There’s a moment in almost every advisory conversation where the founder pushes back. It usually sounds like this: “But if I only focus on that type of client, I’ll lose all the others.”
It feels logical. Cast a wider net, catch more fish. The problem is, it doesn’t work that way for professional services.
The generalist trap
When you describe yourself broadly, you sound like everyone else. “I help businesses grow” could be said by a million people. It gives a potential client nothing to hold on to. No reason to pick you. No signal that you understand their specific world.
So they compare on price. Or they go with whoever their friend recommended. Or they do nothing, because the options all look the same.
This is the generalist trap. You think you’re keeping your options open, but you’re actually making it harder for the right people to find you.
Positioning
The Maths of Niche Positioning
of your addressable market is all you need for a strong practice
Three compounding effects
Messaging gets sharper
The right person reads your content and thinks "that's me."
Delivery improves
Every engagement teaches you about that specific client type.
Reputation compounds
Word travels faster when you're known for one thing.
What specificity actually does
When you narrow your focus, three things happen:
First, your messaging gets sharper. Instead of “I help businesses with their marketing,” you can say “I help B2B consultancies build a pipeline that doesn’t depend on referrals.” The right person reads that and thinks: that’s me.
Second, your delivery improves. Every engagement teaches you something about that specific type of client. After ten engagements, you’ve seen every variation of the same problem. You can diagnose faster, solve more effectively, and deliver more value.
Third, your reputation compounds. When you’re known for one thing, word travels faster. “You should talk to Tom, he’s the person for professional services firms” is a referral that converts. “You should talk to Tom, he does marketing stuff” is not.
The maths of niche positioning
Here’s the part that reassures founders who worry about market size.
If you’re a solo advisory practice, you need somewhere between 10 and 30 active clients to run a strong business. That’s not a lot. If your niche has 5,000 potential clients in the UK alone, you need to win 0.2% of them.
You don’t need market share. You need a small group of clients who trust you completely. Specificity is how you earn that trust.
Starting the shift
You don’t have to rebrand overnight. Most founders I work with start by adjusting their language, not their service. They describe what they do in terms that speak to one audience instead of all audiences.
The service itself often doesn’t change much. What changes is how it’s framed, who it attracts, and how quickly those people say yes.
If you’re sitting on the fence about narrowing your focus, ask yourself this: of all the clients you’ve worked with, which ones were the best fit? Which ones got the best results? Which ones were the easiest to work with?
There’s your niche. You’ve probably already found it. You just haven’t committed to it yet.