Chapter 5
Areas of Expertise
An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his or her field, and how to avoid them.
—Werner Karl Heisenberg
In this chapter:
- Learn which specific technical and professional skills are required of sales professionals.
- Understand how areas of expertise (AOEs) go above and beyond foundational competencies.
- See how AOEs vary in importance depending on the role being played by the sales professional.
How is the sales profession different from other professions? The middle section of the ASTD World-Class Sales Competency Model (see figure 5-1) comprises areas of expertise, which are defined as the specific technical and professional knowledge and skills required for success in the sales organization.
Think of AOEs as the knowledge and skills a salesperson must have, above and beyond the foundational competencies. To be proficient in an AOE, a salesperson must demonstrate a combination of the relevant foundational competencies and unique professional knowledge and skills. The model lists the AOEs in alphabetical order. While the validation survey asked respondents to define the knowledge and skills that all sales professionals must possess in general, your organization may wish to define levels of proficiency within each AOE, which can help you customize the ASTD World-Class Sales Competency Model to your organization’s needs and selling system.
The AOEs presented in this report reflect how sales team members currently focus their work and also describe practices that are becoming increasingly important.
It Is About Focus
In the model, the areas of expertise reflect the current state of the sales profession—for those sales team members directly responsible for revenue generation as well as those who manage, develop, or support them—with an eye toward the future state. As organizations evolve, new technologies emerge, and needs change, sales team members are often asked to take on new responsibilities and readjust their focus. Some specialty areas remain fairly stable over time, while others change significantly. For example, over the past decade, the skills required to create and close deals have shifted from overcoming objections to consultative questioning. The AOEs presented in this report reflect how sales team members currently focus their work and also describe practices that are becoming increasingly important.
What Is Important?
Some AOEs might receive a lower importance rating by sales professionals as a group because they are not used as frequently. In fact, sales team members are much more likely to provide higher importance ratings for AOEs in which they spend more time. However, it is important to note that time spent and importance do not correlate directly. It is possible to spend very little time in areas that are essential to effective job performance; or a great deal of time on areas that are less essential. The key point to remember is that although perceived importance and time spent are both relative to the individual’s job, all of the AOEs in this publication are important and relevant for the sales organization overall.
Although all 13 areas of expertise are important (that is, having an average importance rating of 3.0 or higher; see table 5-1), it is unlikely that all would be equally important for every job. Effective performance of one’s job might not require any expertise in certain areas. Some AOEs might receive a lower importance rating by sales professionals as a group because they are not used as frequently, such as designing sales compensation. In fact, sales professionals are much more likely to provide higher importance ratings for AOEs in which they spend more time.
| Table 5-1. Areas of Expertise, Ranked by Importance |
| Area of Expertise | Mean |
| Protecting Accounts | 4.06 |
| Creating and Closing Opportunities | 4.05 |
| Setting Sales Strategy | 3.78 |
| Maintaining Accounts | 3.74 |
| Coaching for Sales Results | 3.70 |
| Developing Sales Force Capability | 3.67 |
| Building Sales Infrastructure | 3.65 |
| Delivering Sales Training | 3.61 |
| Defining and Positioning Solutions | 3.49 |
| Supporting Indirect Selling | 3.35 |
| Managing within the Sales Ecosystem | 3.27 |
| Recruiting Sales Talent | 3.15 |
| Designing Compensation | 3.00 |
It Is All Relative to the Job
Almost one-third (31 percent) of survey respondents identified creating and closing opportunities or maintaining accounts as their primary area of expertise. More than 40 percent of respondents identified the following three AOEs as their primary one: creating and closing opportunities, maintaining accounts, or protecting accounts.
While the popularity of these AOEs is evident, it is also clear that many sales professionals spend their time in more than one AOE. In fact, 63 percent of professionals define three to five AOEs as moderately to extremely important to their job. This indicates that sales team members are often providing expertise in multiple areas and must apply a broad range of skills. This is a key research finding, demonstrating that success in the profession is not defined by solid performance in a single AOE; rather, professional selling is a multidisciplinary profession.
World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies brings together brilliant information, analysis, and ideas about the evolution of the sales profession to inspire new generations of salespeople, sales managers, and sales trainers.
—Beth Rogers, chair, UK Sales Board
Sales organizations need people with a number of different job titles to carry out the required work. The research team set out to define a standard set of job titles for use during the World-Class Sales Competency research. The job titles in table 2-1 were presented to survey respondents, who were asked to select the title that most closely aligns to their current job as they perform it. Because all AOEs were scored as moderately important or higher (above 3.0), the research team aggregated the responses to define which AOEs equated to more than 50 percent of the respondents’ importance rankings. The AOEs listed in table 5-2 are considered the most relevant and important for the execution of each job title.
The Role of Technology
Even though the effect of technology is not called out separately in the model, its role should not be overlooked. The technical sophistication of products in today’s organizations is increasing, creating the need for higher levels of salesperson knowledge (especially product training) and technical savvy. Sales team members must educate themselves and their customers— often with the use of technology. Many organizations have stratified their sales efforts to create different levels of service that respond to customer needs.
As a result of this increased sophistication in the buyer-seller relationship, there is greater emphasis on the use of technology to manage group collaboration and as a way to stay on top of the knowledge required for sales success. A paradigm shift in the way sales professionals interact with their clients also increases the use of technology for communication. All of these factors position technology as an enabler of sales team success.
Keys to Unlocking the AOEs
Each AOE includes a list of key knowledge areas and key actions (see Appendix A). Key knowledge areas list the range of theoretical and procedural knowledge required for success in the AOE. Because there is so much depth of knowledge for each AOE, the ASTD World-Class Sales Competency Model does not list specific theories or approaches unless they are particularly important for the AOE.
Key actions list the behaviors and activities required for a person to function effectively in the AOE. Usually, key actions are readily observable and portray the day-to-day work of sales team members in each AOE. Experts in each specialty area have validated all of the key knowledge areas and actions. A review of the ratings shows that the AOEs have a high degree of validity (see Appendix E).
| Table 5-2. How Areas of Expertise Relate to Job Titles in the ASTD World-Class Sales Competency Model |
| Sales Job Titles | Most Important Areas of Expertise by Job Title |
| Sales Executive | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Setting Sales Strategy 3. Maintaining Accounts |
| Sales Manager | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Setting Sales Strategy 3. Developing Sales Force Capability 4. Coaching for Sales Results |
| Sales Representative | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Protecting Accounts 3. Maintaining Accounts |
| Sales Specialist | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Protecting Accounts 3. Maintaining Accounts |
| Pre-Sales Consultant | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Protecting Accounts 3. Defining and Positioning Solutions |
| Operations Manager | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Protecting Accounts 3. Supporting Indirect Selling 4. Coaching for Sales Results 5. Maintaining Accounts |
| Operations Executive | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Protecting Accounts 3. Defining and Positioning Solutions 4. Setting Sales Strategy 5. Coaching for Sales Results 6. Building Sales Infrastructure |
| Sales Compensation Planner | 1. Setting Sales Strategy 2. Designing Compensation 3. Maintaining Accounts |
| Sales Operations Infrastructure Developer | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Setting Sales Strategy 3. Developing Sales Force Capability 4. Building Sales Infrastructure |
| Sales Recruiter | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Defining and Positioning Solutions 3. Setting Sales Strategy 4. Building Sales Infrastructure 5. Recruiting Sales Talent |
| Sales Training Manager | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Developing Sales Force Capability 3. Delivering Sales Training 4. Coaching for Sales Results |
| Sales Training Executive | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Setting Sales Strategy 3. Developing Sales Force Capability 4. Delivering Sales Training |
| Sales Trainer | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Developing Sales Force Capability 3. Delivering Sales Training 4. Coaching for Sales Results |
| Sales Training Designer and Developer | 1. Developing Sales Force Capability 2. Delivering Sales Training 3. Coaching for Sales Results |
| Sales Researcher | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Protecting Accounts 3. Setting Sales Strategy 4. Delivering Sales Training |
| Sales Professor/ Academic | 1. Creating and Closing Opportunities 2. Protecting Accounts 3. Setting Sales Strategy 4. Delivering Sales Training |
Notice how often creating and closing opportunities appears in table 5-2. Clearly, all sales professionals are keenly aware of its importance, no matter what their job title is.
In the Next Chapter
This chapter provided an overview of the areas of expertise found within ASTD’s World-Class Sales Competency Model. Chapter 6 explains the foundational competencies—grouped into the key categories of partnering, insight, solution, and effectiveness—and how they fit into the ASTD World-Class Sales Competency Model.