One of the most expensive mistakes in business is assuming that your own preferences describe everyone else.
You think:
“I would never pay €5,000 for that.”
Then you silently convert it into:
“Nobody would pay €5,000 for that.”
Those are completely different statements.
The first may be true.
The second is a claim about millions of people you have never met.
Your Experience Is One Data Point
You may prefer cheap products.
Someone else may pay more for speed.
You may enjoy solving problems yourself.
Someone else may gladly pay to avoid the work.
You may compare every option carefully.
Someone else may buy from the first provider they trust.
You may value technical quality most.
Another customer may care more about:
- convenience;
- confidence;
- privacy;
- status;
- appearance;
- personal attention;
- reduced risk;
- accountability;
- or simply feeling understood.
People do not all buy for the same reasons.
Even two customers buying the same product may value completely different parts of it.
One person buys pronunciation coaching to obtain a better job.
Another wants to stop feeling embarrassed in meetings.
Another wants colleagues to take them more seriously.
Another is preparing for one important presentation.
The product may be similar.
The reason for buying is not.
Do Not Assume Everyone Has Your Financial Reality
There are people and companies spending amounts of money you may find difficult to imagine.
They spend money on:
- consultants;
- coaching;
- design;
- recruitment;
- software;
- events;
- travel;
- training;
- branding;
- convenience;
- and specialist services you may not even know exist.
You may personally consider some of these purchases unnecessary.
That does not make them imaginary.
It means other people have:
- different incomes;
- different budgets;
- different priorities;
- different problems;
- and different ideas about what their time is worth.
A company paying €20,000 for a service is not necessarily careless with money.
The company may believe that solving the problem will save €100,000, reduce risk, or free valuable employees to work elsewhere.
You cannot understand the purchase by comparing it only with your own savings account.
Assuming You Know Is a Form of Arrogance
Arrogance is not only loudly declaring that you are better than everyone.
It can also look like quietly assuming that your first interpretation must be correct.
Examples:
- “Nobody wants this.”
- “People only care about price.”
- “Rich people would never buy that.”
- “Companies do not spend money on this.”
- “Everyone prefers doing it themselves.”
- “People will think this is too expensive.”
- “The market is already saturated.”
When you make these claims without evidence, you are assuming that your imagination understands the market better than the market understands itself.
That is not caution.
It is overconfidence disguised as realism.
Say “I Don’t Know”
Intellectual humility means being able to say:
“I do not know why people buy this.”
“I do not know what this customer can afford.”
“I do not know whether this problem is urgent.”
“I do not know whether €5,000 is too expensive.”
“I do not know what people value most.”
This is not weakness.
It is the beginning of useful research.
“I don’t know” creates a question.
Pretending to know creates a conclusion.
Questions can be tested.
Conclusions often prevent action.
Return to the Market
When you notice that you are guessing, return to the opportunity-testing process.
Speak to the people.
Ask:
- What happened the last time you had this problem?
- What did you try?
- What did it cost?
- Why did you choose that option?
- What mattered most when deciding?
- What would make a better solution valuable?
- Who controls the budget?
- What have you paid for similar help?
- What would stop you from buying?
Then listen without trying to force their answers into your existing theory.
The market may confirm your belief.
It may contradict it.
It may reveal that you were asking the wrong question entirely.
That is why you test.
The Rule
Do not use yourself as a substitute for the market.
Your preferences can help generate hypotheses.
They cannot prove what everyone else wants, values, fears, or buys.
When you do not know, acknowledge it.
Then go and find out.