This Is Marketing: You Cant Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Trust and risk, trust and expense
The rational thing is to believe that we’re more likely to require trust before
we engage in risky transactions.
And it’s also rational to expect that people are more likely to want more
trust before spending a lot of money (a form of risk). Or committing time
and effort.
Many times, though, the opposite is true.
The fact that the transaction is risky causes cognitive dissonance to kick
in. We invent a feeling of trust precisely because we’re spending a lot. “I’m
a smart person, and the smart thing to do would be to be sure I trust
someone before investing my life savings (or my life), so I must trust this
person.”
That’s what boot camp is for. The high cost of participation (blood,
sweat, and tears) causes us to become aligned with the group.
That’s why people change at Outward Bound.
That’s why high-end restaurants and hotels can survive bad reviews.
When people are heavily invested (cash or reputation or effort), they
often make up a story to justify their commitment. And that story carries
trust.
Every con man knows this. The irony is that marketers who need to be
trusted often don’t understand it.
Lowering your price doesn’t make you more trusted. It does the opposite.
Be generous with change and brave with your business
Generosity in terms of free work, constant discounts, and plenty of
uncompensated overtime isn’t really generous. Because you can’t sustain it.
Because soon you’ll be breaking the promises you made.

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On the other hand, showing generosity with your bravery, your empathy,
and your respect is generous indeed.
What your customers want from you is for you to care enough to change
them.
To create tension that leads to forward motion.
To exert emotional labor that will open them up to what’s possible.
And if you need to charge a lot to pull that off, it’s still a bargain.