T. Scott Gross

It was a school night, not for me but for our grandkids who live just a few doors down the street. “Hey, Pops,” croaked a puberty-laced bass voice that threatened to crack into soprano without notice.

“Hey, Big Guy! What’s going on?”

“Do you know why the sky is blue?”

“Sure!  I see you have a science project.”

There are probably plenty of reasons why the Big Guy and the Princess like to drop in on Pops and Granny Buns and I’m guessing that the chance to pick up a short life-lesson is one of them. In the last couple of months I taught the Princess how to fold an American flag and how to put a spit shine on a pair of shoes. (I think she likes the spitting part.)

Monday night the family popped in and the Big Guy fired up the grill as he assumed cooking duties that used to be left to me.

Why would the bluest eyes on the planet want to shine shoes or a teenager take charge of cooking dinner?  Because people like to do what they are good at and knowledge is the key to getting good.

Now stretch the idea a little further and let’s talk about product development and marketing.

My grandkids, and I, and you, and I’d say everyone including your customer, values knowledge.  A recent survey by BIGresearch revealed that experience and competence are the two most important factors when choosing a healthcare provider. Experience could be defined as exposure to knowledge and competence could be defined as the expression of knowledge.

Being a touchy-feely kind of guy I had hoped that bedside manner would be the critical attribute. Bedside manner is important but knowledge trumps feel good. That same survey uncovered that if customers knew they would get superior treatment, they would be willing to pay more than an additional $12 for a simple office visit. Knowledge has value.

I bought a cheap television for the bathroom… I like to watch the morning news!  I bought it at Wal~Mart and I think it was only $78… but it had a $100 worth of knowledge built into the product. (When color TV first came to market, sets were incredibly expensive. You didn’t take them home from the store. They were delivered. And then a technician came to handle the set-up.)
I fired up my Wal~Mart cheapie and it asked me to choose a language, quizzed me for my favorite channels, and politely inquired how I felt about the picture quality. That’s knowledge content built right into the product.

Think about this:
How could you add value to your product by adding knowledge?
How could you let your customer know you have added knowledge?

If you include knowledge without informing the customer, you add to the cost but not to the value.

“So, Pops, why is the sky blue?”

“Well, the shorter wave lengths of light… shades of blue… are absorbed by the molecules in the air and then scattered when they radiate out again. But you really need to come over and we’ll look it up together.”

Why?  Because knowledge that has a cost has more value.

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