107 Examples of Know-How

John Spacey, updated on May 29, 2023

Know-how are practical abilities that can be used to directly produce value. This may benefit from theory and academic study but know-how also implies that you have the practice and experience necessary to be fully productive in some area. Know-how includes administrative, technical, social, creative and management abilities that are difficult to acquire without experience. The following are common examples of know-how.

Accounting	Acting
Administration	Architecture
Billing and invoicing	Bookkeeping
Brand management	Budget administration
Budget estimates	Budget planning
Building relationships	Cabinet making
Carpentry	Closing sales
Cloud computing	Coding
Competitive analysis	Complaint handling
Compliance auditing	Compliance management
Conflict resolution	Contract management
Conversion optimization	Cooking
Cost accounting	Cost analysis and control
Customer service	Customer support
Data analysis	Database design
Digital marketing	Drawing
Driving	Electrical work
Equipment operation	Establishing rapport
Financial analysis and reporting	Gardening
Go-to-market strategy	Graphic design
Handling customer complaints	Housekeeping
Illustrations	Incident response
Information design	Information security
Interviewing	Inventory management
Landscaping	Language proficiency
Lead generation	Logo design
Machine installation and configuration	Maintenance and repair
Market research	Marketing automation
Masonry	Media software
Metalworking	Negotiating
Objection handling in sales	Office productivity software
Order provisioning	Partner management
Plumbing	Presentations
Pricing strategy	Problem analysis
Problem solving and troubleshooting	Process analysis
Procurement	Product design
Product launch	Product management
Product positioning	Project coordination
Project management	Project planning
Prototyping	Public speaking
Quality assurance	Quality control
Research	Retail management
Risk analysis	Root cause analysis
Sales forecasting	Sales presentations
Sales proposal development	Scripting
Service recovery – solving customer dissatisfaction	Software architecture and design
Structural engineering	Supply chain and logistics
Systems integration	Tax preparation and planning
Teaching	Team management
Technical troubleshooting	Training
User experience design	Vehicle operation
Vendor management	Visual communication
Welding	Woodworking
Workflow management

Know-how is valuable to employers as it is allows you to immediately produce value in a role.

Although know-how is often contrasted with general, foundational and theoretical knowledge -- these aren't opposites as these things can greatly improve your depth of understanding and capacity to quickly acquire know-how.