How to Guarantee Success: Build for the Specialists

“Here’s what to understand about the f***ing specialists: they pay a premium and they never make f***ing trouble” – Al Swearengen, Deadwood

Colourful language aside, it’s an excellent point made by Ian McShane’s character in the equally excellent HBO series, Deadwood.

In the world of small businesses, the key word thrown about is ‘niche’. The best way to think of a niche is exactly in the terms described above.

When building a business it can be hard to know whether you’ve found a niche or just a market segment. It’s also a crucial distinction. The most successful small businesses in any economic cycle – even a recession – are those that make the distinction and target the niche, the specialists who will pay a premium.

One way that I’ve discovered of defining whether something is a niche or a segment is to construct the following sentence: “We sell X for Y”, where X is the product and Y is the type of person. Now, big companies can afford to make X and Y nice and vague: “soft drinks for young people”, maybe, or “processors for PCs”. Small companies have to be focused.

“Yoga for rock climbers”.

“Security installation DVDs for industrial lock-ups”.

“Sound effects for independent film-makers”

Look at how much more focused those X and Y statements are. The more focused they are, the more you’re catering to the specialists. If you can add a Z in there as well without making your market too small, all the better. Z factors are often location-specific:

“Careers advice for medical students in Scotland”. If someone’s in that market, you’re the one they’re going to want to talk to.

You can build a business around specialists without ever needing them to become early adopters and spread your message – we know this through the 1,000 true fans idea. Now you have a way to quantify whether or not you’ve got the potential to create 1,000 true fans for your company: X for Y in Z.

The only way to cater to specialists? Be a specialist yourself.