Focus for Success! … by neil smith
3/23/09
In business, it’s easy to fall prey to the siren song of trying to be all things to all people. After all, who isn’t constantly seeking additional goods and services to sell to their established client base and to also attract new prospects?
I myself, have been extremely guilty of this cardinal sin of business. In recent months, in the course of quenching my never-ending thirst for knowledge and better ways of doing things, I have been fortunate enough to pick up a few great books and spend time with a few great business minds - some millionaires and one corporate counselor who all hammered one simple theme - a single point of focus to establish THOUGHT LEADERSHIP.
Thought Leadership, simply put, is being perceived by the general public as “THE” expert in your field. The caveat however, as stated by Mr. Andrew Sokol of Sokol Strategic Consulting, is that even if you actually “ARE” an expert in several areas, if you claim to be an expert in several areas, you will be perceived as an expert in NO areas.
The key is to focus on one under-served specific area of your field in which you can be notably better than your competitors, and also which nobody else has a true claim as being the “expert” in the public’s perception, and focus your business solely on that particular area and that particular area only.
In the book “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by JC Maxwell and Thomas Nelson, example after example is given of car companies, soft drink makers and many more who were at the top of their game and completely owned their niche of the marketplace and then some boardroom “genius” decides to expand the product line and offer something completely different than what that company was known for. In case after case, each of these companies lost significant market share in their main category because they stopped being wholly perceived in the public’s mind as “THE” provider for that specific thing. They basically diluted their brands and the powerful public perceptions of their expertise along with.
There were however, a few success stories of companies who saw new opportunities and expanded. In these cases, a new company specific to that new product or service was established in order to not dilute the thought leadership that had been built up for so long with the initial brand.
It makes sense if you think about it. If you wanted the best hairstyle at top quality, would you go to a person who does hair, nails, foot scraping, spray-on tans and eyebrow waxing? Probably not. You would most likely want to see a professional hair stylist in a salon whose business and expertise focuses exclusively on hair styling.
If you wanted a top- notch, special motorcycle, would you think first of Yamaha who makes every product imaginable including boats and musical equipment or would you think of Harley Davidson who makes motorcycles and only motorcycles?
If you needed heart surgery, would you go to a general practitioner or a heart specialist? Getting my drift here?
You see, when you own a specific segment of the marketplace in the mind of the consumer, you have established yourself as the thought leader and therefore will often be the first provider a consumer thinks of when they consider your type of product or service. This is very powerful stuff. When you are the thought leader, you don’t need to be competing on cost, in fact, you can often charge significantly more because you are no longer just selling your product or service, you are selling an experience, prestige, an image.
Try to think about what you can FOCUS your business on and how you can begin taking steps to establish yourself as the THOUGHT LEADER in your field. It’s not always the easiest path to take, but many experts agree (and I am beginning to see the light on this myself) that it is the absolute most important component for the success of a business.
Now let’s go get some business done!
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