You either like them or you don’t. Would you pay extra for a bag with just black jelly beans? I would and a friend of mine said “I’d pay more to have a bag without black jelly beans”. Clearly she’s not a fan!
One of the biggest mistakes I see people making when they are thinking about starting their own business is they want to “be all things to all people”.
The yoga teacher who’s target market is “everyone who wants to come to my yoga classes”. The accountant who says their target market is “everyone who needs an accountant, because everyone does!”
When I worked in Corporate I saw similar, people wanting to stay as generalists rather than becoming specialists/ experts in their chosen area, believing that by specialising they would be vulnerable in times of downsizing. Choose your specialty and who knows? A friend of mine is a world recognised specialist in her niche within a particular industry and has just been approached by the CEO of opposing Corporate and asked to “name her price”.
However, I’m here to talk about StartUps and this is not just a StartUp issue. I have seen existing businesses fall into the same trap of wanting to be “everything to everyone”
My sense is that one of the reasons for not wanting to identify, claim and own a niche is a fear of missing out on business.
If we take the medical profession as an example, say you have an issue with your heart my guess is that you want to be seen by a heart specialist. You want to see some one who has spent years studying, understanding and working just on hearts! Not a GP, a specialist. That heart specialist can charge a fee based on their knowledge and experience that is significantly more than the fee charged by a GP.
We see examples of this over and over in business. People who become specialists in their field:
• Know more than anyone else about that topic
• Have greater understanding of the issues faced by their clients, customers, patients
• Are much more likely to be able to find a solution that meets the needs of their clients, customers, patients
• Can charge a premium for the products/ services they offer
Why would you not want to identify and claim a niche for yourself?