Why Grow Your Practice by Building a Niche?

Jun 14
07:40

2010

David Wolfskehl

David Wolfskehl

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Building or growing a small or mid-sized business can be challenging. One of the most effective ad efficient ways to grow a professional or financial services firm is by building a niche and atracting new clients. Learn why it is effective.

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Working with professional services firms that want to build their business,Why Grow Your Practice by Building a Niche? Articles I meet partners who want to grow their business in specific ways. One practice development tactic that is perennially popular is to build a niche. This is a very good way to grow your business – but only if you do it in the right way.

I frequently come across firms that have four clients in the same industry or the same area of the non-profit sector, who then post something on their website about serving that group. Too many firms believe this is all it takes to build a niche for their business. This is a very good start. But it is only a beginning.

Building a niche involves a little bit more than simply declaring that you serve a niche. Serving a niche also involves more than simply having three or four clients in a specific sector.

There are three excellent reasons for building a niche for your firm. These are probably among the reasons some firms leap to declare a niche before they are positioned to serve it.

1.       If you are perceived as an expert, you can charge premium pricing. Experts in every field of knowledge and every line of work garner higher fees or salaries because of their expertise. They are presumed to possess some inside knowledge or to have access to the movers and shakers of the industry.  Making more money with less effort is an ideal way to improve your profit margins.

2.       If you are an expert – if you have built a niche – business will come to you. This alone is a great reason to become an expert serving a specific niche. You can reduce the amount of time and money you must invest in sales and marketing. The word gets around quickly in the industry or sector when you begin to be recognized as an expert. The years of cold calls to try to drum up business will be over. You can sit back and let the new clients come knocking on your door.

3.       If you are an expert, you can differentiate yourself in the market.  Whether you are an accountant or an attorney, you are almost certainly not the only game in town. You compete with other accountants or attorneys every day. Building a niche and becoming a recognized expert will set you apart from the competition. Instead of being lost in the crowd, you will stand head and shoulders above the crowd.

You might be recognized as an expert already. If this is the case, you have already built a niche. The task that remains is to leverage your reputation to attract new business and then delivery flawlessly on your value proposition. If you are not yet recognized as an expert in a particular area of your practice, you need to decide whether you want to remain a generalist or build a niche.

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