A long-term client and I were talking the other day about interviewing prospective clients, and how the questions they ask that reveal whether or not they will make good clients.

For my client, a Managed Services IT Consultant, the revealing question is "What's your response time and hourly rate?"

He offers a service that makes response time irrelevant by actively monitoring and remotely managing computers and computer networks. Chances are, his answer to the question is actually a negative number. His new client didn't understand that.

I talk to prospective new clients every day who are deciding who will help them design their brand. For me the revealing part of the conversation is always about numbers of concepts, numbers of revisions, and turnaround time.

I can understand that. If you're starting a company, or you've finally decided to take your marketing and brand seriously, and you search on the internet for Logo Design, you're going to see a lot of sites that compare (and sell) online logo design services based on those metrics.

The problem is, they're irrelevant.

This isn't just a problem in IT and logo design. You find it in every industry. It's easier to sell based on numbers that are easy to understand. Computer manufacturers sell you based on processor speed, RAM and hard drive space. Car manufacturers sell based on horsepower, cubic inches, or number of cupholders. Cell phone companies sell you based on the generation of their network. None of them are good metrics for whether a thing will suite your needs, but we see it all the time.

The truth is complicated.

Are you making decisions based on truth, or metrics?