Because people don’t make buying decisions based on what’s good for you - they act based on what they see, need and believe.

Yes, we frequently sell ourselves too short. We don’t ask for compensation commensurate with the value we create. It’s a form of hiding. But the most common form of this hiding is not merely lowering the price. No, the mistake we make is in not telling stories that create more value, in not doing the hard work of building something unique and worth seeking out.

This is another way to talk about marketing. And modern marketing is done with the people we seek to serve, not at them. It’s based on the idea that if the customer knew what you know, and they believed what you believe, they’d want to work with you. On the principle that long-term trust is worth far more than any single transaction ever could be.


Don asserts that the guy is cheating because he’s lacking something and is desperate to find it, a belief he has because that’s what he is the entire show: a depressed and scared person constantly running away from what he has, looking to find something new to fill the hole inside of him over and over. That’s why he’s such a good ad man, because he understands how people crave a fix to their sorrows, and his brand of emotionally connected ads promise a cure.