“How long is a piece of string?”
The only true answer is: “depends on the string.”
But just because an answer is 100% true doesn’t mean it’s useful for decision making.
What I mean by that is simple: a client expected an answer to help them reach a buying decision, and you couldn’t give them one.
It’s not your fault, but that doesn’t mean you’re immune to:
- Convenience cost: not being able to plan drags this project’s uncertainty into all of their other active projects, which may now lack enough resources depending on how yours goes.
- Risk cost: raises subconscious alarms about things spiraling out of control, pushing the conversation toward damage control (caps, guarantees).
- Ego cost: if they trust you, and you sound unprepared and lead with a default answer anyone could give, they may feel they came to the wrong person—or blame you for “misleading” them.
Now, what other option do you have if you can’t say the objective truth without incurring damage? Lie?
Not exactly. Instead, frame it for them:
- “This tends to fall into my mid-tier package unless you need something custom.”
- “Let’s look at what success looks like for you, then we’ll scale the solution accordingly.”
Yes, that’s good enough. You don’t know either—but you know better than them. That’s why they came to you, and not vice versa.