Peter Winick argues that thought leaders give away too much free advice without establishing pricing or boundaries first. He uses a taxi driver starting the meter immediately as a model: experts should clarify costs and scope before offering insights, not after.
Hi there, it's Peter Winick. I'm the founder and CEO at Thought Leadership Leverage, and here's the idea that I'd like to share with you today, and that's this: what is it that authors, that thought leaders, that advisors, consultants, coaches, etc., can learn from taxi cab drivers? That's an interesting question, or so I think. Well, we could learn from them is this: when you get into a cab, the first thing that the cabbie does After grunting at you, or maybe simultaneously while grunting at you, is hit the meter. The meter starts. Then they're gonna ask you where you're going, and then they might ask if you have a preference in terms of how you'd like to get there. But what they know is, as soon as you get in the cab, you've engaged with them. You're paying for them. They're gonna do a service. They're gonna perform a task. And you're gonna pay them the rate that is posted for that task. There's no, can you drive me around the block once? Let me see if you're a good driver. Let me ask you a few questions about your experience being a taxi cab driver, etc. And what I find that we could learn from this is far too often as thought leaders, as authors, as experts and such, we spend too much time convincing clients or giving away value or engaging in conversations without the meter being hit before we're able to hit the meter. If you've got the goods, if you've got the credibility, The gravitas and such, you need to be clear as to where that line is with your potential clients because of course they're always gonna wanna engage with you. You've got insight to give them and value to give them at every interaction, but at some point you have to have a system or processes in place that says, okay, now we're moving into the part where you're hiring me. And when you're hiring me, here's what that might look like, and here's what that's gonna cost, and here's what I'm gonna do, et cetera. So anyway, love to hear your thoughts on what you could learn from a taxi driver. Thanks, Peter.
