My good friend and former client, who I still speak to every week, Al Martella, Executive Coach to the Stars who coached and mentored thousands of financial advisors at a major financial services firm is back with another nugget this week.
In Al’s words:
“When I was younger, I loved watching the television game show, Concentration. The game was simple enough – find a pair of matching objects.
Similarly, when you are interested in starting a niche within your practice, it starts the same way – find two or more “matching objects.”
Do you have two or more doctors (lawyers, entrepreneurs, or any other professional) in your practice?
Do you have two or more individuals living in the same town or city?
Do you have two or more individuals who share the same hobbies?
Taking a critical look at those people you already know can lead to your development of a niche.
Some other factors you might consider:
- Is the niche you are looking to develop something you can get passionate about? (I remember coaching a financial advisor who wanted to develop a niche around engineers but didn’t appreciate engineers being analytical! Bad idea!)
- Do you understand the unique needs of the niche?
- Can you identify the challenges they face?
- Do you know what they read – trade publications, websites, etc.?
- Do you know where they live, where they work, where they socialize?
- Is the niche sustainable – are they enough of them to build a network?
Take some time to review the list of people you know. Can you find two or more matching objects?
As Andrea would suggest “Think of who you know, like, trust and respect. Who among them might have synergy within a niche.”
You never know where this activity can take you!
What do you think?