The Sketch Artist: A Parable about Pricing

Paris, France, 1948: A young woman strolls along a downtown street and notices a man busily sketching a bowl of fruit. She stops.

“Do you sketch portraits?” she asks the man. “Yes, I do,” he replies, not looking up from the paper.

"Will you sketch a portrait of me, for me to take to my father? I am on my way to him now.”

The artist looks up from his drawing. “Yes. Have a seat.”

Three minutes later, the man presents a portrait to the young woman.

“It’s very good,” she says, not noticing the signature: Picasso. “How much do I owe you?” He replies, “Three thousand francs.”

“Three thousand!” she exclaims. “But it only took you three minutes!”

Looking into her eyes, the artist retorts, “No. It took me all of my life.”


The final line in this story: "No, it took me all of my life," is the perfect direct response to any suggestion that the amount of time taken to perform a task is a good gauge of the value provided.

Though a few readers might conclude that the fame of the artist determines his billing rate at 1,000 francs per minute, this is not the point.

Rather, a very good portrait drawn quickly can be worth a lot of money. If you question the price based on the short time spent, then you ought to consider that developing the talent and expertise that enable a very good portrait drawn quickly takes a much longer time than the time spent performing the task.

This shifts focus from time spent performing to value provided in the result of the performance.

When services are performed that depend on talent and expertise, the time spent performing is only an arbitrary gauge of the value provided. What is it worth to you to have a talented expert satisfy a need promptly?


- Glenn R Harrington
Articulate Consultants Inc.
www.articulate.ca

The Carpenter’s Invoice: A Parable about Pricing

Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1975: A man owned a house with a squeaky dining room floor. He paced that floor listening intently for the location of the squeak.

Each time he thought he found it, he would pull up the carpet and drive a nail into the floorboards. Each time, the squeak eluded him.

Eventually, he called in a carpenter.

The carpenter paced the floor, pulled up the carpet, and drove a single nail into the floor. The squeak disappeared.

The carpenter billed the man $50. The invoice said, “Driving one nail: $3. Knowing where to drive the nail: $47.”

Having experienced how the problem had already caused him more than $50 worth of trouble, the man happily paid right away.

Just as many people prefer the do-it-yourself approach to many problems to avoid the uncertain - and possibly high - cost of getting expert help, so this man tried to fix the problem on his own. Like often happens when people try to fix problems on their own, this man succeeded only at getting more nails in his floor, rather than solving his problem. His frustration and repeated failure made calling in a carpenter more sensible.

The carpenter's invoice hit the nail on the head. Anybody can drive a nail. The value lies in knowing where to drive the nail. Thus, the carpenter's expertise solved the problem and was the source of value. It had nothing to do with the amount of time taken, except that there was value in the problem being solved quickly.

- Glenn R Harrington
Articulate Consultants Inc.
www.articulate.ca