You’ve probably heard the phrase “jack of all trades, master of none,” right? You might not have thought it applies to you, but it does. Many businesses make the mistake of trying to be all things to all people. By narrowing your focus, you can actually make more money, work less hours, and reduce your overall stress while providing more financial stability than you’ve ever had.
The Jack of All Trades
Many businesses try to be all things to all people. For example, consider an accountant who isn’t satisfied with doing taxes and managing booking for clients. Instead, he feels he must compete with his clients’ insurance agent, investment adviser, and lawyer. So, the CPA goes out and obtains the necessary licenses to sell insurance, investments, and might even try to arrange a referral agreement with a lawyer to resell legal services.
The accountant, in this example, is viewing his market and profit potential as so limited that he has to snap up every cent that his clients have. Not only does this turn off clients, it makes the accountant look less like a professional and more like a handyman of sorts. It’s impossible to know everything, so don’t pretend that you do. The best way to do this is to define a niche for yourself and stick to that.
Defining a Niche
Pick one area where you are the best, know more than anyone else, and sell that area. For example, if you specialize in fixing Honda automobiles, don’t advertise as a general repair shop. Stick to fixing Hondas.
Have you ever been to a general repair shop? They never have all of the service manuals for every make and model. Since every manufacturer uses different torque specifications for bolts and screws, and each vehicle is designed a little differently, it’s impossible for a mechanic to keep up with, and understand, every single nuance about every vehicle. The result is that you tend to get second-rate service from such places, even when the shop owner is an upstanding, honest, and forthright person. It’s not that he’s dishonest. It’s that he just can’t be an expert in everything. Neither can you.
Raising Prices
One of the benefits of defining a niche is that you can justify higher prices. Think about a place that must be all things to all people. Customers generally have low expectations about such places. When you go to see an expert about something, anything, you expect to pay a premium for the product or service you’re getting. You also expect more from that expert than a generalist. When you focus on your deepest passion, and define a specific niche for yourself, you command higher fees or prices. As long as you can deliver results that are commensurate with the higher expense to the customer, you’ll make more money, work fewer hours most of the time, and have a higher customer retention rate.
Consideration
When defining a niche, it’s important to make sure you don’t make it so narrow that you don’t have a market to serve. For example, you would never specialize in fixing one particular model of Honda. You would specialize in fixing Honda vehicles as such. This gives you enough of a range to command higher prices, but not so niche-specific that you can’t find business. Also keep in mind that, regardless of the niche you choose, customers will expect premium service and product offerings. If you can’t deliver, consider being a generalist while you become an expert in your industry. You can ratchet up your prices as you gain more experience.
Author Bio: Guest post contributed by Stacy Pruitt, a freelance forex strategy and finance writer. Stacy writes about advanced trading and forex indicators. She also has many years experience as an active fx broker.