Do You Really Need A Niche?

When I work with new clients, one of the first things I typically here is, "I have been told I need a niche, but I don't agree. I don't want to limit clients". This is absolutely not true. Maybe if you have been in the industry forever and have a following of millions, let's say like a Tony Robbins, then it's not so necessary. But for virtually the rest of us, we need a niche.

So what is a niche and why is it so important? It is an area of specialization in a field; in this case, the coaching field. It is a way to stand out from other coaches in your specialization. There are a plethora of niche options available for you to choose from depending on the your unique coaching gift, which is comprised of your passion, skill, experiences, and knowledge.

How does a niche set you apart from other coaches in your field? Let's look at an example.

Let's say you are a health coach and when a potential client asks you what you do you say, "I am a health coach". Even if someone is thinking about their health, it has a tendency to land with a thud as the potential client doesn't feel like you're really speaking to them directly. He or she hears a generalized statement and discards it.

Now let's look at a niched health coach. Instead of responding with, "I am a health coach", you respond with "I am a health coach for women who specializes in fibromyalgia". Now if this person is suffering with this ailment, you have their attention and they are going to be extremely eager to find out more about what you offer.

You may be thinking to yourself that by narrowing your coaching business down to women and fibromyalgia, you are eliminating a pool of potential clients, and you would be right. But you need to position yourself differently from the rest of the field. There are an abundance of health coaches to choose from. If you are not positioned differently from the rest of the field, you end up in a generalized bucket like the rest of the field that hasn't niched.

I want you to test this yourself. If you could choose a coach for anything you need help with right now, what type of coach would you choose? Take a minute and really think about it. If you're in need of a relationship coach who specializes in divorce, would your choose the relationship coach who states she specializes in divorce or would you choose the generalized coach who represents herself as a relationship coach only?

You want to be polarizing. I'm sure this is counter-intuitive to you, but it is true. You want those that you want to work with say "YES. I want to know more about you" when you state what it is that you coach. You want those that are not your best clients to move towards another coach that is more suited for their needs.

Remember, to have a thriving business you don't need the entire coaching client population. What if you had 20 clients or 20 more clients? How would this impact your business, spirit and livelihood? Don't overwhelm yourself by looking too far into the future, and focusing on the BIG picture. Start from where you are and differentiate yourself from the rest of the group. You may just be surprised how this one small tweak can have extraordinary results.