Business Coaching

Building A Profitable Coaching Business

I don't talk much about the issues involved with building a profitable coaching business on the Business Coaching blog but I know that I have quite a few regular readers "in the industry".

Not a coach, don't worry, the same principles apply to many professional services.

In my web browsing I found this video from Milana Leshinsky, creator of Coaching Business Mastery and author of "Coaching Millions: Help More People, Make More Money, Live Your Ultimate Lifestyle" which is worth watching although it has been produced to promote the program. Click on the B lying down and you find the other videos in the series.

According to Milana a staggering 91% of coaching businesses fail.

Ouch.

You can find out more by getting a copy of her New Coaching Manifesto.

Failure rates so high certainly makes it clear that coaches need help to build a profitable coaching business.

Unfortunately this happens because the idea of "being a coach" is sold as an easy way to make money by various coach training companies. I wrote before about the problem of businesses with low barriers to entry - see How High Is The Bar.

If you are a coach, consultant or other professional service provider I also recommend that you find out much more about Michael Port. I thought his "Book Yourself Solid" book was excellent.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Cure Your Public Speaking Fears

Last week I admitted that I was a victim of a self limiting belief. I love small group training sessions but the thought of speaking in public to a large group sends a shudder down my spine and makes me back-track rapidly.

Unfortunately this is starting to hold me back as I have ducked and dived under a few recent opportunities as I become more established.

1. A couple of months ago I was asked to give a talk on Guerrilla Marketing because I am one of the few certified Guerrilla Marketing coaches in the UK.
   
   "How many will be there?" I asked?
     
   "Hopefully about 40 to 50" was the answer. The alarm lights were flashing in my mind and I declined the opportunity.
     
2. Last month, one of the local radio stations in the West Midlands called me and asked me if I would be a guest adviser on a particular subject.  This time the alarm bells were ringing along with the flashing lights. Fortunately it wasn't a subject I knew much about so I was able to salvage my conscience that way rather than face up to the fact that I was "chicken."
    
3. This week, one of the UK national television stations called and asked if I would be interested in talking to them about appearing on a TV programme. You didn't see me for dust.

Do you have the same problem?

You have probably heard of the survey that asked people what scared them the most.

In first place was speaking in public, in second place, walking in to a room full of strangers and third, death.

I don't know about you but if someone gave me the ultimatum "Talk to this group of people or I'll shoot you", I think I could just about manage to mumble away but it does show you just how common is the fear of public speaking.

Poor Public Speaking Performance Confirms The Belief

If your mind is telling you that "you are no good at public speaking" and "public speaking scares you", guess what?

The next time you speak in public you will live up to your mind's expectations.

Remember the Law of Attraction as featured in the film The Secret - you attract what you think about.

You force yourself to do it but you don't enjoy it and to be honest, you're probably not very good. A few kind people may come up and say that "it was interesting" but no one will enthuse.

Here's The Good News - It Doesn't Have To Be Like That

Public speaking is a skill that can be learned and mastered. Then your self talk becomes positive and people will tell you that your talk was great.

Michael Port, author of best selling books "Book Yourself Solid" and "Beyond Booked Solid" has given me permission to republish his Think Big Revolution Monday teleseminars on my blog so I've gone back to last year and found two recordings to help you improve your public speaking skills.

Michael is a great speaker himself but as a former film and television actor, you would expect him to know the inside tricks.

Public Speaking Call 1 - Michael Port and Marcia Wieder

Join Michael in his discussion with America's Dream Coach, Marcia Wieder, as they talk about how to confidently deliver an inspiring message to an audience - whether it be 1, 100, or 1000 people.

Marcia has appeared on Oprah, The Today show, and in her own PBS-TV special.  She has written several books which have been translated into numerous languages.  As past president of the National Association of Women Business Owners, she was often in the White House where she met former U.S. presidents, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and George Bush Sr.  In addition, as a columnist for Motto magazine and The San Francisco Chronicle, she urged readers to take "The Great Dream Challenge."

Learn from Marcia's extensive experience about how to improve your speaking abilities - to become an inspiring speaker!  Discover the technique of weaving stories into your presentation to create the impact that you're looking for.

A course is mentioned but this was in October 2007 but if you are interested, it will be worth checking out the website for any repeats.

Download this mp3 audio

Public Speaking call 2 - Michael Port and Patricia Fripp

Join Michael as he enlists the help of Patricia Fripp, who was the first female President of the National Speakers Association.  As a public speaking expert, Meetings and Conventions Magazine called her, "one of the country's 10 most electrifying speakers".

Learn how to move from being good at giving presentations to being great at giving presentations with advice from the experts!  Discover the tools to use to become fully self-expressed, to catapult to the next level.

Download this mp3 audio

The Benefits Of Audio Learning

I love audio learning because the emotion of the words and the personality of the speaker come over so much better than in writing.

But the problem is you can't scan so I like to listen to recordings using FasterAudio which allows me to speed up calls through the introductory fluff and bits that aren't relevant to me and then slow it down for the key sections.

Say after me "I am a great public speaker and I love it. I speak to small and large groups regularly and it is always very successful."

Join Michael Port's Think Big Revolution

Michael Port wants you to Think Big and has created these regular teleseminars to help you.

If you would like to sign up for news of the calls as they happen then pop over to Michael Port's site and sign up to the Think Big Revolution

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business Coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

How High is The Bar?

Several weeks ago I wrote about Michael Porter's Five Forces model for industry analysis and in particular I explained about the threat of new entrants.

The lower the barriers to entry, the easier it is for new competitors to enter the market.

As profit depends on selling price and prices depend on the balance between supply and demand, the more competitors in a market, the lower the prices and profits.

So I was surprised today when I was looking at the keywords people use to find my blog in the search engines that "free business coaching certification" appeared.

Why would someone want free business coaching certification?

It's like those spam emails offering you a Harvard MBA certificate for $30.

Where is the value?

How can a qualification that is free and / or easy to obtain be any use in distinguishing you from a competitor?

How can it mean anything to an informed prospective client and if someone is looking to take advantage of uninformed prospects "who don't know any better", what does that say about a) their ethics and b) their ability to keep the client happy and retain them over the longer term?

Last year I had a meeting with a young chap who wanted marketing advice for his business but many of his qualifications came from short courses.

He seemed genuine and reckoned that he could do great things and showed me various stories of the techniques being applied.

I explained the problem as I saw it.

The more work we got for him, the more people would get to know about these techniques and see for themselves that they worked.

The more people who know about it, the more they tell other people and the more likely it is that they will do a little bit of research on the Internet and discover that anyone can be a master practitioner in just three days.

Now this is bad news in two ways:

1. Because the bar is not set high, the qualification loses perceived value and people may start doubting the techniques. Demand starts falling away as people stop believing, stop doing the exercises and don't get the expected benefits.
    
   
2. At the same time, the opportunists who see this as easy money, jump on the bandwagon, quickly become qualified and increase the supply of competitors.

So what happens when demand starts going down and supply increases? That's right, prices and profits go down.

That didn't seem to be the reward for successful marketing that I wanted to give my prospective client - a short term success but little long term future.

I couldn't see any way to fight back against these trends - theoretically it would be possible to develop some unique twist which increases the customer value and becoming famous for this revolutionary innovation but what were the odds of that happening?

I am expensive and while I expect to earn a fair share of the extra profits generated, I expect my clients to receive an ongoing payback on the costs from the step change in their profits.

 If we look at other professions we can see that the "height of the barrier" is one of the reasons why the top professions do so nicely.

You don't see poor doctors, dentists, lawyers and accountants.

That's because it's tough getting into these professions. The intellectual challenges are high and weed out many people, the training is tough and requires many sacrifices and the clients appreciate the value that these professionals bring to them.

Back to Business Coaching Certification

Business coaching is largely an unregulated profession although there are various certification bodies.

How good they are, I don't know.

I have admitted before that my strengths (experience and qualifications) lie in the business element of business coaching, rather than in the coaching element but you know that already if you have been reading my blog regularly.

But if some mandatory business coaching certification process is ever brought in, I don't want it to be free and easy.

It has to be tough and demanding and set exacting standards for ongoing membership.

It has to be able to "sort the men from the boys".

It has to set the bar high and form a real barrier to entry to guarantee professionalism to the clients and protect teh interests of the established business coaches.

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Become A Successful Author - Simpleology Bestseller Blueprint

I've been spending money again and this time I have just bought the Simpleology Bestseller Blueprint.

Over the last few months I have become quite a fan of Mark Joyner and Simpleology so when this offer came into my inbox today I found myself compelled to take action.

You see last week I was talking to a prospective business coaching client and I was explaining that I was reducing my coaching and consultancy work so that I could have the time to a) develop my blog more extensively and b) write two books.

I know, most sensible people who have never written one book wouldn't commit themselves to writing two, one of The Eight Pillars of Business Prosperity and the other about Customer Focused Entrepreneurs.

But I've always been a little crazy and I've had these two projects running through my brain for years but I've just been too busy to do anything about it.

Then last September I was inspired to start my blog and I have discovered that I love writing, but you knew that didn't you.

So today in comes the email from Mark Joyner offering to teach me how to become a bestselling author. I found myself thinking that since I was giving up tens of thousands of pounds work of coaching and consultancy fees to create the space to write the books, I really should make sure that I take some training on how to do it.

After all I am planning to write the books to make some money and to break out of the hours for fees trap that at first seems nice to a business coach/consultant but then suddenly becomes very restrictive.

The hours for fees trap[ means that if you want to make more money you have to work more hours (not good - it can be very pressurised and my effectiveness definitely reduces when I get tired or stressed) or I have to charge more per hour.

I'm not against the idea of charging more per hour but I do recognise that it becomes difficult for small businesses to justify paying it. Jay Abraham has reputedly charged $5,000 per hour for years but in can be difficult to convince someone else to pay a small fortune unless you have a stellar reputation like Jay Abraham.

Much better value for the customer and truer to the spirit of the customer focused entrepreneur is the idea of delivering high benefits for lower costs.

A book backed up by online training/coaching programs seems to be the way that business development/business coaching industry is moving. While personal focused time is good, it is so expensive.

So there we have it. My reasons for buying into the Simpleology Bestseller Blueprint.

It does sound packed with information and I have to admire Mark Joyner's commitment to the cause (or is that course?) Four coaching calls where he promised to answer every question and which in total went on for about twenty hours.

If you are not certain why anyone would want to be a top author, Mark Joyner has written a special free report called "The Rise Of The Author"

To Your Success

Paul Simister

Your Profit Coach, business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

© Planning & Control Solutions Ltd 2008 All Rights Reserved

Mark Joyner The Irresistible Offer - Download your FREE copy of this best selling marketing book by Mark Joyner.

Michael Port - Book Yourself Solid - 4.5 Stars

I have just finished reading "Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest and Most Reliable System For Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even If You Hate Marketing and Selling" by Michael Port.

Michael Port specialises in helping service professionals (accountants, business coaches and consultants, chiropractors, realtors/estate agents...) to market themselves more effectively so that they are booked solid.

Let Me Make This Simple For You

Let's skip the blah, blah, blah and cut to the chase.

1. If you are thinking about venturing out on your own as a professional service provider, buy Book Yourself Solid. It will tell you what you need to know about marketing to become successful.
    
2. If you are providing professional services to a small number of clients but there are more hours available in a week than you currently work, buy this book. It will give you new ideas to find new clients.
    
3. If you already a successful service provider working all the hours you want, buy Book Yourself Solid. It will help you to develop more status so that your fee rates can be increased and help you to find ways to break out of the "fees for time" syndrome which can restrict your income.

What Makes A Great Book?

When I read and review a business book I look for three key things:

1. The book is well written. Check.
    
2. The book introduces me to new ideas or gives me a new way of looking at currently known techniques. The book must increase my knowledge or if it is an introductory book, it must explain the ideas clearly. Check.
    
3. The book must move me from theory into action. It is only by applying knowledge through action that your results improve. Check.

So that's three big ticks/checks for Book Yourself Solid.

You Want The Review?

I think that some of my readers like it best when I pull a book to pieces rather than be nice about it but let me explain why I believe that Book Yourself Solid is the book to boost the marketing of your professional services.

A Real Action Focus

Throughout the book you will find written exercises and links to useful resources to help you to implement the ideas.

Even better, when you buy the book you learn the password to get the 90 page Book Yourself Solid workbook from bookyourselfsolid.com. This lays it all out so that you can conscientiously work through and complete the exercises and capture your thoughts.

I recommend that you do it as you read the book and then print off another copy when you've reached the end and do it again.

It will be interesting to see what you have learnt and how the book has changed the way you were thinking about the sales and marketing of your professional services business.

You may be one of those people who just skips over the exercises in books but don't do it with Book Yourself Solid. You won't get the best out of it.

Your Ideal Client

I have blogged before about Michael Port's "velvet rope policy" and how it is up to you to decide who you want to work with.

It's a lesson that many of us have had to learn by bitter experience but professional services are a two way street. When the best coach, consultant or adviser comes into contact with the worst client, it is the worst that wins. Little is achieved and both you and your client lose out.

Some people are just not meant to work together and the sooner you accept that, then the sooner you start applying tighter acceptance criteria. You can also ruthlessly weed out the clients that are not up to standard.

They will suit somebody else so you owe it to them and you owe it to yourself to bail out of the relationship early.

Your Who, What and Why

Are you clear on your personal identity? Who you want to work with, what you do and why you do it?

For years I struggled with this because I didn't seem to fit into any nice easy pigeon hole. I'm an accountant but I'm not an accountant. I'm a consultant but I'm not a consultant. I'm a marketer but I'm not a marketer.

You see the problem?

The word business coach seemed to fit me quite well but I noticed that people didn't respond to it as well as I'd hoped.

This is partly because many people are sceptical about the word "coaching." Is it consultancy? Is it training? Is it therapy? Is it encouragement and support?

Yes, Yes, No and Yes in my case.

The problem is that pick any of the professions and describe youself that way, people get to keep their own existing mental image.

If you say you are an accountant people immediately stereotype you and commoditise you. They may even think that you are a little bit boring thanks to Monty Python.

Not good news when you are trying to show that you are different and that you are the accountant, life coach, estate agent, dentist, stock broker... that they want and need.

See "But I Don't Want An Elevator Speech" for a great video of Michael Port explaining this problem.

Becoming The Expert Authority

You market and sell professional services.

That means that you are selling expert knowledge but you probably run into two opposing thoughts:

1. It's not polite to brag about what you know. Somehow it can undermine the very professionalism that you are presenting. Proactive marketing has been difficult for many old fashioned professionals to get their heads around.
    
2. There is always somebody who knows more than you do. It is impossible to know everything so if you are a lawyer specialising in employment matters, you can't get pulled into areas outside that speciality but also you can be out-specialised.

Book Yourself Solid addresses this issue and while it encourages you to continue to learn as an essential element of your professionalism, you also have to accept what you know.

Be clear about what you know and even more important, make sure that your clients know your boundaries. There is no shame in admitting that you don't know about something. Don't be reluctant to refer work when necessary.

The Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle

You are romancing your customers, gradually building the trust and credibility necessary to turn the relationship into profit.

The key way to show your knowledge is through information products. Perhaps you have a blog like this one because I am sure that as you read my blog, you gradually realise that I do know a bit about business. (Did you see how I ducked out the bragging issue I mentioned earlier.)

Perhaps you should have a free e-book or a short course people can subscribe to.

Whatever the mechanism, the idea is the same. To demonstrate your knowledge in a meaningful way to potential clients so that they feel that you are the obvious solution to their problems.

The Book Yourself Solid Core Self Promotion Strategies

Clients need to know that you exist so you have to find ways to promote yourself.

Michael Port devotes a chapter to each of his seven promotion strategies:

1. The Book Yourself Solid Networking Strategy - love it, hate it but it nearly always has to be done and the book gives you practical tips to allow you to network with confidence.
    
2. The Book Yourself Solid Outreach Strategy - this includes direct mail, telemarketing, email marketing - in fact anything that you do to reach out to your prospective clients and say "this is what I can do for you."
      
3. The Book Yourself Solid Referral Strategy - the core strategy for most good professionals and where most of my coaching and consultancy fees come from.
    
4. The Book Yourself Solid Web Strategy - this is an excellent chapter but then Michael Port is co-creator of Traffic School.
    
5. The Book Yourself Solid Speaking and Demonstrating Strategy - most people are terrified about the idea of speaking in public but it can be a very effective way of promoting your services. Not one I fancy particularly although I love small group training.
    
   The thought of addressing an audience of hundreds of people sends a shiver down my spine. But this chapter has made me think again. Partly because it has broken my fixed idea.
    
   Public speaking doesn't have to mean speaking to 500 people. Michael helps me to identify baby steps which are just outside of my comfort zone but not so frightening that I have a mental block and refuse.
    
6. The Book Yourself Solid Writing Strategy - this one is much more to my liking but again, I have suddenly realised that I'm not really doing much in this area apart from my blogs. I will definitely be pressing on the gas pedal here. I love to write.
    
7. The Book Yourself Solid Keep-in-Touch Strategy - so obvious but often hard to do. I use a contact management system to follow up with contacts and record what is happening and of course I have my email newsletter. You have signed up haven't you? What do you do?

So there we have it. A fairly long review of Michael Port's "Book Yourself Solid" book.

I think it is great. One of the best books that I have ever read and I wish it had been written thirteen years ago when I first started as a professional service provider. My life could be very different.

But Paul Why Haven't You Given It Five Stars?

Good question and I'm glad you asked.

Michael Port has upset me!

He has destroyed my business book review ideas but I am not giving in.

When I started reviewing these books I was determined that I was going to be firm but fair.

My recommendation is hard won and that means holding back the top 5 star award to books that I can recommend without reservation because they have changed the way I think about business and act in business.

Book Yourself Solid is great. I love it.

Well written, very easy to read, action focused and at 243 pages of content, full of great ideas and actionable advice without going into tedious detail.

But it hasn't had the chance to stand the test of time so I can't say for certain whether this is "The Beatles" and not the latest hot new thing that is the current number 1.

Is it a book that I will keep on referring back to like my 5 star review books?

I just don't know but I can tell you that I have written in my schedule to come back and reassess my grade with the current intention to upgrade the book from 4.5 stars to 5 stars on 1 April 2009.

In one year's time I will know.

My Recommendation

There are two actually:

1. If you market professional services then buy Book Yourself Solid. Here are the links to Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
    
2. Sign up to Michael Port's Think Big Revolution. He interviews all kinds of interesting people and occasionally has a Q&A session. These are all recorded and the mp3s are available for you to download and listen to at any time. It just shows Michael Port's commitment to providing value.

Michael also provides a Book Yourself Solid Coaching Program that is delivered to groups over the Internet and telephone. This run once or twice a year but the weekly schedule and feeling of accountability may be what is needed to help you to implement the Book Yourself Solid ideas.

I haven't been on the course myself but Michael works very closely with Mitch Meyerson on two other courses Traffic School and The Product Factory. I know people who have been on both these and they are highly recommended and I was extremely impressed with Mitch Meyerson's Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification Program.

Final Words

I don't think I've ever thought this about a book before.

I wish I'd written Book Yourself Solid. That's how good it is.

To Your Success

Paul Simister

Your Profit Coach, business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

© Planning & Control Solutions Ltd 2007-2008 All Rights Reserved

How To Choose Your Niche - Generalist v Specialist

Just about the biggest decisions you can make in your business are to define your niche by deciding "who your target customers are", "what you are going to sell" and "why someone should buy from you". In particular the issue of this article is, should you be a generalist or should you be a specialist?

The natural inclination is to go BIG - and target as many possible customers with as many different products as possible.

The standard advice from the marketing and strategy gurus is to go SMALL - to find as tight a niche as possible which you can dominate and call your own.

I have wrestled with this dilemma

If you struggle with this decision, then believe me, you are not alone and I have to hold my hand up and admit that I resist the forces to specialise.

I know all the theories but I don't want to be a narrow specialist.

What Do The Gurus Do?

I currently focus on the work of nine gurus so let's just walk through and see how good they are at taking the standard advice. I should however say that this analysis is biased by my own interpretations of where their strengths lie.

1. Jay Abraham - Jay's coverage is wide crossing large and small businesses, he actively promotes the fact that he has worked with clients in over 400 different industries and the scope of his marketing and profitable opportunity-seeking advice is wide.
    
2. Michael Gerber - The mission of Michael's work with the E Myth books and his business coaching firm E Myth Worldwide is "to transform small businesses worldwide, one small business at a time." No narrow niche there although he has written several more targed E Myth books.
    
3. Jay Conrad Levinson - Guerrilla Marketing's principle focus is on helping small businesses replace money focused marketing with marketing that comes from time, effort and imagination but these techniques are being adapted by big businesses as well. Some of his co-written books are focused on particular professions eg "Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants"
    
4. Chet Holmes - Chet built his reputation consulting with many of the Fortune 500 companies but with the joint ventures with Jay Abraham and Jay Conrad Levinson, has now extended the scope of his marketing to small businesses.
    
5. Peter Thomson - Peter has consulted with some of the biggest companies in the UK but also targets small businesses, both directly and through his joint venture with the accountancy network PROBIZ.
    
6. Brian Tracy - Brian's scope is incredibly wide crossing all areas of management, personal development and the last time I looked at the extended Success Secrets audio series, it even included relationship advice.
    
7. Scott Hallman - Scott provides marketing coaching and business coaching for all types of small business.
    
8. Rich Schefren - Rich focused on business coaching for Internet marketing entrepreneurs when he started but his latest moves in a joint venture with Jay Abraham are to create mavens of "go to experts" in any market.
    
9. Michael Port - Michael concentrates on marketing/business coaching for professional service providers but with joint ventures with Mitch Meyerson on the Product Factory (creating information products) and Traffic School (better websites) has extended his scope to other types of small business.

On that evidence, it does seem as if there is a "do as I say and not do as I do" approach, even with my favourite business gurus.

The Opportunity For Profit Forces You To Widen Your Scope

A quick refresher on Jay Abraham's three ways to grow a business model.

1. More customers - creating the temptation to widen the type of customers you target
    
2. A higher value transaction - the desire to cross-sell related items at the time of the initial purchase encourages you to add extra products and services to your range
    
3. Increasing the frequency of purchases - again encourages adding extra products

This is great advice for increasing your profit from a position of strength but can be fatal for a new business operating from a position of weakness.

Are You Customer Focused, Product Focused or Capability Focused?

I ask my prospective coaching clients where they focus their business - on customers, on products or on capabilities.

What do I mean?

Some businesses are very tuned into their customers and clients and are able to use the strength of the relationship and market understanding to cross-sell other products and services.

This has always been my strength. Because I am multi-skilled with wide experience, projects with larger clients are often extended with wider or different scopes.

Some businesses are experts in a particular product and you can see this with in the retail industry with the category killers like Toys'R'Us.

Some businesses are experts in a particular special capability and can apply that skills to different kinds of clients or products.

For example an accountant can use the same skills with a farmer, a funeral director and an umbrella manufacturer (not sure what the psychiatrists would make of those that combination) while a steel fabricator may make components for the automobile industry and finished consumer goods.

It may seem strange but you can even switch successfully.

I have used a capability focused marketing campaign (emphasising my strengths and experience in one particular area) to open doors and then switched to my more natural customer focus when I have established a great relationship.

In fact, my experience has been that clients are keener in extending the project time and scope than I am and I have allowed my commitment to the client to take me into areas where I haven't wanted to go.

Value Disciplines

My customer, capability or product focus mirrors the three value disciplines identified by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema:

1. Operational excellence - providing customers with reliable products at competitive prices, delivered easily and conveniently - this is my capability focus.
    
2. Customer intimacy - segmenting markets and providing tailored offerings which exactly match the demands, wants and needs of the particular customer group - this is my customer focus.
    
3. Product leadership - developing innovative products that lead the field - this is my product focus.

You gain advantage by leading in one category while meeting general industry standards in the others.

My preference, and why I am starting the custompreneur revolution is customer focus.

It may seem the obvious direction to go in. Isn't all marketing supposed to be about finding out the needs and wants of the market and then designing, communicating and delivering the best solutions?

Not everyone agrees.

For example, some top strategists say you should focus on enhancing your core competencies and capabilities because they underpin everything you do.

Generalist v Specialist

I have identified four potential positions that you can occupy, which under certain situations can bring you success.

1. The specialist's specialist
    
2. The specialist
    
3. The generalist as a gateway
    
4. The generalist as a trusted jack of all trades

The Specialist's Specialist

You have spent many years studying and gaining experience in a very narrow field and you are seen as the specialist's specialist. The person experts in a wider field of the same discipline refer people to when it requires intensive skill, knowledge and experience.

Perhaps it is the heart surgeon who is the only person in the world to have successfully done a particular type of operation.

Perhaps it is a tax specialist who has deals with avoidance schemes and disputes in a particular narrow area of tax law.

The appeal is that people are naturally attracted to experts and particularly if they are "the only" or "the best". Prices are high because people are prepared to pay for quality and what is perceived as the best "most likely outcome."

It is the safe purchase.

Why skimp on a heart surgeon if it is a complicated procedure and the choice is between someone who has done the operation 50 times with an 85% success record, someone who is half the price with a 50% success record and someone else a quarter of the price who has never done it before?

The dangers of the specialist's specialist to the customer/client

If you are the client and you wrongly diagnose your problem and go directly to a specialist's specialist, they may see the problem they are looking for when it is not the priority problem.

More often, they will say that your diagnosis is wrong but won't be able to point you towards other alternative problems and solutions. Their focus is like a laser which shines brightly on their speciality but there is darkness around it.

The dangers of being the specialist's specialist

You have three main risks:

1. The specialist market is not big enough. There is a gamble here. If you are the only one, then effectively the market does not exist before you create it.
    
2. Suddenly you are no longer "the fastest gunslinger in the west." Thanks to the Internet, it is easier and easier for customers and clients to find out about alternatives from other parts of the country or even the world.
    
3. Your skills become obsolete, either because they are declining (think sports stars) or new innovations and technology bring new ideas and solutions into the marketplace.

Because your skills are so specialised, they are not easily transferable to other areas unless you are leading from the front and you will not have a general reputation to leverage.

The Specialist

In this position you are seen as a specialist in your particular area, perhaps to use the example above, you are a heart surgeon and you perform a variety of operations or you are a corporation tax specialist and advise companies how to save tax.

Again people are attracted to experts but the competition is tougher and it is more difficult to differentiate between people with the same speciality.

Buying from a specialist

How do you decide between one employment lawyer and another? You don't know enough to test them on their skills so you have to fall back on recommendation, reputation, convenience or price.

On the plus side, their wider knowledge means that you are more likely to have more common ground between your skills and theirs although it may still be very limited. They are able to see the bigger picture and are more likely to see the true causes and effects although there will still be a bias for seeing problems in their area without seeing more urgent priorities elsewhere.

Selling as a specialist

If you are a specialist, then you are able to design your service to meet the needs of a precise group of people much more effectively than generalists. You can spend more time, attention and money on the factors that really matter to this particular market niche and reduce or ignore issues that matter little to your niche but are important to the general market.

The Generalist as a Gatekeeper

This person has much wider knowledge than a specialist and is able to make an accurate diagnosis of the issues and an accurate assessment of whether the problem is within their skills or requires specialist intervention.

Because their knowledge is more detailed than yours, they are able to make a much better informed assessment of the relative attributes of the individual specialists and when those specialist skills are required.

This is the position that a general practitioner doctor holds. When you are ill, you see a general practitioner and based on your symptoms, the GP decides whether you can be treated, whether you need to see a specialist consultant or whether you need to have tests to confirm a speculative diagnosis.

It is also the position I hold.

I am proud of my general business skills but I am also very aware of where those skills need to be supplemented.

I can use my skills to put together overall business development programs but I am also able to identify the better quality and value programs from other providers.

I can help you to apply Guerrilla Marketing techniques to your business. After all I am a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach but I would prefer you learnt them directly from Jay Conrad Levinson. It avoids my own preferences and biases (where for example I prefer Jay Abraham's approach to a particular marketing problem) because I can explain my thoughts and you can respond from a position of knowledge.

The Generalist - Jack Of All Trades

This is the most dangerous position as here you represent yourself as the solution to all kinds of different problems and you are vulnerable to being out-specialised, either directly or indirectly by the other three positions.

For example you may be an estate agent looking for a business coach and you meet three of us:

1. The business coach, jack of all trades - "I can help you and any other business."
    
2. Me - "I could help you but I know a better, lower cost option. Just take a look at Michael Port and his Book Yourself Solid coaching program delivered over the Internet in group coaching sessions."
    
3. The estate agent business coach - "I only work with estate agents on a one-to-one basis. I am more expensive but I offer great results for businesses just like yours and I have all these case studies and testimonials to prove it."

It looks like options 2 or 3 does it, depending on your attitudes to cost and exclusivity.

It is an aside to the main article but I do have some reservations about industry specialists who bring one particular prescription to the table.

I have seen too many firms adopt the same techniques, the same direct mail letters, the same website template. It is great if you are the only business in your geographical area taking advantage of the ideas and you have an exclusive territory but not so good when the same ideas are used by your closest competitors. You are back to being an undifferentiated commodity but you have paid dearly for the privilege.

Back to the generalist/specialist debate, the generalist has the oopportunity to build an extremely deep relationship with happy clients and to follow the three ways to grow a business model. Cross-sells to different products and services are a natural part of the way the generalist works and may be the major reason why the customer selected the generalist.

How Do You Choose - Generalist or Specialist?

There are a number of factors that you need to take into account:

1. What do you want? A specialist may earn more while the specialism lasts, a generalist may have a more interesting time although you shouldn't underestimate the attraction and satisfaction in really knowing one subject really well.
    
2. Where do your strengths lie? Rich Schefren's Strengths Mastery Advantage is a great way to find out your natural working strengths. It is essential that you work with your strengths rather than against them.
    
3. Is there a specialist niche that is big enough to support your desired income? There is no point specialising if the market is not large enough and no one wants those particular skills.
    
4. Can you defend that specialist niche against imitators? Are your skills and experience really unique which prevents people from copying if they see your success or can you build an overwhelming reputation that inhibits them from even trying?
      
5. Can you reach enough prospective customers with credibility? Even if the market is potentially big enough, customers have to know that you exist with a solution so you need to be able to reach out to them through or marketing or they need to be searching for a solution in a way that means they can find you.

A Compelling Reason To Buy

For anyone to buy, they must have confidence so there must be a compelling reason to buy.

For the specialist's specialist, that may be because you are the best and money doesn't matter.

For the generalist jack of all trades, it may be a matter of convenience and trust from an existing relationship based on other work done to the required standard or better. Some people distrust arrangements that are clearly one-off.

It is one of the problems with trades like roofing. Done right and you won't need another roof for 30 years so in these cases the normal incentive of future work for a great job is eliminated. It creates space for convincing, smooth talking opportunists. I know because I had an honest roofer as a client and it is very difficult when competitors will low-ball your offer to win the job and then effectively hold the customer to ransom when the old roof is removed.

Some Markets Naturally Create Specialists Or Generalists

Location is a critical factor.

Rural communities with low populations don't justify specialist resources. Local solicitors are generalists. Local accountants are generalists. Local shops are convenience stores selling a wide variety of different goods.

Cities and urban conurbations provide the population to allow specialists to find a large enough market, either as standalone businesses or separate departments in bigger firms. A city like Birmingham in the UK will support specialist tax departments in all the main accountancy firms together with some specialist tax only firms who receive work from Generalists as Gatekeepers.

But cities also allow generalists to thrive as there are enough people who want one trusted source for a variety of needs, either as a matter of convenience or preference. It is not just in services either as you can see it in retail with the growth of the superstores like Tesco in the UK and Walmart in the US who offer convenience, low prices and reliable quality.

You should note however that High Street based department stores are often out-specialised because they fail to provide a compelling reason to buy with a combination of high prices, limited selection and little specialised knowledge.

The Internet rewards specialists who concentrate on serving a tightly defined niche based on search engine optimisation around tightly defined keywords. This is particularly the case for information based products which can be supplied across the world.

At the same time, the Internet also rewards established big companies like Amazon to trade on their established relationships and widen the scope of their products from books, to CDs and DVDs, to electrical goods...

Specialist or Generalist - The Choice Is Yours

Unlike many of the gurus, I can't see that the case for specialisation is overwhelming.

I admire people who make the deliberate decision to specialise. It is a brave mood which can reap rich rewards.

But, perhaps just because I view it through my own rose tinted spectacles, I admire people who deliberately choose the generalist route. They do risk being out focused by the specialists.

Why buy marketing advice from a business coach when you can buy from a marketing consultant? Why buy advertising advice from a marketing consultant if you can buy from an advertising coach? Why buy from an advertising coach if you are interested in billboards and you know the billboard expert.

The important thing is to make the decision and then make sure that everything you do is consistent with that decision.

You can't be a specialist and a generalist.

I know that most of us only use a tiny proportion of our brain power but I recommend that you think of it like a filled container with no lid. Every time you pour in more knowledge, something else splashes out.

Remember the essential thing is that you give your customers a compelling reason to buy from you and that is usually based on a customer focus, product focus or capability focus.

The other essential element to remember is that you need to reach out to your market regularly and consistently.

The danger is that generalists see nearly everyone as their potential customers and fail to concentrate their marketing, perhaps direct mailing 250 prospects this month and another 250 prospects the following month... They never build up any identity with their prospective customers or momentum along the purchase decision chain.

So to keep your marketing focused on a relatively small number of prospective customers, you have to make decisions. Are you going to target a tight geographical area? Are you only going to look at particular types or sizes of business? Even as a generalist you still have to find your target market and particular positioning message which customers will find compelling.

The danger for a specialist is that they can't identify their target market. Sometimes the specialism will be based on customer demographics so the customers can be easily identified eg the estate agents for the estate agent business coach mentioned above.

Other times the specialist may have to rely on prospects searching for answers and solutions and therefore has to promote their services through general media broadcasts of PR and advertising.

Reputation and familiarity are the reasons why the gurus are able to cross markets so easily. Do you think you'd care that after success stories in over 400 different industries, Jay Abraham admitted that yours was a new one?

Wanted. Clients looking for:

A Chartered Accountant/MBA/Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach addicted to Jay Abraham's profit building strategies with a keen interest in Internet marketing within 100 miles of Birmingham.

How much more specialised do you want me to be?

I think I am the only one, unless you know differently...

This is the fundamental point Each of us are unique but we have to put that uniqueness across to potential customers in a way that makes sense to them so they think "Aha, this is the person I have been looking for."

What do you think about this generalist v specialist choice of market niche? [If you leave a comment, watch out for the sneaky verification that comes up with Typepad blogs after you press enter. I know that it has caught me out in the past.]

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Create Your Own Information Product - Product Factory

I am sure that you have heard how important it is to create your own unique identity and in particular how you need to have your own signature information product if you operate in markets where information can make a critical difference.

I received emails from Michael Port and Mitch Meyerson overnight announcing that the 2008 Product Factory will start on 25 February. This will be the only launch of this very highly regarded 90 day intensive program this year. You can find out details here.

If you want to develop a unique information product with high brand identity and association there is a simple choice:

1. Grab your place on the Product Factory course in the next few days
    
2. Miss out for a year and risk delaying your business development
    
3. Find another top program to help
    
4. Do it yourself - a low cost but high risk option given the investment in your time you will need to create a signature information product. I know how long it takes to write an article for my blog so don't underestimate the time commitment.

Why You Should Have Your Own Signature Information Product

1. It raises awareness of you and your brand and creates instant credibility. Mitch Meyerson became famous through his Guerrilla Marketing Coaching Course and Michael Port through his Book Yourself Solid Program.
    
2. It creates advocates who will buy other products and services you develop and promote you to other people.
    
3. If it is good and appeals to the right market it creates long term passive income - work once, earn forever.

Admission Time - I Am Following A Different Route

Regular readers will know that I am following a different route to creating by own superstardom (ahem) but my route is much more expensive since it involves Rich Schefren's Business Acceleration Program and his joint venture with Jay Abraham on Maven Marketing and the home study kit.

I get other items included which may not be relevant to you so if you want to follow an information product path (and another of my Business Development Superstars Peter Thomson is a firm believer in it and has achieved remarkable things steering some of his clients down this path) I do recommend that you spend a little time having a good look at the Product Factory.

Two of my Guerrilla Marketing Coaching friends who have attended the Product Factory have agreed to write reviews of their experience but I know where they are heading as one has already done it at least twice and the other wants to do it again. See Tina Cook's Product Factory review

How To Find Out More About The Product Factory

There will be a preview call on Monday 18th February at 4:00 pm EST (so by my calculations that makes it 9:00 pm in the UK) although I seem to be ahead of the website at the moment as there is the recording from last year still available for download.

There is an early bird pricing offer which does look appealing and I would be very tempted if I wasn't so completely over-committed. I wouldn't be writing the article yet but the short launch period means that either I tell you about it or you miss out.

To Your Success

Paul Simister

Your Profit Coach, business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Listening Skills - Mark Brady

"A Little Book Of Listening Skills For The Workplace: 52 Essential Practices For Profoundly Transforming Production, Profits and People" is by Mark Brady.

Listening is a very important but much under-appreciated skill.

Since communication is "passing understanding to another person", if you don't have well developed listening skills you are unlikely to be as effective a communicator as you could be.

If your listening skills are poor, you may misunderstand what the other person is asking and mis-judge their understanding of your answer.

Listening is covered in much of the coaching literature but I haven't seen much about it in the mainstream business resources.

Yes you get told to research the market and listen to customers but few of the marketing books tell you how to look out for distortions in your perceptions of what you are hearing.

Most well written sales books cover the importance of asking the customers questions but few go into listening to the answers from the customer. Not listening was one of my 11 common sales & selling mistakes.

Books on team-building and personnel management recognise that it's important you know what your team think about the business and the issues within it but again there is a lack of debate and information about listening skills.

The one exception in the popular business books that I can think of is "Raving Fans" by Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles. This is a book about customer service and naturally it talks about finding out what customers want. Although it is only a brief section, it does highlight the importance of"listening to the music as well as the lyrics."

It's not just the words that are used that matter. If you listen carefully, there will be much more that you can learn.

52 Essential Skills For Better Listening

52 is a lot and reading the summary, there is a lot about listening that Mark Brady covers in the book that I just take for granted.

I bet if you were to try brainstorming "listening skills" you wouldn't get anywhere close to 52.

Working through the list you have obvious ones like "stop talking." I'm sure that you've heard that before - we've been given two ears and one mouth and they should work in that proportion.

But you can also listen for potential sources of conflict, how people try to hijack conversations, how you can check for neglect...

Conclusion

I would never have read the full book even though it is only 103 pages.

My problem is that while I accept that listening skills are essential and many people show that there is plenty of room for improvement, the BusinessSummaries report was boring but I don't know whether this is the fault of the author or the summariser.

I have the same problem with some of the coaching books I've read. Yes they are worthy but they are about as exciting to read as an accounting text book. Give me a good marketing or sales book any day because that will fire me up with ideas for action.

Perhaps the problem is that I have always been a natural listener.

Partly because I am naturally shy but also because it has always struck me as the obvious way to learn and learning is the route to knowledge and wisdom.

The best personal development material that I've come across on listening (which made it an interesting topic) came from Peter Thomson. His premium business development program - the Accelerated Business Growth System includes a module on Active Listening and he builds on the skills elsewhere in the program.

I can recommend Peter's audio program "The Best Kept Secrets Of Great Communicators." Click and you will see that Nightingale Conant give you the chance to listen to a few short clips so that you can decide whether you like Peter's style.

I rate "A Little Book Of Listening Skills for the Workplace" as a 2 Star summary. I didn't learn much from this BusinessSummaries report.

The full book may be better so if you've read it, I'd appreciate a comment setting my readers straight.

I'd also like to hear your views of Peter Thomson's "Great Communicators" program if you have listened to that. I will be posting a review of it some time soon.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs