Labor Perception Bias and an Eeyore Outlook

Business Brain, episode 464 for Friday, July 7, 2023. Greetings, folks, and welcome to Business Brain, the show by, for and about entrepreneurs where we take different topics, we examine them so that we can tune our business brains together and make it a little bit easier for every one of us to lead that charmed life. Sponsors for this episode include Zinch, where you can go to financing that works.com and they're waiving their $250 application fee for Business Brain listeners. And Notion Projects, where you go to notion.com businessbrain and try notion projects for free today. We'll talk more in depth about both of those in a little bit. For now, here here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton.

And out here in sunny California, I'm Shannon Jean. And happy to be here. Happy casual Friday.

Happy casual Friday. Yeah.

Short week. So it came about quicker.

Real fast. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, that's a good kind of lead in to our topic. I'm eager you brought up this thing, this tweet that describes labor perception bias.

Yeah, I love this topic.

Yeah, same.

I've battled it my whole life and try to teach my employees how to handle it. And it's very important to understand. So I'm glad we're talking about it today.

Same. Yeah. Do you want me to share the story here? So, yes, it's the story about designer polisher S C H E R. We'll put a link in the, in the show notes to the tweet on this. Hopefully you'll be able to see it even with the rate limit. But in, in 1988. Sorry. After Citibank and the Travelers insurance companies merged, they hired Paul Scher to create a new logo. And in their first meeting, Shure drew what you know today as the city logo. And somebody from the Citibank team or the Citi team asked, how can it be that you did that in a second? And she says it's done in a second and 34 years. And she says, because it's done in a second and every experience and everything that's in my head and what she did here is what I think is part two of, of what we all need to learn how to do, especially those of us who are in any sort of consulting or service role where you're not just selling a widget. Right. Although this definitely applies to widgets as well. Somebody might say, well, the widget you're selling me cost, you know, 4 cents to make and you're charging me $4 for it. It's like, well, it didn't cost 4 cents to, to, to design and come up with all of this and all the research and development, all the things that it took to get there so that we knew how to make it for 4 cents. Right. Like, but there's the, and this is this labor perception bias that as Paula sure explains, a lot of clients like to buy process and they think they're not getting their money's worth if you solve their problems too quickly. And, and that's true.

And super common.

Boy, well, and we perpetuate this by charging by the hour. I remember when I had my consulting business, you know, doing like computer consulting, helping like pre Geek Squad stuff, going to people's houses and all that stuff. Some problems I would fix quickly and people would be like, wow, that's great. And I would say, okay, yes, it's great that I fixed this quickly, but it, I fixed it quickly because I spent four hours with somebody else two.

Weeks ago learning, researching on your own.

Or yeah, yeah, but, but somebody else paid me to learn how to fix this. And now you get it for, you know, a quarter of the price. And that's great. But bear that in mind when I'm here learning about a problem for the first time and you're paying me for it. And the reverse would always be true. But even in those moments, I was still valuing myself with the labor perception bias of that my worth is based on the time I am spending per client, not on the solutions. Now in that kind of business, selling solutions can be dangerous because not every computer problem is solvable. Right. Whereas is, if you're designing a logo for someone, that's a different type of consulting, if you will. Right. It's a different type of thing where you are going to solve the problem for them and that's how it's going to be. But, but yeah, because if you're solving.

It on a computer and something else happens related to that and you said you solved it and you charged them, they're going to hold you to that.

They're going to.

Or if over and over, if you.

Tell them, if you sell solutions and you go and you spend four hours and then you tell them this problem is unsolvable. Well, if you're selling solutions, you didn't get paid for those four hours. Right. So, so there's a, like, you gotta, you gotta really be, you gotta look at the ripple effects of, of how your pricing works. But it is really important for all of us as consultants to first deal with our own labor perception bias and then train our customers like Paula did. I mean, you know, this is a masterclass in. In doing this, but I think it's important for all of us to look at this for our own definitions about ourselves.

Place to start.

It's a. Yeah, the place to start.

A very good place to start to remind yourself of that. And if you're in an industry that typically has billable hours, I would encourage you to study the plumbing industry and how they go about, hey, it's X number of dollars to show up. And then they may quote the job or this kind of thing, but you have to have that value that you're an expert. It's one of the reasons why I had our technicians wear lab coats every time they met with a customer. I'm just like, look, you're like a doctor. You're diagnosing this problem. Don't forget that you're a professional, that you've spent hundreds, maybe thousands of hours learning how to do these things, and part of it is getting ourself to think about that value and get over that labor perception bias.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. There was a takeaway from this that says, on my desk, there's a note card that says, all success is a lagging indicator.

Oh, yeah.

And they say that the line comes from one of their favorite Ryan Holiday articles. When a day's writing goes well, it's a lagging indicator of the hours and hours spent researching and thinking. Receiving a promotion is a lagging indicator of a lot of quality work. Delivering a keynote with confidence is a lagging indicator of a lot of preparation. Like. Yeah, yeah. So remember this, folks. Yeah. It's good stuff. And send in your examples of. Of labor perception bias, either how you've overcome it, if you have, or how you haven't, because sharing in all of that together is how we tune our business brains together. Feedbackusinessbrain show. That's where I want you to send an email this weekend for us, please. Feedbackusinessbrain show. All right, look, we all know when running our small businesses, those unexpected costs can pop up anytime. Equipment breakdowns, payment delays, license permit fees, all kinds of stuff. Right? 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Go right now to notion.com businessbrain check it all out. And our thanks to Notion for sponsoring this episode. All right Shannon, I got A. A piece of advice for all of us that'll. That'll help our businesses go. Don't be. Don't be Eeyore with your customers. And by now. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. We had this tech out to look at all the air conditioners in our house and in the office. In the house, I have, like, a traditional ducted system. And then in the office, I've got mini splits that are one here in the studio and one down in the office. And, you know, it was time. It had been a few years since we'd had them serviced, so it was like, okay, we'll just have somebody come out and take a look, clean them up, and make sure that everything's all good. And this guy, great tech, knew his stuff. But everything was like, well, you know, these system. This system. I mean, our systems are like, I don't know. We've been in that. We put them in when we got here in the house. So they're 17, 18 years old. And he's like, oh, man, these run on old R22 or whatever. He's like, you know, if you ever need to refill them, that's going to be really expensive. And it's like, okay. He's like, yeah, you know, they don't make that anymore. I'm like, okay. He's like, so if there's ever a leak. If there's ever a leak, you know, it's like, that's going to be a major issue. And I'm like, okay. And then like 20 minutes later, I ran into him again. I'm like, so how would we know if there's a leak? Like, what. What are we dealing with? He's like, oh, well, these are closed systems, so they shouldn't ever, like, lose Freon unless there's, like, a major league or something. I'm like, okay, well, then what are we worried about? Or not freon, but R22, whatever the heck it is, you know? And I'm like, okay, well, what are we worried about then? Like, are you seeing any leaks? He's like, no. I'm like, okay. And then. And then he was like, you know, the system in the house. I don't. I don't know. I'm not getting the temperature delta. Is it getting cold enough in here? I'm like, yep. He's like, okay, well, if it's not, you know, you're probably going to need to replace the system. It's like, okay, man. But like, I. I appreciate you preparing me for all eventualities, but it's the doom and gloom with which you communicate this, that's just not all that professional. Like. Right. It just sends a message of, oh, man. Like, I don't. It's just so negative. Like, what's the. Eventually, you're going to have to deliver bad news to me if you continue being my air conditioning service guy. Right. It's how these things work. Let's not start with bad news unless there's actually bad news. I don't know.

Yeah, no. And I think the way you present it is critically important. I mentioned a while back on an episode how we had a service provider, property manager person coming through one of our vacation rentals, and I could hear him talking to Renee as he walked around. And I was just like, oh, wow, man, you're just talking yourself out of a job. You know, he walked into this big, you know, the big, you know, master bathroom and there's all this granite. And he's, oh, wow. It's going to be really tough to clean this. And it's like, well, someone else is cleaning it right now and it's not very tough. And so, you know, it is. It's so much of its perception on. From your client and how they pick because, yeah, these are problems. That's why you're there. You're there to solve problems. No problems, no business. It's just the way it always is.

Right.

So, you know, you should embrace those problems and go like, yeah, we're going to figure it out. Yeah, we know how to work with these. We've done them before. They can be challenging, but our technicians are. They specialize in this or whatever, but it's all how you spin it. And maybe it's related to your outlook on life in general. Right. If you're. Could be not as positive. And we've talked about optimism versus pessimism here. And, you know, being optimistic and having that positive outlook, it's. It's a force multiplier for success. I mean, it attracts the more people to you, it brings more customers to you. So when you're having those discussions, you. You need to think about it and ask for help. You know, talk it through with someone else and see what they think you're kind of leaning into. And if, if you're, if you're being really, you know, overly negative, you need to actively switch that up.

I, I love what you just said, so I want to repeat it. A positive outlook is a force multiplier for success. That's true, man. Like, like, it's true with yourself. And then it's also true with your customers. You know, because. Because positivity is attractive. Yeah.

Even your personal life. I mean, yes. If you're the person that walks into a room, you. You have the ability to lift the room up or lower it down. And when you're the one that helps lift things up, people are naturally inclined to want to be around you more. And that's where people like, oh, luck. You're so lucky. And this kind of thing. Well, that's one of the ways you make luck and you create fortune for yourself, is to embrace that positivity. And if it's not natural to you, it's like anything else. You got to work at it and, you know, practice.

It's a practice.

Talk about it. Yeah. And ask people. And if your spouse or whoever you're with, you know, hey, how does this sound? And, you know, what would you do but practice? You can practice positivity, and you will definitely be rewarded. There's no doubt about it.

Yeah. Yeah. It is a practice. I mean, you know, I'm. I'm pretty good at pushing out a positive attitude. It doesn't mean I do it all the time. Sometimes I'm doomy and gloomy, just like anybody is, I would assume. But I. But I'm aware of it. And it's like, oh, I need to. Okay, I can't, like, do this. That will be bad. And I've learned it by. Guess how I've learned it, Shannon. By making mistakes. Right.

Like, of course. Of course. Because, you know, you. You get the results that you put out there, and if. If you find that you're not getting the kind of results, you need to study it and take test and say, okay, well, what if I explained it this way? And. And what if I tried this thing? And, you know, when you're with your customers, too, we've talked about it before, but pacing and leading is very important. So if. If your customer seems pretty positive, you need to be positive, too. And you need to. To, you know, watch their facial expressions and listen to the words they use and. And try to do something similar because you'll get them. Their comfort level is related to how you react to them. So.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Focusing on positive stuff.

You know, it's those two tokens of. Of customer service to fit here. They. The idea that we've explained this on the show before, but when you're interacting with a customer, there are two tokens on the table. One says it's awful, and one says it's nothing. And, you know, when normally when we Talk about that. It's when a customer is bringing you a problem and it is at that point that it's best to pick up the it's awful token. But if you're always picking that up, well, then no one knows how to read you anymore. Everything's awful. It's like, well, to what degree of awful are we going to get out of this guy today? Don't just pick up those tokens for no reason. Leave them out there until you need them.

It's important. You know, we all have stuff going on in our personal life that you're like, oh gosh, whatever, but you know, you have to flip the switch. And I would argue that if you, the more you flip the switch in your professional life, it will start bleeding over into your personal life.

It's tuning of the business brain, isn't it?

Yes, exactly, exactly. And you'll start getting that positive reinforcement of good things happening when you're, when you're being positive and optimistic and you know it's a trick.

It is a trick. It's a brain.

It works. Absolutely. But it totally works. And you know, we'd love to hear your story, share how you've embraced positivity and, you know, in your business and personal Life. Feedback at BusinessBrain Show. Share your successes and your mistakes and we'll enter you to win a new MacBook Air this this year.

Absolutely. Feedback at BusinessBrain show is a place you can always get to us because we're not rate limiting your inbound emails. Send us your email and we'll keep living that charmed life together. Have a great weekend. See you next week.