29. The Law of Specialization

The Laws of Business Success

Under the Laws of Business

To succeed in a competitive marketplace, a product or service must be specialized to perform a specific function and be excellent at satisfying a clearly defined need of the customer.

It must be clear what the product is uniquely suited to do and for whom the product is designed. Products that try to be all things to all customers end up being nothing to no one. If customers are unsure of the specific use or application of the product, they will pass it by in favor of something else.

The first corollary of the Law of Specialization is
Companies fail when they no longer specialize and do not serve a sufficient number of customers in a cost-effective way.

Specialization is the starting point of successful marketing. It must be made clear what it is you are offering and to whom. Carefully and continually defining and redefining your specific customer is absolutely essential for the success of your business. A slight change or shift in your customer base or customer focus can have a dramatic effect on your sales, upward or downward.

Hundreds of models of automobiles are offered for sale every year. Each of these models is designed for a special type of person, with certain tastes, experiences, income, education, and needs. Companies such as Toyota, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler succeed greatly because they design each model to satisfy the special needs and demands of large segments of the automobile market. Other companies struggle and lose money because they fail to specialize their offerings to a large enough customer market.

We see this same ability or failure to specialize in Internet start-ups, where companies with a great idea go public at extraordinary valuations. Within a few months, these companies can turn out to be stars, or shooting stars, to the exact degree to which they have been able to specialize enough to attract a large enough customer base.

How you can apply this law immediately:

1. Continually ask and answer accurately the following questions: Who is our customer? Who exactly is our product designed for? What does our customer consider value? What specific need, want, or desire does our customer have that our product is created to satisfy?

2. Study your market carefully and ask yourself: In what ways could our product or service be modified or improved so that it satisfies even more of the special needs of a larger number of customers? What could we do to our product or service to make it even more appealing to a larger market without losing our core customer base?

Source: Brian Tracy, The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc, (San Francisco, 2000).