Here are some tips to help you understand the pro’s and con’s of being a specialist or a generalist:

For being a specialist

  • At a specialist (eg a deli) as a customer you get the best of everything – therefore attracting those clients who are after the best.
  • At a specialist seller you pay (and can charge) more.
  • Car dealerships specialise in a brand, and they are magnetic. a dealer that sells Nissans AND Mercedes would suck (incongruency)
  • As a customer, you assume better skills from a specialist
  • You need to choose and stake a piece of turf – by product, channel, needs… lots of ways to choose.
  • If the area is narrow enough you can be a leader.
  • You attract passionate customers.
  • You attract passionate staff.
  • Examples – car dealers, lawyers with specialist skills, web SEO specialists.
  • By broadcasting what you offer passionately, you’ll attract clients like a magnet.
  • As customers get smarter and can find exactly what they need, they seek out specialists. Microscopic differences between models become important.
  • As the reach of marketing extends, and the reach of customers’ buying extends, you can serve anyone anywhere.
  • Your skill becomes better than advertising.
  • What makes you good can cover up things you aren’t good at (think of the iphone’s following, and its low tech specs, or the fanatical following of Harley Davidson for a bike that is technically inferior).
  • Reduces the need to “sell”.

Against being a specialist

  • People will tell you they can’t find what they want.
  • People will tell you your range is limited.
  • People will tell you you are expensive.
  • In short, you’ll alienate and polarise people. (So… you get a thick skin and help those you want to help)
  • You give up some easy business, which hurts.

For being a generalist

  • Wide choice = convenience – like a supermarket. As a customer you find “most stuff”.
  • No really decisions need to be made as a supplier.
  • You don’t alienate anyone by turning them away – you probably have what they need.
  • Easy.
  • Everyone will kind of like you.

Against being a generalist

  • You’ll trail your market.
  • You’ll never lead any market.
  • People find you for convenience but move on when they get educated about what they want
  • You can’t tell a generalist apart – coles v. woolies or kmart v target v big w? they end up competing on price.
  • People will move on and find specialists as they learn more.
  • You’ll compete on price (if you WANT to compete on price – then great. As long as you’ve actively decided).
  • More than one message, and your message will get lost.

My advice

Generalise if you need bucks straight away, but realise it is a short term proposal (months, years maybe…)

Work out quickly your direction, who you want to keep and who you want to not keep as customers.

If you have customers you want to keep but like your current offering, work out how you can keep them.

Work out where you need to get better, and how you can stick out.

Work out what differentiations matter to clients, and which they’ll pay for (keeping in mind that asking people is fraught with danger – people are bad at predicting their future behaviour or correctly attributing reason to their behaviours).

It’s easy to pick the wrong thing to focus on (service is a bad idea, price is a bad idea)

Think of it musically – as a generalist you are a covers band playing whatever people want. This might work for a busker, but if you want to fill a venue you need to polarise you audience – love or hate.

GE was brave enough to exit any market it wasn’t in the top three…investing efforts in those it lead. It grew exponentially.

Look for a niche that is an inch wide but a mile deep (ie drill down) rather than an inch deep and a mile wide (top soil, which appears like an easy choice but there is no gold in it).

If you are not passionate, find something else.

If you could do it for the love of it, what would you do?

It’s easy to slip back to generalisation as opportunities present themselves. Set boundaries.

Unreasonableness is rewarded, eventually.

Why I care

I fight this mental battle daily between what is easy and what I know is sustainable long term.

Further Research Recommended

Seth Godin – Purple Cow
Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin – Differentiate or Die
Markus Buckingham  – Go Put Your Strengths to Work

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Filed under: Business

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