Sure, you show up to work every day and do your job…but are you an EXPERT at it? And what does it matter anyway?

An expert is defined as ‘A person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field.’ It’s not that hard to figure out why you want to be known as an expert in your field – Firstly Think about it, do you want to work with a person who will sell you whatever is the company needs to move the most? OR do you want to talk to the whiz that’s an authority on what you are interested in? That’s right – everyone wants to work with the professional who specializes in any given area.

The other reason you’re going to want to become an expert at work is simple. Let me spell it out for you. M.O.N.E.Y. If your boss sees you as an expert at what you do, you are more likely to get a much bigger raise than your less learned coworkers. (Trust me – I speak from experience on this!) And if you happen to work on commission…it’s a no-brainer, because as I said earlier, everyone wants to work with an expert.

So HOW DO YOU BECOME AN EXPERT IN YOUR FIELD? An excellent question! Here are some things I know for sure.

You need to focus on an area of expertise, it really helps if it is something you are really interested in whatever it is (and hopefully there are not a lot of people who are already specialists in this particular area. Otherwise what’s the point?) You want to be the go-to person in your office!

Think about what SHOULD be really important to your company. This is an area where you can really make your mark! Quite often employees know more about what customers want, need or are demanding more than management does simply because they work directly with customers every day. You would be surprised how often the company doesn’t know what they need to do solely because NO ONE ever tells them.

There are 2 behaviors you need to adopt if you want to become an expert in any given area. The good news is that these are skills you likely already possess!

Listening – You need to pick up information from all areas in your field of choice. So, listen to customers, competitors, read blogs, books, go to seminars and soak up any information you can get on TV – after all, whether it’s correct or not TV is where most consumers get their information.

Communicating – It’s all about getting out there and connecting with people in your industry who are ‘plugged in’ which is actually easier than it sounds. Reach out to people who have written something you like or connect with like-minded people on ‘Linked-in’ go to a networking group or a ‘Meet-up’ group. The point is get involved with the community of experts in your area. You’ll learn a lot and meet some cool people to boot! Don’t forget to share your expertise with customers and co-workers alike!