Everyone is a knowledge worker today.  By that I mean that you don’t have to be working in high technology or understand technology to participate.  We are all knowledge workers because we have more knowledge in the palm of our hand than at any other time in history.

I originally was tweaked to this idea by Doug Smith, Author, Writer, Speaker and technology guru who reminded me that everyone is a knowledge worker. In one of our discussions while working for our client the Center for Business Transformation, we discussed the power of the consumer based on the amount of knowledge they had in palm of their hand.

For example, with a cell phone you can purchase anything anywhere, deposit a cheque, do market research, answer a question, or find a “how to video” on YouTube on installing anything or communicate world-wide using skype or Google hang out.

The consumer now has more knowledge than ever before in history.  This has a huge impact on product purchases and sales. A knowledge worker can get also get recommendations from friends, review a restaurant on Yelp, book travel on Travelocity or order a cab through Uber.   The key to this is that knowledge workers, even though consumers don’t think they are now control the buying agenda.

I say that because a consumer has more knowledge on any product or service is easily accessible based on the access point and through anyone of the 6 billion online devices now on the planet.

So, what does that mean to anyone anywhere?  Well, it means a change in how consumers buy.  For example, the consumer is far better informed. They get recommendations from friends, they search out reviews, and they interact with retailers by asking questions and negotiating deals through their cell phone.  They have a better understanding about products, services and make decisions about a company based on user experience.

For example, I recently was searching out buying a sound bar for my television. First, I was not sure what they were like and was concerned because I had never heard one other than a few in the audio section of a store.  Like all the samples in the audio section of a store, none of it worked or was poorly displayed or inoperable. I did not want to take a chance and the sales person on the floor was also ill informed and did not have enough information for me to make an informed decision. In the past I would have accepted what was written on the box, taken the product home and bragged about how good it sounded since I did not know any better.

Today however after I started my quest of knowledge based on a sound bar purchase, I have reviewed the brands, read the reviews, informed and armed myself with information so that the questions I will be asking when and if (and that’s a big if, since I may just purchase it online site unseen now that I know what I want) will be as an informed knowledge worker – consumer.

So, all of us are now knowledge workers today and are also well-informed consumers. We can dig deeper, get more information, request advice and sell in an open and online environment.

If your company has not recognized that yet, then you need to consider how to sell to a knowledge worker.  They are armed and dangerous and are probably buying from a competitor and helping to put you out of business in the process.  Selling knowledge workers means thinking different. If you don’t have the tools or don’t know about your knowledge worker consumer, then it may be time for change in strategy and time for you to become a knowledge worker yourself.