On a Saturday morning, the barbershop is packed. You never wonder if the haircut is worth it. You sit, talk with your barber, check the mirror, and leave looking and feeling better than when you arrived.
Later that week, a tax professional finishes your return and you owe money. They suggest tax planning to help manage your taxes and avoid surprises. When you see the fee, you wonder, “What do I get for that?” and decide against it. The next year, you end up owing even more.
This isn’t a personal failing. It’s a difference in how we value things, and it’s been around for generations.
We’re willing to pay for things we can see.
Think about the places where we spend money without a second thought: the barbershop, the beauty salon, getting makeup done before a wedding, a good meal, or a new outfit. Even with a mortician, as difficult as it is, you can see the care in the work, the casket, and the service for your loved one. In each case, the value is right in front of you, clear, real, and finished.
Retail is similar: you get to hold something before you buy it. At a restaurant, you taste your food before you pay. Economists call these search goods and experience goods because you can judge their quality before or right after buying them. You don’t need much convincing; you can see the value for yourself.
All value can’t be seen.
A CPA, an attorney, or a financial planner falls into a different category. Economists call these credence goods, a term from Michael Darby and Edi Karni in 1973. The key point is that you can’t judge the quality of what you bought, even after you’ve paid. You don’t know if your tax return was truly optimized or just filed. You can’t be sure if a will really protects you. And you can’t know if an advisor’s advice will work, because you can’t see the future.
Auto repair is a classic example of a credence good, just like medical care, financial advice, or consulting. This isn’t only a problem for Black consumers; it’s built into how these services work for everyone. What’s unique for us is that the gap in who buys these services is wider.
The numbers behind the gap
The gap shows up in the numbers. Only 36% of Black Americans have a financial advisor, compared to 47% of white Americans with similar incomes. The difference isn’t about affordability; it’s about who believes the unseen value is worth paying for.
You can also see this in the types of businesses we start. About 28% of Black-owned businesses are in health care and social assistance. Professional, scientific, and technical services, which include CPAs, attorneys, and consultants, make up just 14%. Overall, Black-owned firms account for 3% of all U.S. businesses but only 1% of total revenue, according to the Pew Research Center.
We tend to build businesses where the value is clear and immediate. We’re less present in fields where the value isn’t obvious, both as providers and as customers. That’s especially ironic since we live in a knowledge-based economy.
What I learned from experience
I started my firm as a solo practice in 2008, working full-time and building my business on the side. Now, eighteen years later, we have a team of eight, but we still face the challenges of credence bias.
Last year, one client questioned what they were getting for the fee they agreed to, and another said they had to switch to a white firm after giving us a chance. Ironically, we had actually delivered more value than promised because we wanted to help.
At first, I saw these clients’ reactions as disrespectful. Now, I realize it’s just part of offering credence goods. If people can’t see the value of eighteen years of experience, every CPA seems the same. Changing firms doesn’t feel like a loss, because the value isn’t visible.
After that, we became more selective and stopped offering extra services just to keep uncertain clients. We accepted that we’re the experts, and if a client treats our expertise as replaceable, they aren’t the right fit. Not all money is worth taking.
What can make a difference?
The answer isn’t to just say, “trust us more.” That doesn’t change anyone’s mind. The real solution is to make the invisible visible. Show clients exactly how much money a strategy saved them, not just the bill for the work. Put a number on the risks they avoided. A good advisor should be able to demonstrate value, just like a barber shows you your haircut in the mirror.
For buyers, it means treating a CPA or attorney like any expert whose work you can’t check yourself. Ask about their track record, ask what changed because of their help, and then trust their answer the same way you trust a surgeon you can’t watch work.
We’ll always show up for a haircut. Now, the challenge is to build the same habit for advice you can’t see right away, only years later, when you find out if the plan worked.