Do you have to have a niche? 3
I recently heard about a presentation given by a well-known consulting guru. The audience, a professional association of management consultants, was eager to hear how the presenter has built his business to earn over seven figures a year for two decades.
While taking questions on the subject of finding/developing new business, the attendee I know asked if one needed to have a niche to build a successful consulting practice.
“No one needs a niche,” the presenter replied brashly.
Music to the ears of the new independent consultant. Most entrepreneurs know the feeling when you’re starting out that you’d take any paying work. While getting our feet on the ground, we hesitate to target to any particular audience.
Letting that fear sit too long, it becomes a reality. And a bad one, at that. By not having a target market and clarity as to what problems you solve, you lose the ability to communicate why you’re the best choice for a client. If you can’t communicate that, you’re a commodity.
But who I am to say that someone who’s built a successful business is wrong about this? After all, it worked for him!
I doubt he’s lying, so I’d submit that to build a business as successful as his, our presenter must have a niche. The question is: does he know it?
You may have heard the phrase “You cannot not communicate.” It’s very true in a marketing context. In other words: we are all marketing ourselves, whether or not it’s on purpose. For example, when someone asks you what you do, your answer is a marketing activity. If you’ve thought about it that way or not, you are marketing.
The presenter told the audience that “nobody cares about your unique approach, only what results you create” and that “all selling is relational”. He also discussed the difference between himself and the massive consulting firms he often competes against. His says his clients enjoy that he bills by results, not focusing on hourly/time & materials systems.
Excellent. He’s targeting a segment of people who think a certain way. He’s also differentiated from large, impersonal firms in his sales approach and results-based method of delivery. And at seven figures a year for two decades, I think it’s working for him.
So do you have to have a niche? Yes, but you can call it whatever you want.
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Welcome back Aaron! And, a good comeback post. ;)
I hear this approach quite often. I think you’re right. We probably all do have a niche. It often becomes confusing, especially when we somehow think we can have our service be a commodity and then also charge our non-commodity price.
That’s what I see anyway… Good fodder!
Thanks Toby, good to be back!!
Come to think of it, it was just over a year ago you guys talked me into this blogging thing over in Bellevue! I owe you thanks for that!
Early on, I think consultants do need a niche…or at least a target market. But, as you grow in experience and add new clients, it’s fair to say it’s important to get broader. For example, you could promote yourself saying “I work with real estate loan call centers” if you have experience with them, or you could say “I work with call centers,” which should allow you more opportunities and let you apply what you learned with real estate loan call centers to other kinds of call centers. That makes sense to me.