Greetings!
Two years ago, my firm Roundpeg suffered from split business disorder and as the owner, so did I. Offering marketing services for small business owners we also offered team building and training services to Fortune 500 firms. Neither segment was large enough to stand alone, so I spent my time split between both. When someone asked me what I did, I was never quite sure how to respond and often said too much.
Networking associates overloaded with T.M.I. (Too Much Information) rarely had a good referral for me. How could they? If I didn't know what I did or who I wanted to meet, it was unrealistic to expect others to be able to help me. A drastic change was required! |
| Narrow Your Focus and Make a Plan |
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And so I made a decision to narrow my focus and created an action plan to support the change:
- I gave up chasing "corporate gigs" and I concentrated on small businesses.
- Pulled 650 prospects from my database that did not fit my core target and gave them to a competitor.
- Discontinued my corporate eNews and gave up memberships in organizations that did not fit my core.
- Redirecting time and resources to small business owners, my goal was to become well known in a smaller circle.
- Selected networking venues which would allow me to spend more time with small business owners.
- Took leadership roles in organizations which served this market.
- Revised all marketing material to support this new focus adding information and phrases which are relevant to my core customer.
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| The Result |
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In two years I have moved from being self-employed to running a business with a team of four employees and two interns. Roundpeg is known for our small business expertise. Many of our current clients and referral sources have no idea we ever worked with larger firms, and they never need to know.
Tightening our focus has allowed us to concentrate and grow! |
