Stop Being a Wandering Generality. It’s Time to Go Niche.
You understand the value of specialization. You get why heart surgeons earn 10x more than family doctors.
Yet, as a professional or business owner, you are afraid to specialize.
You are afraid to GO NICHE!
You fear that by focusing on a narrow market you will miss a mountain of potential business.
But the exact opposite is true.
When you specialize, your business becomes vastly easier. By focusing all of your energy into one clear high-value area, you can find and attract your ideal clients quickly and effortlessly.
3 Huge Reasons to Go Niche
1. You’ll get much better clients
You will be sought after because of your specialized focus.
You see, people don’t search for solutions to general problems. They search for solutions to their specific problems.
Yes, you’ll miss out on prospects whose problems fall outside of your specialty, and that’s a good thing. They are not your ideal clients, and you’re better off not wasting any time on them.
Your ideal prospects, on the other hand, will be irresistibly drawn to you. When they see that your service focuses precisely on them and their problems, it becomes almost impossible for them to not work with you.
Prospects who fall squarely in your niche — and know it — become great clients.
2. You’ll get referred far more often
It’s so much easier to refer a specialist.
Your friend Dave meets Tim at a party. Tim mentions that he’s struggling with the legal hurdles of hiring an engineer from Brazil.
Imagine you are a “general lawyer”. Will your friend Dave enthusiastically blurt out, “Oh, I know a guy who’s a lawyer. You should really talk to him!” Not likely… unless Dave is already 3 sheets to the wind.
Now imagine you happen to be a very particular type of lawyer. What if Dave can exclaim, “Oh, I know a lawyer who specializes in South American immigrant work visas. You should really talk to him!” Now Dave looks like a hero and feels pretty darned good about referring you (with or without the party punch).
3. You’ll get to charge much higher fees
Few professionals succeed by offering the lowest price.
Instead, they succeed by standing out and getting prospects so excited about them that when they finally mention their fees the deal is already won.
You stand out by specializing.
I know a tax attorney who does nothing but prepare tax returns for Americans who are working in Japan. Is that a tiny percentage of all American tax return business? You bet. But he gets… all… of… it. He’s in high demand and commands high fees. People seek him out and don’t even ask what it costs. Why? Because he’s the guy.
“You cannot make it as a wandering generality. You must become a meaningful specific.”
~ Zig Ziglar
So… Now that I’ve convinced you to go niche, how do you do it?
3 Ways to Go Niche
I’ll use my own business evolution as an example.
1. Narrow your target market
This is the critical first step. You can’t serve the entire world, even if you’re Amazon. And you’re not Amazon.
Figure out which clients you can deliver the most value to, have the most important and urgent needs that you can serve, and that you most enjoy working with.
(And, if you still find XtraNormal videos amusing like I do, this one says all you need to know about choosing a niche market.)
My Story…
I started out, as many service companies do, offering my services to any and all takers. And that’s fair enough when you’re just getting on your feet.
But I quickly realized that I wanted to work with small business owners — very different from the corporate world that I’d chosen to leave after 14 years.
So I presented my company as “small business internet marketing” (as of this writing my website is still in the top 3 organic Google results for that term).
But that wasn’t narrow enough.
Later I realized that those who I most enjoyed working with (and had the most success with) were business owners who sell high-value services, which also includes independent consultants and professionals.
2. Narrow your offer
As you narrow your target market, your offering naturally follows.
My Story…
When I started out, trying to offer my services to anyone, I offered web solutions. “What are web solutions”, you ask? Looking back, I haven’t a clue. And neither, I’m sure, did most prospects.
When I turned my focus to small businesses, I narrowed my offering to internet marketing, something that pretty much all small business owners need. But that was still too broad.
Finally, when I narrowed my target market niche to those who sell high-value services, it made perfect sense to focus my offering on website lead generation.
3. Narrow your services
Your services are the ways you deliver your offer to your target market.
My Story…
When I was offering “web solutions” to “any business”, my potential services included things as far afield as web app development and business model creation.
When I narrowed to “internet marketing” for “small business”, my services ranged from designing custom websites to SEO to issuing press releases.
And, finally, with my current focus on “website lead generation” for “businesses that sell high-value services”, my core offering includes just 3 highly leveraged, fully integrated components:
- Developing a unique selling proposition to captivate ideal prospects
- Creating a “lead flow” website to turn website visitors into clients
- Running PPC campaigns to deliver the best prospects to the website
Going niche means narrowing your business in, ideally, all 3 of these ways – target markets, offer and services.
IMPORTANT! Does having a laser-like niche focus mean that you can’t accept clients or offer services outside of your niche? No! And I do offer additional services for certain clients. But it does mean that both you and your prospects are crystal clear about what makes your business most valuable, unique, and worth the high fees!
So… are you ready to go niche?
I promise, you’ll never look back.
Want help? I specialize in helping business owners specialize. Let’s chat.
Hi! Love your articles! Soo, I am a newbie to all of this but I think have a most everything figured out except my niche. I started out thinking I was going to be an affiliate marketer but the more I research Ive realized, If I wanted to make a good living doing this I should market myself and build my own brand where everything I build or use links back to me. I have it all mapped and planned out on paper even 🙂 The problem is…I do not know what my niche is and what market to target? I have so many ideas pouring out of me but they lead Nowhere! I do know things that im good at or even expert on but im not sure that is what will get me to the level id like to be on. I ultimately would like to have a website store that my blog readers, you tube viewers or traffic i directed threw social media, ect. can all use. I can not tie my blogs to my website cuz im not sure what the differnce would be. Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!
Hi Jenny – I’m not sure what you mean when you say that you have “almost everything figured out except” your niche and your target market. What is it that you already have in place for your business? What is your special product/service, and who do you sell it to? Perhaps we can speak a bit and I may be able to offer some helpful guidance. If you’d like to do that, please click the Contact link at the top of the blog page. Best of luck to you!