When we were little children our mother sat us on her knee and told us something we have never forgotten. And what was it? She said, “Darling in life you get what you pay for”. Because our mother, that dear wise fount of all knowledge said it, we took it as truth and filed it away.

As a result of what our dear old mum told us each of us has something buried deep in our subconscious. And what’s that? It’s the belief that the more we pay for something the better it must be.

Yes that’s right. People are actually conditioned from childhood to accept that the greater the price, the better the value. But there’s a condition to the acceptance of that belief. We must be able to see why we are paying the price. In other words we need “reasons why” to pay that price. If good reasons are given as to why they should pay more for this one than for that one, generally people will pay the higher price.

On the other hand if no solid, credible reasons are given as to why this one costs more than that then people will invariably buy the cheaper one because they can’t see any reasons why. People judge on price alone when they have no other means by which to judge.

So the moral to capitalise on mother’s teachings? Always explain why this one costs more than that one. You’ll often hear people say “These widgets are expensive but I bought them because of this and this and this.” They’ll know exactly what they were paying for.

A great way to do this is to say, “Let me tell you exactly what your money is buying” and then reel off the “reasons why” what you are recommending is worth the money.