Would you prefer a specialist, or general, surgeon for a tricky op?
Do you prefer to hire people who know your industry?
Do you fit in the +80% of B2B buyers who prefer a recommendation before buying high value services?
We like to know that we'll get outcomes we want. Few of us like risking costly failure.
And yet, every day I meet generalist expertise based businesses.
Very often, leaders believe that specialising reduces new business opportunities. They can't say 'no'.
Yet, as buyers, we just proven that we seek the certainty of expertise.
Being a generalist is 'same as many others' and less attractive to buyers. Generalists are easily 'swapped' and face price competition; especially right now. They are far more likely to get 'used and abused' by buyers.
Price competition is always tricky for generalists since their lack of specialism leads to less efficient processes / people costs.
A generalist will rarely win a pitch vs. a specialist. But they will get knackered attempting to do so.
It's super hard to market a generalist. How can you become memorably recognised as THE experts if it's 'x on Monday' and 'y on Tuesday?'.
So find your specialism. It may be horizontal. It may be vertical. It might be a combo. All have pros and cons. But they are better than being 'jack of all trades'.
I can help you.
In 2021-22 a client who got this sorted doubled their client numbers. They won the biggest name in their target sector.
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