've found that in life, being able to accurately assess anything based first on price is a bit like expecting Sharon Stone to not show off her new sport, Legs Lacrosse in her new movie. Or like asking Whitney Houston to design a drug-free health regimen.
Ain't. Gonna. Happen.
By the same token, some people like to look at the price first to see how much it's going to cost them and then they look at what it'll do for them.
Seems to me that's a bit backwards.
And some people are comfortable with that, and that's well and good. If that method works for you, then all's well and good. To each his own. Just as valid, there's another way of looking at it -- I prefer to grok what it will do for me, and then and only then do I care about the price tag.
If it's of sufficient benefit, I'll make sure I have the money. I'll find it somehow, if need be.
It reminds me of when I was helping one of the country's foremost hypnotists with his marketing. And he would tell me how often desperate college students would email or call him, whining about how they couldn't afford his products.
His answer, though true, never fails to tickle my funny bone:
Does it offer enough to justify its $285 price tag? You bet (at least so far). Trial it on an important, but low-risk project. Or several of them. You'll see what I mean.
Ain't. Gonna. Happen.
By the same token, some people like to look at the price first to see how much it's going to cost them and then they look at what it'll do for them.
Seems to me that's a bit backwards.
And some people are comfortable with that, and that's well and good. If that method works for you, then all's well and good. To each his own. Just as valid, there's another way of looking at it -- I prefer to grok what it will do for me, and then and only then do I care about the price tag.
If it's of sufficient benefit, I'll make sure I have the money. I'll find it somehow, if need be.
It reminds me of when I was helping one of the country's foremost hypnotists with his marketing. And he would tell me how often desperate college students would email or call him, whining about how they couldn't afford his products.
His answer, though true, never fails to tickle my funny bone:
"You know . . . the single great advantage for someone being in my position as opposed to being in your position – is that I'm about twice as old as you are, perhaps even more. Now, those additional 20, 25 years have all been spent as an adult, up to and including being in college.I'd same the same applies to the decision to buy ResultsManager or not.
You know what I know?
I know that you spend that amount of money on beer, on fast food, on fooling around with your friends and doing stupid stuff. Now, the fact is that you could invest that amount of money once and change your life to the point where you can get money, where you can get women,or men, or sheep . . . whatever floats your boat.
Now, you can do all that for less than $400 bucks . . . or you can go out and have a real nice weekend.
If you choose to do what you've always have done . . . if you want your life to stay the same, then you should not be buying my products."
Does it offer enough to justify its $285 price tag? You bet (at least so far). Trial it on an important, but low-risk project. Or several of them. You'll see what I mean.
posted by wterry at 4/07/2006 09:28:00 PM
3 Comments:
I think you're missing an important point in this discussion about price. This is not really about ResultsManager, since I bought the Pro version, but about the principles you're using.
Money is not ONLY about value. It's also about the allocation of scarce resources.
Suppose a woman with an entry-level professional job decides that it's time to buy a new car. She looks around, and find one she really likes: superb engineering, a feature set to die for, great repair and safety records, etc. But no amount of shifting around of resources, no oaths to eat only ramen noodles for six months, can make the $30,000 price tag anything but a foolish choice for a person in her situation.
Now take a man who's flipping burgers while finishing off his GED so that he can enroll in the community college. He may be nowhere now, but he's got big ideas. He's working on a business plan he's confident will make him rich, and he's on a broad-reaching skill enhancement program. Would MindManager and ResultsManager assist him? You bet! Should he live on the streets for a few months to get the money for them? Well...no.
I do understand your main point. For many, many people with complicated commitments, MMgr/RMgr would be well worth brownbagging it for a while, or whatever it would mean in their lives. But that kind of discretionary choice has as a prerequisite an appropriate amount of discretionary resources.
By the way, inspired by your blog ("how does he do THAT?"), I'm actually READING the RM manual, and already getting a lot more out of the program as a result. Thank you very much for doing this.
I think you're missing an important point in this discussion about price. This is not really about ResultsManager, since I bought the Pro version, but about the principles you're using.
Money is not ONLY about value. It's also about the allocation of scarce resources.
Suppose a woman with an entry-level professional job decides that it's time to buy a new car. She looks around, and find one she really likes: superb engineering, a feature set to die for, great repair and safety records, etc. But no amount of shifting around of resources, no oaths to eat only ramen noodles for six months, can make the $30,000 price tag anything but a foolish choice for a person in her situation.
Now take a man who's flipping burgers while finishing off his GED so that he can enroll in the community college. He may be nowhere now, but he's got big ideas. He's working on a business plan he's confident will make him rich, and he's on a broad-reaching skill enhancement program. Would MindManager and ResultsManager assist him? You bet! Should he live on the streets for a few months to get the money for them? Well...no.
I do understand your main point. For many, many people with complicated commitments, MMgr/RMgr would be well worth brownbagging it for a while, or whatever it would mean in their lives. But that kind of discretionary choice has as a prerequisite an appropriate amount of discretionary resources.
By the way, inspired by your blog ("how does he do THAT?"), I'm actually READING the RM manual, and already getting a lot more out of the program as a result. Thank you very much for doing this.
About Bob's Comments:
First off, I appreciate the civility and intelligence with which he expressed himself. Though I flat-out disagree with his understanding of what I said.
And I hate the appearance of picking on Bob. His comments were the most intelligent and civil response I got to the 'price issue' posts, but the record needs to be set straight.
For the record, the two examples Bob constructed to prove his point have absolutely nothing to do with the price vs. value point I was making. They may prove his points and his perception of my point.
But they're not mine. Nor did I say/suggest/imply those things.
I've moderated several huge email forums in my day, one with over 3000 subscribers during its heyday.
I've seen and done battle with every logic argument out there. And I got pretty good at recognizing the tricks of the argument trade.
But it was Dilbert creator Scott Adams who codified it. Take a look at them here: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2005
/11/results_of_why_.html.
As you'll see from reading them, Bob's examples hit about six or so of the common ways people misconstrue statements other people make and then argue against them.
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