Expert or not

Are you an expert in your field? Do you want or need to be an expert in your field? These are two of the questions many business owners and sales people ask themselves consistently. There is a fine line between being an expert and having expert knowledge. Some people will tell you to be an expert. However, I believe being an expert limits your scope while having expert knowledge allows you to share what you know. I have believed the motto, “brains on tap not on top” . You cannot achieve expert status in everything you do so it is better to focus your “expertness” on one or two categories and obtain knowledge to share from other experts to share with your prospects, customers and clients. When you do this you free up time to focus on what is important to everyone involved and clients will appreciate you for being concise.

What happens when a client asks you a question that is out of your area of expertise? Do you freeze? Do you stutter? Do you make stuff up? I hope you do none of the above. The best answer if you don’t have an answer is, “That’s a great question let get the correct answer for you” . Most people appreciate your honesty and truthfully don’t want you to know everything. They just want the correct answer to their situation and as long as you provide it to them they really don’t care if you knew it or obtain it from somewhere else. As a matter of fact most clients feel more comfortable with people who don’t know everything and utilize a team approach of experts. So obtaining expert knowledge is the ability to use others knowledge to further your own expert knowledge which you in turn then share with prospects to increase your sales and business. In conclusion, be the person with “brains on tap not on top” , to solve your client’s questions not the expert with a limited scope of knowledge.