95. Why Clients Choose the Therapist With Higher Rates (Based on Research)

So we're talking today about why do clients choose therapists with a higher rate, and I wanna walk you through a couple points of research that support this and that give us a lot of insight into how these decisions are actually made.

Now, a couple episodes ago, I said that a premium fee is an emotional decision as much as a financial one, and that's really what this episode is all about.

We're gonna unpack that line.

Now, there's a lot of research on this.

The main point of research I want to share with you is called the dual-process theory.

You may have heard of this, but it's one of the leading explanations of how our minds process information and ultimately make decisions.

So Daniel Kahneman, if I'm saying that correctly, he's a Nobel Prize winner, he essentially boiled this down to two systems.

So the dual-process theory is two systems.

System one is a very fast, intuitive, and emotional system, and then system two is slow and deliberate and logical.

Now, most decisions start in system one, and then system two essentially signing off on whatever system one found out.

So system one is kind of that first responder.

It's gonna run automatically.

You're not gonna realize it.

It's effortless.

It is all the time scanning.

Every ad, every website, every choice- Passes through System 1 before System 2 even gets involved.

Okay, so System 1, fast, intuitive, emotional.

System 2, slow, deliberate, logical.

Your clients, when they're making any sort of decision with their money, including therapy, are going System 1 to System 2.

Now, a couple other points of research, and then we'll really unpack this into four categories.

But a couple other things to know.

Gerald Zaltman, he's at Harvard Business School, he estimates that about 95% of purchasing decisions happen subconsciously.

Another neuroscientist, I thought this one was really interesting, Antonio Damasio, he studied people with damage to the emotional centers of the brain, and he found that while their logic was intact, they still struggled to make simple decisions.

I'm talking, like, whether to book an appointment on a Monday or a Tuesday, because of damage to the emotional systems.

Okay? So emotions are at the core of every decision we're making as humans, especially the ones that relate to our money.