Dear sales people

It is not, per se, what you believe that concerns me, nor your justifications or defences for that, unless they are original, having met a huge range of very interesting ideas already.

What is of more interest, and perhaps importance, is why you believe it. What tools of judgement do you use? Which ones do you choose to leave by the wayside? How did you decide which tools to pick? The problem with those questions is fairly simple – people usually do not know the answers to them or how to discuss or explain them in an accessible way. If someone is willing to converse for a time, it can usually be figured out. Time and energy for solving difficult problems is a limited resource, and if I understood I'd then feel obliged to explain, again intensive.

And even, after all that, it wouldn't be enlightening; there are only a handful of reasons why people believe anything. And given what it is you are claiming faith in, it knocks quite a few off list already. This is actually where it gets interesting, potentially – if I seek an investment in you, then understanding the spectrum of reasonings you employ is rewarding, the weightings attached to each and the reasons and experiences that led to those weightings.

But again, time intensive and then wanders into the ever changing and difficult arena of forming relationships – what exactly is it that I look for to invest? Do I correspond to the same in you? Enough to justify the time required? How long will it take to find out? How shall we communicate? All in all very subjective and difficult questions, which take time and effort to answer.

So, to bring it back to the start, unless you have a sound statistical analysis of your belief system and a good understanding of the limitations of said statistical analysis, stop trying to convert me.