The topic in the last
issue of Business Mastery was that advantages of developing a
specialization or niche for your business (see Vertical Power: The Secret To
Accelerating Your Business Growth). In this issue we’ll look at
some principles for determining the best niche for you.
An effective way to do
this is to brainstorm all the potential niches for your business and
then evaluate each one with the following three criteria by asking
yourself these questions:
- Your Passions
·
Which niche would I
enjoy working with the most?
·
How would I rate this
niche using an “aliveness factor” (scale of 1 to10)?
- Your Strengths
·
How well do my
strengths show up in this niche?
·
What is my level of
experience (or flying time) with this niche? ·
What have I already
accomplished by working with clients in this niche? ·
What credibility do I
have with people in this niche? ·
What’s my capacity to
be “world-class” in this niche? ·
How quickly can I
develop the expertise to provide superior value to this niche?
- The Needs Of The
Marketplace
·
Do the prospects in
this niche have major needs (or pain) that I’m aware of?
·
What is their ability
to pay for my services? ·
What is their
willingness to pay for my services? ·
Is there intense
competition for my services in this niche? (no competition is
ideal) ·
How easy is it to get
access to this group? (In other words, do they have an association? Do
they have meetings where I can get in front of them? Do they have
a newsletter or trade journal where I can submit articles?)
Next, set up a
spreadsheet with the various niches down the first column. Put
all the questions across the top of the spreadsheet (one column for
each question). Start with the first potential niche and go
across that row and evaluate each question using a “1 to 10 scale” (10
being the ideal scenario). Add up the total of that row and
repeat for the remaining niches. Finally, identify the niches
with the top three scores.
These represent the best places for
you to focus your business. Then spend some time
thinking about how you would run with this opportunity. Write a
two-paragraph scenario for how you would build this over the next one
to two years. You’ve just created the beginnings of a plan that
will transform your business! By the way, if you work
for an employer, you can also use this same approach for your career
(or job search). Employers prefer experts and specialists.
Use this to niche your career.
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© 2004 David C.
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