Finding Your Niche

If you’re an entrepreneur at heart like me, your company probably started with you doing everything—and mostly the things you were good at. Then, as time moved along, you added people and services to satisfy customer demand. And before you knew it, you offered everything to everyone and were longing to simplify your business, find your niche and be known as the best provider of that product or service.

Around three years ago, I decided that I needed to simplify my services and whittle them down to what we do best and what would be most valuable to the marketplace. So, together with my top leaders, we developed a vision for Horticare to be the trusted source for high-end outdoor living spaces in our region. We had a disciplined approach to pursue solely the type of work that I truly love and that we’re good at: design and installation of not only high-end landscapes, but pools, hardscapes and outdoor kitchens for residential settings.

Creating these high-end outdoor living spaces with one general contractor became an attractive service in my area, and client referrals have brought me a continuous flow of great projects to fill this niche. And although I did not immediately eliminate all of the services that do not fall within this niche and are therefore unnecessary to fulfill my vision, this is only the short-term plan. Truthfully, I still struggle with wanting to be the go-to guy

for everything my clients need, so letting go of some of the services that got us growing in the early years has been hard. And even though it has been difficult to let go of some longtime customers that were with me in the beginning, I know how important it is to the health of my company to stay focused on our strategic vision.

Some of the most important questions to ask yourself before defining a niche for your company are:

What are the services your company is really good at delivering?

While you can develop a niche around a service you don’t particularly like or your staff is not great at yet, why would you? It will take extra training, and you’ll probably be miserable.

Do you want to stay local/regional?

If so, is there a growing demand for those services in your area? If you have a vision to be a national company, make sure your niche is very focused. And understand that marketing and sales will need to be a big chunk of your operating budget.

Who are your competitors in this space?

Is it already a crowded field? This really helped me decide on a direction, because there was such a need in our area for quality contractors to fill this void.

Lastly, is there a healthy profit margin for this service?

Don’t go with your gut on this one. Run the numbers or enlist the help of an accountant to determine some educated estimates on potential margin.

I don’t recommend taking these questions lightly. Do your homework diligently. Narrowing your services into a specific niche takes some focused attention in training, hiring and marketing. You don’t want to go through the time and expense of this exercise only to figure out later that there’s not enough customer demand for that service and/or there’s no money in it. In the end, having a niche that you’re well known for is worth the extra effort.

About Brooke Inzerella

Brooke Inzerella is a licensed landscape horticulturist and owner of Horticare Landscape Company in Lafayette, Louisiana.

www.horticarelandscape.com