A Hospital Visit, Product Pricing, and Customer Trust
“This place looks so different in daylight! I left here at 2am last night.”
A woman pulled up beside me as I walked toward the hospital elevators. She continued:
“My husband was hit by a 21-year old last night- the force of the accident pushed his left leg bone up into his hip. He was flown here last night in a helicopter- the state trooper on the scene visited and explained what happened.”
We both got on the elevator- she pushed 4 and I selected 5. Before I could say “I’m so sorry”, the doors opened to 4 and she was off.
Trust.
There are many levels of trust, including trusting a company when you buy a product (I’ll get to that in a minute).
I had my own medical emergency in November of 2021, and I don’t think there’s any level of trust higher than putting your life in the hands of medical professionals.
When I collapsed on the floor and my wife called 911, my life was in the hands of other people until an emergency surgery 7 1/2 hours later. I got great care - which is not guaranteed.
Levels of trust may involve asking questions. If I’m buying a product, I’ll ask questions about the product’s cost and the use of the product.
How much does this cost?
“It depends”
This statement isn’t helpful, and it implies that the salesperson/ customer service rep isn’t being honest with me- or doesn’t understand the product’s pricing (which is just as bad).
How many monthly subscriptions do you currently pay?
This Wall Street Journal article comments on the issue of subscription costs. Is your favorite sports team playing a game that’s only covered by a streaming service? If so, you have to find out which service (not always easy), and decide if subscribing- or paying a one-time fee- is worth it.
Remember the good old days? In St. Louis, my hometown, all Cardinal regular season baseball games were on KMOX- the 50,000-watt radio home of the Cards. TV games were on one of two stations.
Easy.
If you wanted to watch or listen to the game, you knew exactly where to go.
Not anymore.
Cardinal games may be on one of 5-6 different platforms. Now, understand that “The Lou” is a fanatical baseball town- I know many people who watch every game. The Cards also draw fans from surrounding states that don’t have their own teams.
From the article:
“I’m now dreading the thought that other businesses will institute this kind of maddeningly illogical policy—charging premiums on certain days for inferior products.”
It’s inferior because the local announcers- who know the team the best- are not on the broadcast.
Frustrating.
So what’s the solution?
Be transparent with customers
Tell people- in detail- how much the product or service costs, and what they’ll get.
I’m convinced that many companies aren’t transparent about pricing because if customers know they won’t buy.
I think the opposite is true.
If you treat customers like grownups, they’ll respect you. If they say no, they might come back- because some other business will not be transparent about pricing.
Give customers the information and let them decide. Life will be a lot easier, and you’ll build trust with both prospects and clients.