What’s wrong with expert opinions about fundraising?

The problem with a lot of expert opinions: TMI. Too Much Information.

I’m not talking about opinions from “pretenders,” those who know little but feel comfortable giving advice. I’m talking about actual experts, people who really do know their stuff: They sometimes fail to help because they give too much information.

I bring this up because I recently saw an expert — an amazingly smart and experienced fundraiser you’ve probably heard of and respect — answer a question with so much background and so many “it depends,” it ended up being of almost no use to the person who asked.

Like everyone else, fundraising experts have the Curse of Knowledge. When you ask them a question, they often try to upload all their knowledge to you. Which leads to a not-so-useful answer that doesn’t really help you. Not wrong or misleading. Just advice most people would struggle to use.

Example: Suppose someone asks an expert the following: What’s a better color to use in my fundraising? Red or blue?

People frequently ask experts highly focused questions like that. They want to do the smartest thing in some project they’re working on.

But experts often give wrong answers. Not that the information is wrong, but that it doesn’t help the questioner know what to do. Experts often give one of these:

• Correct wrong answer #1 (grumpy version): That’s a silly question. [Followed by a lot more information about color choice than you wanted or needed to know.]
• Correct wrong answer #2 (helpful version): Well, that depends. [Followed by a lot more information about color choice than you wanted or needed to know.]

What is the questioner going to do with either of those answers?

Probably nothing. They’ll just guess on the color choice. Or look for a different expert to ask.

A few years back, I heard some expert advice for experts from Roger Craver. (I’ve taken what Roger said and run with it, so it might have stretched beyond what he meant. If I’ve done that, my apologies, Roger!)

I think an expert should answer the “what color” question this way:

Red. [Followed by one or two reasons red is a good choice.] Or it might start with Blue. [Followed by one or two reasons blue is a good choice.]

The questioner now has actionable advice that’s probably good. They don’t know everything about color theory. But that’s probably not what they wanted.

If you are seeking advice from an expert: First ask your questions in ways that encourage focused, specific answers. If you nevertheless get a TMI answer, try an even-more-focused followup.

If someone asks you your expert opinion: Give a Craver answer. Keep in mind that they are not asking you in order to become an expert; they are trying to get a job done well. If it turns out they want context and background, they can ask followups.