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Positioning Yourself in a Niche Market
In this article, Simon Tupman outlines 15 ways to help you win business in your niche market
Opportunities abound for lawyers to dominate existing and emerging niche markets. Think of any profession, trade, or industry and it carries with it its own set of legal issues. And when fresh legislation creates new obligations on the business community, it presents fresh opportunities for lawyers to generate new business.
You may wish to build your niche around a particular set of skills; for example you may be an expert in estate planning and asset protection serving a broad range of the community. Alternatively, you may wish to build your niche around a particular set of clients; for example, you (more likely your firm) may become an expert in the pharmaceutical industry and in a position to offer a broad range of legal services to that market.
Whichever approach you take, here are fifteen approaches to help you gain dominance in your chosen market. These are split into general tactics and specific tactics
General tactics
1. Be qualified.
Make sure that when you decide to go for a niche, you have the requisite qualifications, unique skills, an unusual background, relevant experience, a special interest or a combination of all of these.
2. Fill a need
There is no point pursuing a market if the market doesn't have a need for your services. If you recognise that it does, but it but doesn't, then use the opportunity to educate the market and create the need. You do this by demonstrating the benefits of engaging your services.
3. Be clear about the value you can bring.
Many lawyers have little appreciation of the value of the work they do beyond the actual task that they carry out. They tend to focus on the features of their service rather than on the benefits or the value to the client. You need to be able to communicate to your prospective niche client the value that it is likely to receive from your intervention, advice, training and so on. Focus on the outcome to the client not how good you are.
4. Remember it's all about them, it's not about you.
Don't restrict yourself to traditional 'lawyering';
The solutions to your perspective client's issues may rest not just with you as a lawyer but with other professional service firm providers such as management consultants, accountants, tax specialists and so on. Therefore have a broad perspective when identifying the prospective client need. In delivering your expertise, be flexible as to the mechanisms you use. Consider how you can add value as a trainer, facilitator, or even as a coach.
5. Let the market and your value determine your fees
Your fee should reflect your value and not the other way round. Many lawyers are still locked into rigid methods of hourly billing which do not always reflect the value of their services and can act as a constraint on creativity and 'going the extra mile'. Evidently, if there are fewer competitors serving your niche, the less fee resistance you are likely to meet.
6. Think global not just local
Consider whether your expertise might be value to clients overseas. Perhaps there are multinationals with interests in your domestic market? Perhaps there are domestic clients whose interests are overseas? Perhaps your expertise might be needed as part of a collaborative multi-jurisdictional team? Think global, not just local.
7. Work with others
Identify who the key players are in your niche market. There may be other suppliers to that with whom you may be able to collaborate in conducting some research, on a project or in a proposal. As the saying on my diary this year states, 'success comes from working with others'.
Specific tactics
8. Get writing and get published
To position yourself as an expert in your niche market, get writing as many useful and interesting, written in plain English articles as possible and get them published in the publications read by your niche market. Have them translated for foreign markets where English is not the main language. Even better, write a book and get it published. Ross Holmes is a New Zealand lawyer specialising in asset protection, trusts and taxation. He wrote a book on the topic and in so doing, positioned himself ahead of other lawyers offering similar skills.
9. Join professional associations
Make friends with people in your niche. By targeting industry associations and becoming a member, you provide yourself with the opportunity to network and learn about many of the coal-face challenges faced by people in your niche.
10. Conduct fresh research
One way to get noticed and to add some value is to provide some answers to some common problems affecting your niche. Conduct some fresh research among decision-makers and get the results published in professional journals. Release the results to the media at the same time. If you don't have the time to do the research yourself., delegate the task. University students are a good resource. They often need projects to complete their studies and the likelihood is that they can complete such work at a fraction of the cost of having it done commercially.
11. Offer your time for free
Invest some time getting to know your way around your niche. Be prepared to donate some time to learn about the issues and to give some preliminary advice or even a presentation at an industry association meeting. In life, you have to give in order to get.
12. Get testimonials.
Testimonials are a powerful way to demonstrate your value to a prospective client. Other than to protect the identity of clients, I can think of no other good reason not to use them (other than clients being reluctant to give them!). Of course, like referrals, unsolicited testimonials are always the best. Yet these days, while clients may genuinely appreciate the service that has been given and are prepared to recommend you, few have the time to sit down and put pen to paper. So, ask clients who give you good feedback if they would be prepared to put it in writing.
You can use testimonials in a dossier in reception for clients to read, as endorsements for promotional literature (newsletter, brochure and advertising) and as part of a credentials document such as a proposal. They are very worthwhile because they give confidence to the prospect. Your testimonial should state how easy you were to work with, how you finished the project on time and within the budget, and what the client gained as a result of your work.
13. Develop a niche-specific website
A website has one main purpose: to make your phone ring. Tailor your promotional materials for that market rather than offering a generic 'we can do this, we can do that' site. Make it content rich and of value and of interest to that market. Fill it with articles, research information and links relevant to your niche. Make it easy for people to contact you.
14. Develop and offer useful product
Developing and selling packaged products is often considered by some lawyers to be beneath them. Assuming they are of the highest quality, they help to position you as the expert in your niche. What expertise or information can you package that is of relevance and value to your niche? Maybe it is an instruction booklet, a newsletter, a manual, or a recorded teleconference?
15. Offer a satisfaction guarantee.
If you stand by the quality of your work and service, then be prepared to put your money where your mouth is and guarantee the quality of your service. (Note that I didn't say guarantee the outcome of a case.)
By offering a satisfaction guarantee, you remove the risk from the prospect's decision-making; the guarantee also makes a bold statement about your confidence in the quality of your service. Because not many other firms offer this, it is another way to distinguish yourself.
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