Do you offer your customer a long list of available services or offer your services across many industries?
If you do then you may be missing out on a competitive advantage that lifts the marketing of your small business out of the masses.
Specialists in all areas of business, arts, sports, have a greater depth of experience, skills and knowledge and you usually find they continuously seek to increase their expertise.
Generalists generally do not have the time to update skills in all the areas they offer services and do not have the depth of knowledge or experience.
Being a specialist offers the following advantages:
Customer Understanding
It is much easier to convey the benefits of one or two services into a simple positioning statement than trying to accommodate 5 different services.
Higher Fees
Specialists can and do command higher fees. Just think of the local doctor versus a dermatologist.
In Demand
When people such as journalists or conference organisers are looking for experts, those that specialise are often most in demand for their knowledge and depth of expertise.
Greater Focus
Rather than keeping up your skills and knowledge across a wide range you can be at the forefront of developments, innovations and improvements rather than play catch up.
Market Opportunities
Even in tight markets you can be in demand. A friend of mine specialises in recruiting in the financial sector. In the middle of the financial crisis she opened up her own small business in this hard hit area and had clients and contracts from day one because she is known for her expertise in this area.
If you want to offer your customers more services that you do not have expertise in you can always:
- Hire employees who do
- Contract out those services
- Partner with other companies
- Have referral arrangements with specialists
You sure are a truthsayer, Susan! Every time I come here I’m impressed by the authenticity of your posts.
Specialisation has been a double-edged sword for me. As an expert writer of recruitment advertisements for print newspapers, I once billed one client more than $10K for two weeks’ work!
Then the GFC brought fewer ads, for fewer vacancies, in thinner newspapers. I had to reinvent myself or starve.
Now I’m honing in on blogging.
Not any old blogs: corporate blogs. And not the techie back end: just the content. After a slow start, I’m making good progress in this new specialty.
I agree with you that going ‘broad’ in my service offering at this stage would be a step back.
Thanks again for a wonderful piece of useful writing. Best regards, Paul.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your kind words. It is great you are doing well and if you think about it you have selected a new and expanding market to target and offer your services which is very smart.
Cheers,
Susan
The Marketing Advantages of Being a Specialist…
Do you offer your customer a long list of available services or offer your services across many industries? If you do then you may be missing out on a competitive advantage that lifts the marketing of your small business out of the masses. Being a spec…