If I had a pill that would magically take away your pain, I bet you'd be willing to pay good money for that. The sell is easy. You're in pain, I have the painkiller, no more pain.
If you're pain-free and I were to sell you vitamins that will prevent a future likely pain, the sell wouldn't be as easy. There's no urgency, no immediacy to your problem. In fact, it's not even a problem as far as you're concerned.
The problem with selling painkillers is that once the pain is gone, you won't need the painkiller any more. You should switch to vitamins that will prevent that same pain in the future, but you don't. You were never sold vitamins and now that the pain is gone, you can't see the value in buying them.
Here's the thing.
If you're in pain right now, selling you vitamins is not what's going to make you take out your checkbook. This is why it's more lucrative to sell accessibility to companies that are afraid of getting sued.
This approach is effective in the short term. The accessibility service provider makes money, you have your get-out-of-jail-free card. But you failed to address the root cause of the problem. The pain will likely resurface.
So you're stuck with this reactive strategy where you're fighting pain, rather than the more desirable proactive strategy where you're taking preventive measures. You're stuck in a cycle of crisis management when you focus only on immediate solutions and you overlook the long-term effects.
The solution lies in shifting the perspective from crisis management to proactive inclusion. This requires education about the benefits of accessibility beyond legal compliance. Improved user experience for all, enhanced SEO. It's about selling the idea that accessibility is not just a legal requirement but a business opportunity.
But selling a proactive approach is challenging. Not everyone sees the immediate value, especially if they haven't faced legal issues yet. Accessibility is an unnecessary expense rather than an investment in usability, innovation and expanded market reach.
This is likely why your, like my, medicine cabinet has loads of painkillers and not so many vitamins.