November 24, 2018

The Double Yay

The final leg of our Thanksgiving road trip was an eight and a half hour drive from Erie, Pennsylvania to Providence, Rhode Island.

We brought all sorts of activities to keep the kids entertained, but as you might imagine all they really cared about was the iPads.

The two iPads we brought with us are about the same size and even though one’s a little bit newer than the other, they’re basically the same.

Well, not exactly.

They have a different assortment of apps, games, and shows. This lead to more than one demonstration of the principle of mutual profit.

Here’s how it would go:

Cooper: “Hey Maggie! Want to trade iPads?”

Maggie: “No, I’m not done coloring.”

Cooper: “But this one has Roblox.”

Maggie: “Okay!”

(iPads change hands)

Both: “Yay!”

What’s going on here?

As Cooper would get bored of the stuff on his black iPad, it would become less valuable to him.

Likewise for Maggie with her blue iPad.

At a certain point (and more than once) one of the kids would suggest swapping devices.

After the trade, both kids would be happier. Which is to say, they both profited from the exchange. Hence, the double “Yay!”

Here’s the thing...

The same dynamics are at play when your clients pay you for a service. They want what you offer more than they want the money they have to trade for it.

Assuming you deliver the desired results as expected, everyone’s happy.

Which is to say you BOTH profit.

This is a really important concept to internalize, especially if you feel like sales is an attempt to trick clients out of their money.

It’s not.

Sales is the process of figuring out if there’s a trade that both parties think is worth doing.

Yours,

—J

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