Every time my car gets serviced, at 10,000km a service that’s about four to five times a year, I have this sinking feeling as I drive away from the mechanic’s workshop. After spending six odd hours away from me, and an average of $500 to $700 invoice, the car I drive away in feels pretty much the same as I brought to the workshop that morning at 8am.

I know that a regular service shouldn’t really impact my car’s drive or feel, and I’m not paying them to clean the car, but after spending the morning with a mechanic and my credit card being $700 poorer my gut tells me that the car should feel different.

There’s this disconnect between my intellectual mind that knows that the service is important and holds value, and my emotional side that can’t “feel” the service.

I wonder how much this plays out in other businesses, like in weddings, where we charge a certain amount for a service and a lot of that preparation happens behind closed doors. I wonder if our clients question what they get versus what they pay for?

When it comes to my car being serviced it’s up to me to recognise the value of a service and just get over it, but I wonder if they cleaned the car – a completely unnecessary service for a mechanic to provide – if I would walk away feeling better.

It’s partly for this reason I provide a the best quality PA speaker system and a high definition video recording of the ceremony in my packages. Both things I can already provide at no extra cost to me, and minimal extra effort on my behalf, but the couple feels an increase in value. Not only does it feel better, it actually makes the wedding better, and if the couple don’t have budget for a videographer they do get a good quality video of their ceremony and vows.

I wonder how else we can bridge that gap?

Don’t forget as well, merely adding value doesn’t make it valuable, your client needs to feel its value.