- Vague positioning forces prospects to imagine the worst about you, so specificity is what earns trust.
- Growth gets easier the moment you say no to the clients who are almost right instead of exactly right.
- Delegating a task is not the same as delegating responsibility for the outcome, so watch the numbers even after you hand it off.
- You cannot talk a prospect into wanting the valuable work if they only came in the door asking for something shallow.
- Naming exactly who you help and who you don't should feel uncomfortable. That discomfort means the message is finally working.
A founder running an AI change management firm got on a call with me this week.
He had three clients, a good product, and a pitch that took him four sentences to explain.
I asked him who he served. He said non-tech companies, anywhere from 20 to 2,500 employees.
I asked what he'd do with 25 new clients a year if he could pick exactly who they were. He landed on something specific fast: non-tech companies between 500 and 2,500 employees, the ones without the technical staff to manage AI rollout themselves.
Your Buyer Will Fill In The Blanks
That's the whole game. If you make your buyer use their imagination to figure out whether you're the right fit, they will use it. And what they'll imagine is every other vendor who screwed them over before you.
I see this constantly. When your messaging is scattered across everything you could possibly do, growth feels like pushing a boulder up a hill. Narrow it down to the one thing you're actually great at and say no to the rest.
The business you're afraid to turn away is the same one keeping you from being world class at anything.
Inspect, Don't Expect
On a call this week, a founder explained why he still runs every sales call for a new product line himself, even though he hates being the bottleneck. He's not being a control freak. He's documenting what works before he hands it off.
His rule: you can delegate the task, never the responsibility for the outcome. If revenue drops after you stop watching it, that's not your team's failure. It's yours.
Stop Trying To Rehabilitate People
A service provider spent years trying to convince prospects to buy the deep, valuable work instead of the shiny, shallow thing they kept asking for.
The fix wasn't a better pitch. It was accepting she couldn't talk anyone into wanting something they didn't already want. Sell the people who already want what you're selling. Let the rest go find someone else.
Pick one sentence that describes exactly who you help and who you don't. Say it out loud to someone this week and watch how uncomfortable it feels. That discomfort is usually the sound of your business getting easier to sell.
Frequently Asked Questions
I already have a niche. Why isn't it working?
Does this mean I should stop running sales calls myself?
What if the shallow, shiny offer is what's actually paying my bills right now?
Ready to Niche Down and Close More Deals?
If you're still trying to be everything to everyone, let's find the one sentence that describes exactly who you help, and build a system around it.
Book a Free GTM Assessment →