Expertise and the Curse of Knowledge Could Be Killing Your Lead Generation

Our coaching clients are pretty diversified. On the books right now we have a consultant who helps high tech companies get new products to market; a coach for wanna-be musicians; a small-business technology provider; and the team at a training and development company. They come from Atlantic Canada and New York City, big metropolises and small towns.

Aside from wanting to grow their marketing potential, these clients have one thing is common: they are experts in their fields.

And that's a pity, because the other thing they have in common is that their expertise is sabotaging their chances of success.

Why do we say that? Here's a case in point from a coaching session we had this morning. We asked our client (let's call him Jasper) why people would want not only to buy his products and services, but pay an above-average fee to get them.

Jasper gave us twenty-two reasons, almost a whole 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.

One thing we know is that a prospect for Jasper's services will not only not read all twenty-two reasons, he or she will not read ANY of them. One glance at a page of closely-typed 12 point type will turn any prospect off, no matter how much they might ultimately benefit from the services.

To understand this, let's have a look at Chip and Dan Heath's Made to Stick. We are big fans, so much so that we incorporate their ideas into our work. They call this phenomenon the Curse of Knowledge.

Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it. Our knowledge has "cursed" us. And it becomes difficult for us to share our knowledge with others, because we can't readily re-create our listeners' state of mind.

CEOs and frontline employees, teachers and students, politicians and voters, marketers and customers, writers and readers rely on ongoing communication, but suffer from enormous information imbalances. When a CEO discusses "unlocking shareholder value," there is a tune playing in her head that the employees can't hear.

It's a hard problem to avoid — a CEO might have thirty years of daily immersion in the logic and conventions of business. Reversing the process is as impossible as un-ringing a bell. You can't unlearn what you already know.

There are, in fact, only two ways to beat the Curse of Knowledge reliably. The first is not to learn anything. The second is to take your ideas and transform them.

Right now, before the excitement wears off, go to Made to Stick and start reading. Buy the book. Tell us what you think.