The Expert type makes rational decisions based on objective facts. In many cases, this attitude pushes aside empathy and feelings. Professionalism supersedes everything, and it is important to communicate only as much, or as little, as they need to. The Expert type cannot tolerate illogicality, untrue claims, and because of this often clashes with its environment. They are an organised, rule-building, and rule-abiding person with a maximalist attitude at work. They also expect these qualities from their environments. They focus on a specific professional field; they want to be as perfect as possible in that field. They are predictable, accurate, but this type tends to get bogged down in details.
The Expert Strategy
Perfect design and perfect execution: this is an ideal Expert strategy. The principle of the Expert strategy is to create a product or service that sells itself. The Expert focuses on making the product indispensable to customers; that way, they do not have to sell it because the market wants and needs it. They consider communication and sales to be redundant, so instead, they devote all their efforts to product development. The Expert strategy, therefore, plans for very slow construction, but growth is stable and unstoppable. It feels natural that there is an investment period as only top-quality products are allowed to enter the market. The Expert strategy considers all existing circumstances and creates plans based on them since they do not like surprises at all. Not only do they dislike them, but they also cannot handle them. When we discussed the Supporter strategy, we emphasised how important it is to plan ahead methodically, even if market potential would allow for more intense pace. This fact is exponentially true for Expert strategies, as the product must always be much better than what we are communicating to the market. An essential element of the Expert’s plan is to build on surprises, but unlike the Individual approach, the surprise here is a pleasant one. It focuses on the fact that the consumer wants to use this product for the rest of their life, and since the quality of the Expert product is impeccable, they achieve this goal most of the time. The Expert strategy communicates to a very minimal extent and only to a very well-defined target group. The Expert product itself is intended for a niche target group; it is not typical to move in the mass market direction with the Expert strategy, although it often happens that a professionally high-quality product will eventually have a large market share. But otherwise, it doesn’t interest managers using the Expert strategy at all. A key element of the Expert strategy is to elicit recognition of the product’s professionalism. The Expert places great emphasis on academic background, relationships, and professional communication. It is utterly devoid of any element of communication that targets larger masses, as it feels like it would detract from its professionalism. And this logic is absolutely correct. The weakest part of the Expert strategy is sales. After all, they always treat sales as a necessary evil, so they do not design it on the basis that, in addition to the few professionals, several customers also need to understand the product. They believe that “outstanding wine doesn’t need a brand name”, but that theory doesn’t work in modern business. What is certain, however, is that the Expert sales team always involves a small but high-level headcount.
The Success and Failure of the Expert Strategy
The Expert strategy alone can always be successful; it just takes a great deal of patience for one to wait for that success. The process advances step by step, and you cannot expect any surprises to emerge from nowhere. And yet surprises do come; I think everyone learned that in 2020. On the other hand, professionalism is unquestionable, so these strategies will always become fruitful sooner or later, it’s really just a matter of time. In many cases, investors divert money in vain to speed up the maturation process, but just because money flows in, the strategy itself does not change. So, they throw money out the window. During calmer periods, Expert techniques are not used on their own; they are usually utilised in combination with another method, mostly with the Ruler strategy, which gives them a significant increase in intensity. The biggest question of the Expert strategy is always how willing its users are to acknowledge how they must include foreign elements in the strategic processes. Many companies fail because although the product is fantastic, they simply don’t have the time and money for the world to find out. Although they may win a bunch of prizes in various competitions, they cannot convert this to real profit.
The Expert Strategy for 2021
This period is incredibly conducive to the Expert strategy because of the intense fear in the various markets. Consumer sentiment and the amount of money that can be spent has dropped significantly, so people want reliability. If anyone wants a product or service based on a solid foundation, they must choose the Expert direction. The progression of Expert strategies has been spectacular, which is somehow amusing since the Expert strategy is the polar opposite of pushy. The Expert doesn’t communicate enough; they do not want to sell. But because of COVID, everyone wants to buy a high-quality, professional product, and they do not want to be wrong, so it can be seen as a positive feature that a business does not overcommunicate or communicates only minimally. In fact, with the intensity of the Ruler strategy, the outright pushiness of the Individual strategy, and the failure of the Supporter strategy, the Expert strategy doesn’t have to do anything spectacular, it just has to show up. Minimal communication, or just cold, objective communication in a specific professional environment, is now perfect. Likewise, frank, non-pushy salespeople that present only the truth are also excellent. The mistakes of competitors are now driving the Expert strategy into the spotlight, and the intensity of development is multiplied by this fact. While the traditional Expert strategy yields positive results in 5 to 8 years, they can now achieve similar success in as little to 1 to 3 years. If someone wants to craft a workable strategic direction in 2021, they certainly cannot do without the Expert strategy.