11/3/20
Listening Time:
36 min
Episode 80: Defining a Marketable Niche—with David Shriner-Cahn
In this Craft of Consulting podcast episode, David Shriner-Cahn, host of the Going Solo and Smashing the Plateau podcasts, shares his take on why defining a niche matters for consultants and makes it easier to get clients. He also talks about the process for defining a niche that matches the life you want and is narrow enough to more easily and effectively market your services.
David has seen the power of niches first hand. He uses this and other strategies to help consultants, coaches, and professional service business owners learn how to be more successful as entrepreneurs following a late-career job loss.
TODAY'S GUEST
David Shriner-Cahn
Episode Details
David Shriner-Cahn shares why picking a niche can help you get clients, how to pick your niche, and then what to do after you define your niche. In this podcast, we talk about:
Leaping from being an employee to becoming a consultant after plateauing in his career
Narrowing your focus to make it easier for somebody who is your ideal client to recognize herself or himself in your description of the problem you solve
Figuring out not only what your niche should be but also validating that it is something that the target market wants and is willing to pay for
Getting clear on what your goals are for your life
Defining the intersection between what it is that you most enjoy doing and are the most competent at
Determining who you most love to serve and what problems they have that they want to pay to be solved
Soliciting regular customer feedback to refine the value of what you offer
Looking at some very simple metrics to decide what you should do for marketing
Building your website and creating your LinkedIn profile around what people are asking for
Having systems for engaging with referral sources and continuing to build those relationships
Avoiding shiny-object syndrome and learning to say no
Understanding that what you can do simply and repeatedly is going to be the most profitable
Paying attention to what other consultants have done to find their niche