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Comment by xyzelement | Hacker News Reader

// Customers tends not to be experts. So after a certain level of skill has been achieved, any improvements that are made through experience are invisible to the people you’re selling to.

The relevant question is - does it matter? The Formula 1 pit crew is more expert than the mechanics at the Toyota dealership in ways I can't appreciate - but does it matter for my Highlander's oil change?

The answer might be "Yes, the F1 crew will do it in a way that prolongs the life of your engine" (I care about that!) or "Yes, the F1 crew will change your oil in 20% of the time" (I may or may not care about saving a few minutes every 6 months) or "No, you won't notice a difference but they are just more expert" (in which case I totally don't care!)

Part of expertise is ability to articulate its relevance to a given situation. Your customer may need help in validating your expertise, but at least start with the claim of what you can do.

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I think the point is when reaching higher levels of expertise is not to try and convince existing customers to move up the ladder with you, it's that you need to find an entirely new set of customers who need that level of expertise and appreciate the difference. It's not about explaining - there's a quantum leap between levels.

It might be trite, but as a contractor walking my rate up over 10 years, I found it interesting.

I agree on "forget your existing low level customers" and I think you're hitting on one of the growth paths but there's another one.

The path you are hitting on implies the client/employer already knows what they need and are gatekeeping on it. It's great to be able to get past those gates - ie, if you've grown yourself into a FAANG-caliber engineer, go interview at Google, but in this case Google already knows what they need and what that looks like.

The line from the article that I cited is the other dynamic - where the client doesn't know what they need. You're right that might be because they are a low level client and don't actually need your expertise (what you mentioned) but it may also be the case that they do badly need you but can't recognize it because of your relative difference in levels.

In general, the higher your level, the more likely it is that even otherwise high-level people will not understand the nuance of what you can bring to them. In that case, there's the sales process that should kick in, and by sales I simply mean helping the client see that they have a problem and that they would be much better off if that problem was solved, and that you're a rare breed who can do it.

That's a good point, and the sales education process is definitely important. It's a fine line between "let's step back and look at your actual pain points" and "what else can I upsell you on while I have your attention?", that customers are very wary of crossing.

F1 pit crew members are highly trained athletes who specialize in fast tire changes. Many of them are recruited from other sports based on strength, speed, and agility. They often have no real experience as automotive technicians.

F1 teams do have world class mechanics but most of them aren't part of the pit crews.

Are you familiar with the expression missing the forest for the trees?

>Many of them are recruited from other sports based on strength, speed, and agility.

This is not true at all. F1 pit crews are mechanics who have worked with cars in other motorsport racing series/feeder series and worked their way up to an F1 team.

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