Lo and behold…

All this started with me taking my girl out.

It was just a couple days ago when she came up to the city I do my studies in and we went out to one of the newer shopping centers.

One thing about me is… I’m like most men.

Translation: I hate shopping.

Still, I went through some stores with my girl – mainly just guiding and guarding her so she doesn’t get bogged down in one of them for too long… And then we moved on. We had no fixed schedule so we just kind of strolled around.

And then I spotted it…

The bookstore.

Not gonna lie… Bookstores are my weaknesses.

I immediately stepped over to the “English” section and after a good deal of looking around I grabbed a book from the tightly squeezed bookshelf. I lifted it down and said, “Steve Jobs” while showing what I found to my girl.

“Steve Jobs?,” she replied, “Who is that?”

This was the moment where I was shocked, taken aback and dumbfounded all at the same time. I thought everyone knew who Steve Jobs was or at least would have a clue. But no. She was totally blank.

“You don’t know who Steve was?”

“No… Should I?” she asked back.

“I mean… No… I just thought people would generally know who he was…” And as I said this, it dawned on me…

“Don’t you have an iPhone?”

“I do… Why?” she said innocently.

And that was the cherry on top for me.

Yep… I totally did not laugh at her at that moment…

Anyway.

I had to accept that knowing who Steve Jobs was isn’t common knowledge. But this reminded me of something very important…

The curse of knowledge.

I thought since I knew who Steve was… Everybody else will automatically know who he was, or at least have heard his name somewhere… But no.

Falling for the curse of knowledge in real life isn’t a big deal.

But in copy…

Thinking that you don’t need to explain something in your copy because “she will know it” is one of the best ways to alienate even the hottest prospects and kill the sale.

Don’t expect that she will know it.

Expect that she won’t know it.

Because just going by the law of averages… Most people won’t know it.

Remember:

Just because you know something… Not everyone will know it.

And if you want to know more about this cup of tea:

* Internet pioneer’s blueprint for headlines

* How to sell a man who hates your guts

* Strange secret used by the worlds most feared negotiator to let people persuade themselves

Just check this out:

https://kristofnemeth.vercel.app/

Kristof Nemeth.