When Marketing Professional Services - Don't Try to be All Things to All People

As a professional solution provider do you try to "specialize" in everything?Or do you specialize with every person in your niche, providing the services each of them require?Let me explain.

Years ago a friend of mine, a multiple lines insurance agent, had what he thought was the opportunity of a lifetime.There was a gas station in his community, on the busiest street in the neighborhood - that had gone out of business.The owner of the property could not find another oil company to lease it so he cleaned up the site and began trying to lease the building as a bakery, pizza shop, or small retailer, anyone really.

It occurred to my friend that this would be an ideal location for his insurance agency.It was on the main drag, there was parking in front, and it was on a corner for easy in and out maneuvering.The building was remodeled, the parking lot was re-paved and the original 15 foot high gas station sign was painted with his logo.

It read, "Suburban Insurance, We Specialize in ALL Kinds of Insurance" in a very professional look.And of course his catchy phone number everyone around there would remember easily.How could he lose?With all those people driving back and forth every day?They would see the sign on their way to work, call for an appointment on the way home.

What did the people driving by think?Who knows, no one stopped.He was trying to be all things to all people and it did not work.For three months he didn't make a sale that could in any way have come from one of those passing motorists.He was faced with the prospect of giving up this really neat space or cutting back elsewhere because he had signed on to a lease based on his untested assumption that people would drive in every day of the week.

During a chance conversation with the owner of an actual gas station in the area a light went on.He realized that he needed to specialize in something, offer something unique or timely - get people to stop in for that one thing, so he could tell them about the other products and services his agency offered.

He returned to his office and found behind the building a portable sign, we've all seen them - the kind gas stations roll out by the curb where the passing motorists can't miss it.He had it painted using his professional theme with the message, "Changing jobs, we have short term medical insurance - don't put your family at risk" and put it out by the corner.

Not being a savvy marketer he did not know that a major employer in the area was laying off a lot of the very people who were driving by his office twice a day.

Within the next two days nearly 20 drivers stopped in, over a dozen of them bought the insurance - they were about to change jobs and had never heard of this kind of insurance and the other picked up brochures for the short term medical and some of his other products.

Every week or so he would showcase another of his products - travel accident, International medical, errors and omissions, etc.Every time he did that, people would stop in.From the relationships he created he sold the other more complex and more profitable coverages demonstrating that his agency actually did specialize in all kinds of insurance.

For the last twenty years I have seen examples where professionals of all types claim to specialize working with home business owners, small business owners, and executives.They think that by covering the entire waterfront they won't miss anyone.The opposite if often the result however.

Too often we try to be all things to all people and lose our credibility.Just because we do a lot of different kinds of consulting or coaching, or offer several different and usually complimentary services - people really only want to know if we have what they need right then.

Start by thinking of your audience those people ideally suited for the services you provide.Maybe a should say audiences.Think about your several audiences vs.your specialties.So, if you are a business coach and do sales training, customer retention, and recruitment within one field that's not bad if you tie them together under one umbrella firm name providing a range of services for a specific audience/category.

On the other hand, if you position yourself as a marketing expert and as engineering expert, you may want to consider your audiences again and use different materials, literature, etc.for each audience.Savvy professionals have several bios or web sites, not linked together - one they use for speaking for instance, those they use when they are emailing to a specific category prospects, those they use for different audiences they serve.

Remember, you can't be all things to all people but you can be different things to different people.

About the Author

Successful professionals are always on the lookout for ideas and resources to help them.

They are also looking for creative ways of marketing their professional services.If you want to be even more successful in the future than you are today, learn more about marketing professional services and share your insights with others, visit us and join in the discussion.

Relaited Links:

• Online Marketing - The Way of the Future
• Internet Marketing Elements That May Affect Your Home Based Business
• Time to Rethink Customer Loyalty