What I Have Learned Since Finding My Niche
In his recent POWER Webinar, Brett Davidson spoke about Finding Your Niche, Why and How to Do It. As the name Smart Divorce gives away, we already work in the niche area of Separation, Divorce and Civil Partnership Dissolution and have done so for the last four years.
Do we get less leads?
No. We now receive far more enquiries from all kinds of areas. From professional connections, from friends, from social media and from internet searches, amongst others.
We think that by reducing the number of possible clients that we could possibly work with, we will have less opportunities.
- In actual fact, it is far easier for others to recommend us because we can more easily explain to others what we do.
- We also have clear marketing and social media messages, so searches find our business more easily.
Let me give you an example
We have a good friend locally who is a psychologist. Whilst having lunch with her recently, I asked her who she works with best. I wanted to understand who best to refer to her. She replied that she works with anyone.
Whilst I appreciate that she can help anyone. How will I know someone ideal for her when I meet them?
On the other hand, I was introduced to a wonderful lady, Caron Kipping, who is a divorce coach. Caron specialises in working with people, particularly women, who are in, or leaving, abusive relationships. She now works with a number of my clients. I now know who to recommend my clients to when I find they are in this position.
Did this happen overnight?
We didn’t begin Smart Divorce and have hundreds of leads from day one. However, we immersed ourselves in the world of divorce.
What do I mean by that?
We met others working in divorce, including family lawyers, divorce coaches, mediators and spent time with them, understanding their pain points and how we could help.
This was done both in person, virtually, by following their social media and engaging with their posts. We also positioned ourselves in terms of our marketing so that we can recommend other divorce professionals that we know are great to prospective clients, which results in reciprocal business. The way we did this was to provide help, information, and advice from the beginning of the process. We ensured that those reading our posts and blogs would understand that we need to be engaged as part of a team of professionals.
In addition, we volunteered for committees that focus on divorce so that others would hear about our name. It also gives us the opportunity to speak at events.
For us, Resolution was a great starting point. They are “a group of family justice professionals who work with families and individuals to resolve issues in a constructive way”. Joining them, getting involved with events initially and then on committees, has given us an insight into the family law world and so we can speak to family lawyers from a position of understanding.
Understand their pain points…
Have you heard this before and not really understood what is being asked of you?
If you are working with divorcees, it isn’t just understanding the divorce process but also the emotional responses people have to this, where their greatest fears lie, what other issues they will come across.
Similarly, if your niche is small business owners, what are the issues they have? What keeps them awake at night?
If you want to work in a particular focussed area, you have to be able to empathise with your clients and truly understand them.
You may have gained this understanding from your own experiences.
For example, I have divorced parents and am also divorced myself, and so that makes it easier for me to empathise with others in this position. However, there are those working in niche areas who haven’t got direct experience but have worked previously with people in a similar position and have taken time to research and understand them fully.
Be consistent
Since starting Smart Divorce in 2018, we have written and published regular blogs. We also regularly post and engage with the four main social media channels. We now also have a podcast and YouTube channel.
It isn’t necessary to do all this but whatever you do, make it consistent. Don’t give up after a few weeks because you don’t seem to be gaining any traction. It will come if you are consistent.
What do I mean by be consistent?
- I don’t mean you have to post daily.
- Whatever you decide to do, stick to it and keep going.
- Keep a list with potential post ideas for the future.
- Have a set (or get someone to create) Canva templates for you to make it easier to create eye-catching posts.
- If you have a weekly blog, make your you post it weekly.
Why niche?
If you still aren’t sold, watch Brett Davidson’s webinar, that I referred to at the beginning of this article.
