It’s a light blue baseball hat. The logo on the front says, “US Open 2018”, the golf tournament. The hat was a gift from a long-time friend who, having reached a certain stage in life, began downsizing his hat collection. The color suits me and I wear it because it reminds me of him.

A couple of weeks ago, the thingy securing the adjustable strap at the back of the hat somehow went missing. I noticed this one morning when the hat slipped down to my ears. I decided that I would take the hat to the laundry-dry cleaning-tailoring shop near my office and ask Jessica, the wonderful tailor, to sew the adjustable strap in place. She has expertly altered suits, coats, and pants for me. I figured that hat would be an easy job.

I presented the hat and asked, would she please sew the adjustable strap in place.

She asked, “What will happen if you suddenly get a big head?”

I assured her I was not planning to put on airs and that the size would be fine.

I donned the cap and adjusted the band. “There,” I said.

She pulled a safety pin from her pocket to secure the strap in place.

“Come back Friday,” she said. “$25.00”

“Oh, my,” I thought to myself, as I walked back to my office. “That’s a little steep and maybe….”

I turned around and went back.

“Jessica, I’ve changed my mind.”

“You want the hat back?”

“Yes, the safety pin will work fine on its own. Nobody will know. It’ll be perfect.”

With a barely masked “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation” look, she handed me the hat.

“I should charge you $10.00 for my idea,” she sniffed. “Never mind. I’ll see you next time.”

She waved, smiled, and turned away to other work.

I thought, “So helpful, I’ll bet she gives away a lot of ideas that nobody pays for” as we all do to encourage people to buy from us or to sustain relationships. She could have posted a $10 “alteration” sale. For those of us who don’t have that option, how do we think about positioning our personal value and the value of our “free advice” so that clients don’t take it for granted?

Nick Miller is President of Clarity Advantage based in Concord, MA. He assists banks and credit unions to generate more and more profitable relationships, faster, with business clients, their owners, and their employees through better sales strategies and execution. Additional articles on Clarity’s web site