The Power of Choosing a Niche

Most clients come to work with me because they want to bring in more clients and they generally have no idea what to do next.

They have been trying different strategies including the latest and greatest Twitter tips, the 7 step plan to successful blogging, the next best thing to sliced bread on Linked In, the hottest tip on selling e-books, and so on. But there is not a paying client in sight and they want to know what they have to do to change it.

My first question is always "so who is your ideal client?"

"What do you mean?" is a typical answer or "how do I even work that out?" is another.

What I mean is exactly what I asked - who is your ideal client? Who would you love to work with? Who would you love to spend time with - if you are going to work 8 hours a day with clients, who do you want to spend those 8 hours with?

This can be a real light bulb moment for so many of the practitioners I work with. They haven't even thought about it. They have been so busy trying to get clients, any client, that the thought never entered their head about who would be their ideal client.

As one client said to me not so long ago, you are right, I left my job because I was tired of working an 8 hour day with people I didn't want to be with, and now I get to choose.

Yes, you get to choose. You get to choose who you want to work with, who you want to spend your time with, who you want to help.

Now in marketing terms this is called your target market and niche. If you don't know the difference between the two, I wrote an article called Niche & Target Market - What's the Difference? where you can find that out if you are interested.

Target market and niche are marketing terms for who you are speaking to, that's all. It does not mean that is who you work with exclusively; it means you are making it easier on yourself to get clients.

The simplest way to bring in your ideal clients is to choose a niche.

The interesting thing is it really doesn't appear that way to so many practitioners, healers and coaches - it didn't to me either when I first started out in my life coaching business.

I remember when I was interviewing for my own coach/mentor; I interviewed 2 very different coaches. The first one was really clear and specific about what I needed to do to grow my business and get clients and of course, it included getting really clear on a target market and my niche. The 2nd coach was much less focused on niche; she said she could see the value, but too many coaches were getting hung up on it, and that I really didn't have to do that if I didn't want to. So I chose coach number 2 because I thought choosing a niche was going to narrow my market, and I wanted to serve as many people as possible.

And what did that do for my business? Zilch! Not a client in sight.

It's such a paradox - trying to serve everyone, brought me no one!

So, once I realized there was still nothing happening a.k.a. no clients coming in, I made up my mind I would niche. I started looking for a coach who had done what I wanted to do - someone who spoke my language. I found myself a couple of marketing coaches and I asked them to help me with finding a niche.

And that's where it all started coming together. After some deep introspection, trying on different niches, and tweaking, here I am in my present niche, helping coaches, healers, practitioners bring in clients and make more money in a very non-salesy way.

Interestingly, even in the tweaking stages, I got clients. I actually started out serving women struggling with relationships and money and put together a coaching group - my first ever coaching group and in my own home at that! It was so clear to me that this worked. I knew who I was speaking to, knew where to find them, knew what they wanted, and hey presto, delivered a programme.

That is the power of choosing a niche.

There are many, many ways of clarifying a niche, and there are coaches and consultants who niche in just that too - how to find your ideal niche - because it is just such a foundational piece in bringing in clients and growing a business.

One of the easiest and most effective methods I share with my clients is to interview their ideal clients. These could be past clients they really enjoyed working with or people they would love to work with. And it is such a fun thing to do - again spending time with who you love to spend time with, why would you do anything else?

And their ideal clients are more than happy to help. The questions are designed to help the interviewee get clarity around their situation as well as inform the interviewer of what their ideal clients are struggling with and how they can help them in the most effective way.

A win-win-win of course - my favourite way of working!

I would love to hear your feedback on the subject of niche - I know it is a hot topic - it can be a hate/love affair! So if love it or hate it, please share with me on my blog and let's get a discussion going. Have you got a niche or not? I will personally answer all comments or questions.

If you know you are ready to get clear on your niche, then please visit my 'Nail Your Niche in a Day' page found in the 'Services' section of my website, or drop me an email at Sheela@sheelamasand.com or call me at 677 596 880.