A Sharper Focus
Volume 12, Number 22
Issue 570
I am thoroughly convinced that most companies could do more with less if they only took the time to become better focused to delivering fewer products or services to a smaller target market. You can‘t deliver everything to everybody and stay in business very long. America is “over-stored“ (too many stores) to begin with. To stay in business, you have to have a very sharp focus on what you are doing and who you are doing it for.
Most people start a business that tries to be everything to everybody (within the type of business that they are). Product lines are wide instead of precise and the target market is, at best, vast instead of clearly-defined and, at worst, not defined at all. Even if the business wasn’t started with a vast product line, the number of products and services that a business delivers sometimes widens with the eagerness to serve every customer that calls or by the request of a few “special” customers. A “why don’t we do that, too” attitude quickly develops in the pursuit of profit.
If a business tries to do too much, profit margins deteriorate because the resources of that organization will become spread too thin. Most unsuccessful businesses then decide to grow by adding an additional employee or two to handle the increased volume of business. A “hey, we are doing great--look at the sales dollars“ mentality developes. This strategy--focusing on cash flow instead of profit--usually, “costs” and doesn’t “pay.”
The best businesses know that the smaller the product line you have, the better, because you will become more and more and more of an expert at delivering a few specialized products to a clear target market.
Rivals in the marketplace will start to refer business to you because you “are more of an expert.”
Existing customers refer their friends to you because “you are simply the best.”
Profit margins increase because you are becoming more and more efficient in the delivery of what you do.
Alliances are formed between the providers of complimentary products because “you make their product look good when it is provided at the same time that yours is.”
All of these things make for efficiency in marketing because your expertise and prominence in the marketplace is something that sells and networks itself at very little out-of-pocket cost.
The sharper a focus that a business has on the delivery of its expertly-produced product to its clearly-defined target market, the better it will be perceived in the marketplace. This, generally, results in a lower cost to market and will also result in the focus of customers on your expertise, not the price that is being charged.
Price, though important, is not the most important factor to most clients and customers that are worth having. By focusing on the delivery of a few (not many) specialized goods or services and by focusing on the goal of being the premier expert to deliver those few things, you will become the most successful business around. In fact, business will flock to you. You will have to struggle each and every day to stay small and this is a good thing.
When businesses struggle to stay small, they can take the “crème” of the crop of clients. They can choose to serve the ones that fall only within their defined target market and not be tempted to take ones from outside because they have to keep business rolling in.
By sharpening focus, you can do classy and innovative and fun marketing strategies rather than simply think that you can buy business through having huge yellow page ads, silly coupon packs, expensive mass mailings or expensive newspaper advertising.
Lastly, staying focused to do more with less and less rather than more will bring a wind of stress-relief to everyone in your organization--top to bottom. It also will reward the best customers that you have because you will be more attentive to them
David B. Robinson, CPA
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