“De kinderen van de schoenmaker lopen vaak blootvoets.”
Marketing- en communicatiebureaus adviseren hun klanten duidelijke posities te kiezen. Maar ze proberen zelf hun horizon zo breed mogelijk te houden. Je wilt immers ‘pakken wat je pakken kunt’.
Daarom ben ik tegenwoordig alleen merkstrateeg. En niets meer.
Dit interview herinnert aan het belang van dergelijke keuzes.
“The Strategy of Consulting
(…)
Any thoughts on why consultants resist the idea of specialization?
Most consultants don’t want to be tied to a single specialty. They want to be as many things to as many clients as possible. What they fail to understand is that, once they start to extend into areas outside of their true areas of expertise, they leave space for new specialists to creep into their markets and take their place.
The advantage of specialization is that it simplifies the marketing, selling and buying of consulting services. If clients understand that you’re a marketing strategy consultant, they won’t ask you to help them solve a logistics problem. They’ll know exactly how and when to use your firm and when to seek help from someone else.
Specialized consultants don’t waste scarce resources chasing projects that are outside their areas of expertise. It’s easier to qualify a prospective client when your specialty is well defined. It’s more efficient and more effective.”