There’s a story of Charles Steinmetz getting called in by Henry Ford to solve some problems they were having with a generator. Ford was thrilled that Steinmetz was able to fix the problem until he saw the bill for $10,000. After asking for the bill to be itemised, Steinmetz replied with the following:
Making chalk mark on generator $1.
Knowing where to make mark $9,999.
It’s a story that I’ve heard many times in different variations.
It highlights though, that the concept of paying for experience over time existed more than 100 years ago.
Yet we still struggle with the idea, from both sides.
We struggle with justifying bills where experience has been used in order to get results. And, we struggle with being able to charge for the experience and value that we provide.
