When I was shopping for lawyers, not that it was a consideration in my evaluations but I found that lawyers I recognized from subway or daytime TV ads were considerably more expensive than random selections from the phonebook. Their ads project images where you've been victimized, and you need a legal gladiator, willing to fight the evil empire to get all that settlement money that rightfully belongs to you. I found that the service was better with the random selects-- free consultations, quicker responses to inquiries, more services rendered, better aftercare, etc.
Dentistry is the same. I've noticed a lot of billboards for dental services around my area. Most of them evoke Fisher-Price colors and softness, playing up to peoples' fears in how the experience doesn't have to be scary or painful. But when I did the legwork for quotes on significant dental work, I found that those that offices which advertised were much more expensive than random Yelp selections. The quotes varied by thousands of dollars for the same work.
Auto repair does things slightly differently. I live in a small town and don't have much choice in this space, but for lack of time I recently took a vehicle to a shop that bought ad placements simply because aside from that their reputation in town was better. Their quote was fair and accurate given the job and they did the work without playing any games or breaking anything else. But then they tried to upsell me on additional services (fluid changes, etc.) at absolutely obscene prices. Since auto ownership is a cargo cult where nobody knows even the basics of what goes into making them work, I'm sure this tactic works on plenty of other rubes.
Similar story-- I had a car break down on the side of the road on a long road trip. AAA towed it to the nearest repair shop, which happened to be a dealership (dealerships generally spend mad money on ads, and already have reputations for being overpriced). I know the failed part cost less than $300 and would take less than an hour to put in. They must have seen the out-of-state plates and the after-hours dropoff and banked on my presumed desperation and ignorance because their quote was $6000. I said no, had it towed to another garage and got it done for $450.
The presumption is that consumers don't (or in some cases, literally can't) shop around, are generally unintelligent and are easily swayed by appeals to emotion, so you play to these factors and charge as much as you can get away with-- not some paltry "(cost of goods + cost of labor + cost of advertising) + 10% markup" silliness.
My rule of thumb is that anything you see advertised is a sign of a hustle. If you don't know how the hustle works, you'll get got. This applies doubly so for anything marketed to the poor or minorities.
When I was shopping for lawyers, not that it was a consideration in my evaluations but I found that lawyers I recognized from subway or daytime TV ads were considerably more expensive than random selections from the phonebook. Their ads project images where you've been victimized, and you need a legal gladiator, willing to fight the evil empire to get all that settlement money that rightfully belongs to you. I found that the service was better with the random selects-- free consultations, quicker responses to inquiries, more services rendered, better aftercare, etc.
Dentistry is the same. I've noticed a lot of billboards for dental services around my area. Most of them evoke Fisher-Price colors and softness, playing up to peoples' fears in how the experience doesn't have to be scary or painful. But when I did the legwork for quotes on significant dental work, I found that those that offices which advertised were much more expensive than random Yelp selections. The quotes varied by thousands of dollars for the same work.
Auto repair does things slightly differently. I live in a small town and don't have much choice in this space, but for lack of time I recently took a vehicle to a shop that bought ad placements simply because aside from that their reputation in town was better. Their quote was fair and accurate given the job and they did the work without playing any games or breaking anything else. But then they tried to upsell me on additional services (fluid changes, etc.) at absolutely obscene prices. Since auto ownership is a cargo cult where nobody knows even the basics of what goes into making them work, I'm sure this tactic works on plenty of other rubes.
Similar story-- I had a car break down on the side of the road on a long road trip. AAA towed it to the nearest repair shop, which happened to be a dealership (dealerships generally spend mad money on ads, and already have reputations for being overpriced). I know the failed part cost less than $300 and would take less than an hour to put in. They must have seen the out-of-state plates and the after-hours dropoff and banked on my presumed desperation and ignorance because their quote was $6000. I said no, had it towed to another garage and got it done for $450.
The presumption is that consumers don't (or in some cases, literally can't) shop around, are generally unintelligent and are easily swayed by appeals to emotion, so you play to these factors and charge as much as you can get away with-- not some paltry "(cost of goods + cost of labor + cost of advertising) + 10% markup" silliness.
My rule of thumb is that anything you see advertised is a sign of a hustle. If you don't know how the hustle works, you'll get got. This applies doubly so for anything marketed to the poor or minorities.