Last night I was playing at a corporate dinner. During a the welcoming remarks, the speaker shared this anecdote:
An old but vital piece of office equipment broke down. None of the techs currently employed by the firm knew how to fix it, so they called a retired engineer. He came in and spent only a few of minutes working on it. The only thing those observing his progress really noticed him doing was placing a chalk mark in its inner workings. But minutes later, the machine was up and running. A few days later, an unitemized bill arrived in the amount of $10,000. Feeling that something was not right with this bill, they called the engineer, hoping he’d lower the fee. Failing that, they requested an itemized bill. When it arrived it read: Placing chalk mark – $1.00. Knowing where to place chalk mark: $9,999.
We spend years and lots of money attaining a wonderful skill. Don’t let people without this skill, who often have never hired someone with your skill place a dollar amount on the value of what you have to offer before you’ve even provided the service. This is not Priceline: it’s our livelihood.
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