Yes, there is more than one. But there is a specific one, which is not only the fastest, but it also ensures the loss of the audience’s trust.
Feeling of being deceived.
I’m still not over one product pitch that I had recently attended. The product seemed straightforward, it was the curiosity about its pricing that had attracted a huge number of attendants. During the whole product walk-through, it was evident that people (mostly decision-makers in their own concerned organizations) were losing patience to understand the pricing. There was a reason why they had spared their time to attend a technical session because they were referred by trusted sources and what mattered to them was pricing for their own organization.
At an arbitrary stage during the pitch, the presenter provided a glimpse of their platform’s variable pricing. But it was clear that they hadn’t made as much effort to clarify their pricing as they had to provide a walk-through. Their avoidance of providing a clear understanding of pricing was tangible among the audience. At the end of the pitch, a couple of attendees demanded to clarify the pricing, any overheads, and recurring costs. To my (and probably everyone’s) horror, upon multiple probing, the presenters provided some estimated costs for a sample number of users that were more than double what they had shown in their slide deck. The argument was that it was not charged by their platform, though one invariably needed to subscribe to several third-party vendors in order to use their platform.
This was an interesting experience as not often do we sign up for a session to be deceived unless we’re attending any magic shows!
The presenters’ tip-toeing around full pricing is understandable. They were guided by their fear and not malice. The fear of losing a potential client. The problem with operating with fear is paradoxical. The paradox is that the fear with which you operate leads you to the same consequences that you try to avoid. In this case, the presenters not only lost clients, but they lost our trust.
This is important because no matter how useful a product you have made, it won’t see the light of the day if you cannot win people’s trust.
The fear of losing clients leads to losing clients. The fear of flunking an interview leads to flunking an interview.
Operating from fear is probably the fastest route to lose clients, relationships, and social value.