“Let the market decide” vs “the will of the people”

These two philosophies reach an interesting limit in the case of sales, where one person’s will is how the market decides.

When the sale gets high stakes enough, and you are pitching a senior executive (and this could be a politician or general as much as a business leader), then the economic and ideological cases often overlap.

Let the market decide: “I’m pitching something in their individual self interest, not some kind of moral precept. My conscience is clear.”

The will of the people: “I’m advocating a moral precept, not something in their individual self interest. My conscience is clear.”

The first believes they are building a genuinely beneficial product, not hawking some flim-flam religion.

The second believes they are building a genuinely important movement, not hawking some flim-flam company.