Self-interested paid advisors should try to sell their solutions no matter how they came about. However, we present evidence that advisor persuasiveness depends on two dimensions of their prior problem solving: solution difficulty and demonstrability. We report a laboratory experiment with repeated advisor-client interactions where both these dimensions are independently varied. Persuasion rises in solution demonstrability and falls in difficulty. The reason is non-optimising behaviour: Advisors lacking in confidence fail to conceal difficult problem solving and those receiving their advice baulk when the proposed solution lacks objective success criteria irrespective of its promise. Our findings suggest differential prospects for persuasion and selling of different kinds of products, services and ideas.

自私的有偿顾问应该设法出售他们的解决方案，无论它们是如何产生的。但是，我们提供的证据表明，顾问的说服力取决于他们先前解决问题的两个维度：解决方案的难度和可证明性。我们报告了一个具有反复的顾问与客户互动的实验室实验，这两个维度都是独立变化的。说服力提高了解决方案的可证明性，降低了难度。原因是行为不是最优的：缺乏信心的顾问无法掩盖难以解决的问题，而当所提出的解决方案缺乏客观的成功标准时，无论其承诺如何，顾问都会掩盖他们的建议。我们的发现表明，在说服和销售各种产品，服务和创意方面存在不同的前景。