Cannot Overcome the Picasso Paradox? Embrace the Mindset of Distinctive Performers

My shopper (his development firm constructed factories) walked into the convention room the place I used to be writing a keynote for him and tossed a folder on the desk.

“We’re bidding on a small job,” he mentioned, “and our proposal sucks.” 

I reached for the pages. My first thought was that $525,000 did not look like a “small” job to me. My second thought was yeah, it sucked. 

“Need me to take a shot at it?” I mentioned. “All of the numbers are right here. Possibly I can tune it up a bit of.”

An hour later I went to his workplace. He was on the telephone so I put the revised proposal on the nook of his desk. He nodded, and I went again to the convention room.

Twenty minutes later he put a examine for $5,000 beside my laptop computer with “(ACME) proposal” on the memo line.

I appeared up, shocked. “Maintain on,” I mentioned. “That is manner an excessive amount of. It solely took me an hour.”

“I do not care how lengthy it took,” he mentioned. “I care about worth. Not time. And that,” he mentioned, pointing to the examine, “is how a lot an awesome proposal is price to me.”

The distinction between time and outcomes is typically referred to as the Locksmith’s Paradox. (I prefer to name it the Picasso Paradox; extra on that in a second.)

Say an inexperienced locksmith fixes a lock in about an hour. The value is $100, and the buyer is comfortable.

Over the following few years, the locksmith beneficial properties appreciable talent and expertise. When the identical buyer wants him to make the identical sort of restore, he finishes the job in about fifteen minutes.

Nice — besides when he fingers the shopper a invoice for $100. The job did not take very lengthy. And the locksmith made it look simple. How may or not it’s price $100?

That is the Locksmith’s Paradox: Identical consequence — however due to the shorter time concerned, the shopper perceives the worth a lot in another way.

As for the Picasso Paradox?

As legend has it, in the future Picasso was at the market. A lady acknowledged him,  He did, and when he handed it to her mentioned, “That might be $1 million {dollars}.”

“However Mr. Picasso,” she mentioned, “it solely took you thirty seconds to attract it.”

“No,” Picasso mentioned. “It took me forty years to have the ability to try this.”

(The same story includes the artist James McNeill Whistler. Whistler was requested by a lawyer how he may cost a lot for a portray that solely took two days. ” Oh, two days! The labor of two days, then, is that for which you ask 200 guineas!” Whistler replied, “No. I ask it for a lifetime of information.”)

The Picasso Paradox is not distinctive to artists, or locksmiths. The Picasso Paradox applies in all places.

• Like when managers consider their staff by hours labored slightly than outcomes. Workers who are available early and keep late aren’t essentially extra productive; we have all recognized individuals who put in lengthy hours however accomplish comparatively little. 
• Or when enterprise house owners determine that the freelancer who rapidly solves their software program downside cannot be well worth the worth she costs as a result of the repair appeared too “simple.”
• Or when the identical occurs to enterprise house owners whose talent and expertise permits them to ship distinctive worth comparatively rapidly, inflicting clients to query the fee as an alternative of appreciating the worth they obtain. 

The primary downside is simple to unravel. Do not deal with the hours your staff work, or the place they work from. Butts in seats are irrelevant. Tangible, invaluable outcomes are every thing. In addition to: Always worrying about what your staff are — or aren’t — doing is a waste of psychological power you’ll be able to’t afford.

The second downside can also be simple to unravel: Give attention to the worth you obtain. A warehouse door lock will get mounted in simply quarter-hour? Nice. Meaning you are again in motion sooner. A coding downside will get mounted in an hour? Nice. Meaning you are up and operating sooner. The result — and the pace of the result — is what issues.

Fixing the Picasso Paradox your companies faces is a bit of more durable. The secret is to separate hours from price. 

For instance, an property planning lawyer I do know spent appreciable money and time growing software program that automates a lot of the method. Now, as soon as he is interviewed a brand new shopper, many of the paperwork concerned — Wills, Trusts, Powers of Legal professional, and so forth. — will be created in simply just a few hours.

If shoppers knew that, although… yep: Picasso Paradox. So he costs a set payment. Purchasers are comfortable as a result of they really feel the outcomes are price the fee. In addition to: How lengthy it took is irrelevant, particularly since he invested in automation that vastly speeds the method.

What issues is the worth of the result.

Every time you’ll be able to, separate time out of your service pricing and cost primarily based on deliverables. Give attention to the worth the shopper receives, not how lengthy it took to create that worth.

The very fact your can do extra, and do it higher, in much less time — due to your hard-earned experience, expertise, instinct, and so forth. — should not end in you getting paid much less. In lots of circumstances, a sooner consequence is price extra, particularly if deliverable pace is necessary to your clients. 

That is why I prefer to name it the Picasso Paradox: As a result of once you’re actually good at what you do… an hour of your time may very well be price greater than ten hours of another person’s. Ensure you discover methods to seize that worth.