Complex sales: knowing which expert to involve
A high-value proposal often draws on knowledge distributed across several functions. The management question is specific: how should salespeople's access to internal expertise be organised before a technical assumption becomes a commitment to the customer?
What the literature establishes
Kyle Lewis (2003, Journal of Applied Psychology) developed and validated a measure of transactive memory systems: how a team distributes knowledge and knows who holds which expertise. Her findings link this collective functioning to performance in the teams studied, distinguishing specialisation, credibility and coordination. For sales, this suggests an organisational approach rather than a requirement for individual omniscience; the study does not, however, directly test sales performance.
Finding the expert is not enough
Amy Edmondson (1999, Administrative Science Quarterly) identifies an association between psychological safety and learning behaviour in work teams. Asking for help or acknowledging uncertainty requires being able to take an interpersonal risk without fearing that others will think less of you. Applied to a sales team, this mechanism suggests that an expert directory remains insufficient if approaching a colleague is interpreted as a lack of competence.
The premature conclusion
One might conclude that more specialists should be involved in every opportunity. These studies do not establish that increasing the number of contributors improves a sale: identifying relevant expertise is not the same as routinely bringing every function together. The issue is to make the right knowledge accessible while an uncertainty can still be addressed. (our executive and employee training programmes)
What the evidence and current practice leave open
These studies concern work teams, not commercial proposals in Basel's pharmaceutical sector. They do not demonstrate that mapping expertise increases win rates or, by itself, reduces commitments that cannot be fulfilled. In practice, a contact list reveals little about experts' availability, the scope of their expertise or their ability to validate a particular assumption.
A practical check in Bâle
As part of SHR — Swiss Human Resources' « Vente à forte valeur ajoutée » programme, one possible exercise in Basel is to review consecutive proposals over a predefined period in pharmaceuticals, life sciences, Rhine logistics or international R&D. For every proposal containing a critical technical assumption, record that assumption, the relevant expert and their dated response before sending it to the customer. The measure is the proportion of these proposals with a complete record; separately record those revised following consultation. This check assesses an internal process, not a demonstrated effect on sales. To go further: explore the High-Value Selling training in Basel in the canton of Basel-Stadt, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
In pictures: High-Value Selling in Basel
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