Back in 2015, I wrote a post titled Taxis, Uber, asymmetric information and disruption. This may be my most popular post ever. I admit it contains some catchy buzzwords. But more interestingly, it’s also one of my favorite posts.
Information asymmetry is a fascinating concept. It drives communication (we know what we want to say but we don’t know if the other person understands us), many industries (CRE is built on brokers and landlords knowing more about the market than their clients), even technology (Amazon knows more about our online habits than we know ourselves).
You can build your brand around open sharing of information or you can build it by hoarding knowledge and information. These two approaches will lead to different sales approaches as well as significantly different customer experiences.
Given the fact that I write a blog, it probably isn’t surprising that I come down on the open sharing side of the scenario. Asymmetric data is great to maximize profits over the short-term as you force people to use you if your information is valuable enough. Over the long-term, you tend to irritate your customers because your value is simply the fact that you exist as you don’t help them build any value on their own.
When presenting anything, it’s important to think through which side of this you should be on. Are you teaching and sharing or just telling someone what to do?