As you may or may not know, I used to work for Howard Stern. It was more than ten years ago, but I still keep in touch with him from time to time. I listen to the show every day and I think it’s better than ever. I bring this up because Howard and Robin had a conversation about wine that serves as a great marketing lesson for magicians. This story is a bit long, but bear with me, it’s worth your time.
This is what happened: Howard, Robin, and a few other people from the show went out to dinner. Robin is learning about wine and Howard lets her order. When Howard received the bill, he was surprised to see the price of the wine. How much was it? $800.00…one bottle…Robin ordered three bottles.
Of course, the next few minutes of the show were devoted to Robin’s rudeness and goofiness on her expensive request. Howard went on to tell the story of two wine experts who bought a $3,000.00 bottle of wine. They didn’t want to spend that much, but it was their job as great wine experts to report, so they bought it. They kept this very expensive wine for a year before opening it and writing their reviews.
Remember, these are wine EXPERTS. They get paid to review wines from around the world and tell other connoisseurs what to drink. So, they open this expensive bottle of wine and taste it.
The result? It was the best wine experience they have ever had. They waxed poetic about the amazing flavors and how amazing this wine was. However, they were not drinking the $3,000.00 bottle of wine. By mistake, one of them took a cheap $10 bottle of table wine that you would buy at any grocery store. They had to be honest in their reporting, so they came clean and told the story.
Robin said, “Well sure, when you pay that much for wine, you’re paying for marketing.”
Here’s someone who knows they’re paying (or Howard is paying) a lot more for something simply because it costs more, not necessarily because it’s better. She knows it and does it anyway!
Although perception and quality don’t go hand in hand, I think they should. In other words, you can use marketing to position yourself any way you want. However, just because you CAN doesn’t mean you should.
Honestly assess what you can bring to a client and rate your value accordingly. This means not charging more than it’s worth, but it also means not selling yourself cheap. Ironically, the latter problem occurs more often than the former.
