Often when I speak with sales people they express frustration that they need to sell to many industries their lack of expertise often compromises their ability to get to the next level. Often I hear questions like, ” I speak with prospects across all types of industries and it is difficult for me to demonstrate expertise, how can I improve my general knowledge?”

I have two answers to this question: 1) You have to work at it, and 2) Know the skills of your team and ask for help! Really it’s ok.

You Must Work at It.

Treat Sales Operations as Class Room

A properly managed sales team conducts weekly forecast calls, identifies strategic deals and accounts, and conducts a team business review or planning session quarterly.

Weekly Forecast Calls

This is your opportunity to listen to your peers discuss how they are pursuing deals different that yours. Pay attention, take notes, and remember who has worked on what. When a similar deal comes across your desk, you will know who to call.

Strategic Deals

When management flags a deal as strategic it can be for several reasons, the company size, the deal size, or the industry vertical the prospect is in. Regardless of the reason, your management thinks it is important and so should you.

The Business Review

Put time into this. I have sat through so many of these in my career and it is nearly always the reps who prepare for these presentations and are participatory during the other presentations that are most successful. These sessions are as much for you as they are for management.

Use Available Resources and Prepare Before Calls

This is the age of the web. There are millions of web pages that will tell you exactly what you need to know just like this one for sales people! If you have a Hoovers subscription go to the industry tab and look up your prospect before picking up the phone. Look the industry up on Wikipedia. Search for industry associations or communities that are focused on the prospect’s industry. Seek a mentor on LinkedIn. Today, there are so many resources available to a sales person, there is really no excuse not to be informed.

Know Your Team, Ask for Help!

This is an easy one. If you are paying attention in the above activities you should have a good idea and you have ample opportunity to ask the team for input on a deal you are working on. The more you team the stronger you will become. It is a process.