Or ,"You're the expert, what do you recommend?" We framers get that a lot, don't we?
To that I often quip, "Yes, I'm the world's foremost expert on my own opinion. I can tell you what would look perfect in my home... but not yours". And then I explain that there are two aspects to framing design: appearance features and technical features.
Technical features are my domain and I will share what I know, dominating the discussion when it comes to features and benefits other than visual. All of us should control that aspect of the framing design conversation, since we darn well should know more about these matters than customers do.
But customers also assume that we know more about their visual preferences than they do, and that makes me nervous. For some frame designers that would be a well-earned compliment, but I see it as a challenge to guess what they like. So, rather than inflicting my visual opinion, I want to help them determine and express their own visual opinions. Appearance features are matters of personal opinion and I say with encouragement, "my visual opinion is not the one that matters here".
The conversation continues, "Yes, I design a lot of framing, and will help avoid obvious visual mistakes, but what matters most is for you to take home a frame that will please your eyes for a long time." And with that, we talk about what they like.
I envy framers who have absolute confidence in their ability to select exactly the right appearance choices in framing design, but that confidence can become a curse, as compliant customers tend to accept the framer's opinion, and realize later that "it just doesn't look right in my dining room." That sort of latent regret is an insidious form of buyer's remorse.
Perhaps the most honest expression of the consumer's opinion is "I don't know art, but I know what like".