How To Define Your Consulting Niche In A Business Plan

If your niche isn’t specific and easy to define/explain, it’s not a niche. But there's a point when a niche becomes too narrow. If your service is so specific that it: 👉The TAM is too small.  👉Solves a problem that’s not important enough. 👉Could be done by an in-house assistant or folded into someone’s job... ...then you’ve crossed the line into being TOO niche. Take podcast booking agencies as an example. There are probably still a few around, but what’s the actual service? Crafting a template, sending emails, and managing a calendar. That’s not complex enough to justify outsourcing to an agency. Now compare that to a PR agency for plastic surgeons. That concept is still specific and easy to define, but it's complicated, nuanced and multifaceted. Here's the RIGHT way to niche down⬇️ Define your service as narrowly as possible while still making it compelling and sticky. The goal is to be instantly recognizable. Here’s the framework: 1. Clarity: Can you explain your service in one sentence? 2. Demand: Is it something prospects have to have, or are actively looking for? 3. Sticky: Is it something clients can’t easily replicate in-house? 3. Recognition: Do clients immediately understand the value? For example: Influent: Full-service LinkedIn agency. Longbow: AI-driven outbound email. Simple, direct, but still sticky. The size of your company should guide how many niches you can own: ▪️A 10-person agency can be world-class at one thing. ▪️A 40-person agency could credibly specialize in two or three niches (e.g., newsletters and podcasts). ▪️A 500-person agency can dominate an entire stack, like content marketing, paid media, and creative. Define your niche clearly, but stop before it loses its stickiness. Be narrow enough to dominate, but complicated enough to matter.

The Art of Niching Down: Why Being the 'SAP GUI Guy' Beats Being a Jack of All Trades Part 2 of a 6 part series Welcome back, aspiring oil and gas consultants! Today, we're diving deep into the world of niches. Buckle up, because we're about to get as specific as a drill bit in the Permian Basin. The Niche Dilemma: To Specialize or Not to Specialize? You might be thinking, "But if I specialize, won't I miss out on opportunities?" Well, my friend, let me introduce you to a little concept I like to call "being so specific that people can't ignore you." It's like being the only person selling umbrellas in a rainstorm – suddenly, you're everyone's best friend. The Power of the Super-Specific Niche Let's say you decide to become an SAP consultant for upstream companies, specifically helping them write GUI interfaces. Congratulations! You've just become the "SAP GUI Guy" (or Gal). Sure, it might not sound as cool as "International Oil Tycoon," but trust me, in the consulting world, it's pure gold. Why Being the 'SAP GUI Guy' Rocks 1. You're the Go-To Expert:** When an upstream company needs help with their SAP GUI, who are they gonna call? Not Ghostbusters, that's for sure. They're calling you, the SAP GUI Guy! 2. Less Competition:** How many other SAP GUI specialists for upstream oil and gas companies do you think are out there? Probably fewer than the number of people who actually enjoy black licorice. 3. Higher Rates:** When you're the only game in town, you get to set the prices. Cha-ching! 4. Easier Marketing:** Instead of trying to appeal to everyone (which, let's face it, is as effective as using a teaspoon to empty the ocean), you can focus your marketing efforts on a select group of companies that actually need your specific skills. How to Find Your Niche 1. Look at Your Skills:** What are you really good at? And I mean really good. Like, "I could do this in my sleep" good. 2. Identify Industry Needs:** What problems are oil and gas companies constantly complaining about? (Besides those pesky “Just Stop Oil” peeps of course.) 3. Find the Intersection:** Where do your skills meet the industry's needs? That sweet spot is your niche. 4. Get Even More Specific:** Once you've found your niche, see if you can narrow it down even further. Remember, we're aiming for "SAP GUI Guy" levels of specificity here. The Bottom Line In the world of oil and gas consulting, being a jack of all trades is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. But being the master of one very specific trade? That's your ticket to the big leagues, my friend. So go forth and niche down! Embrace your inner specialist. And who knows? Maybe one day, you'll be known as the "Upstream SAP GUI Interface Wizard for Companies with Names Starting with 'P'." Now that's a business card I'd like to see! Part 3 hitting LinkedIn next Tuesday!

Niching isn’t about an industry—it’s about specificity. A misconception about niching is that it’s about picking one industry and staying there. But niching is much more nuanced. It’s not about boxing yourself in. It’s about clarity. It’s about making it easy for the right clients to find you and know instantly that you’re the solution they’ve been searching for. Here’s my formula for a strong niche: *WHO do you work with? *WHEN do they need you? *WHAT problem are you solving? *SO THAT they can achieve what goal? For example: I work with women-owned creative agencies (Who) that are scaling from six to seven figures (When) to build scalable foundations like positioning, offer suites, and sales strategies (What) so they can grow sustainably with confidence (So that). Niching isn’t about limiting yourself—it’s about focusing on what you do best for who you work best with.