The Specialization-Differentiation Imperative

In the olden days, when there was just one blacksmith in each village, it was easy to brand yourself as the best blacksmith around. If someone needed a blacksmith, you were the blacksmith they called. But then villages grew into towns and a new blacksmith moved into the neighborhood. All of a sudden, people had a reference of comparison and competition was born — along with the need for differentiation.

So what happens as more and more people enter into a profession and as the profession itself becomes more widely recognized as a helpful service? The needs of the market get sliced and diced in a variety of different ways — and the professional that focuses on one of those slices is more highly valued than the professional who continues to try to be all things to all people.

That’s why we have doctors who specialize by part of the body — cardiologists, podiatrists and nephrologists. We have doctors who specialize in type of patient — pediatricians, gynecologists and veterinarians. We have doctors who focus on geographic regions. And we have doctors who work in small teams, in large corporations and as individual “freelancers.”

And as each specialty fills up with more people, it gets sliced and diced into finer and finer sub-specialties. Look at any profession — lawyer, accountant, consultant, coach or any other independent professional — and you’ll see the same pattern. You either focus on one of those slices, or you don’t get much respect in the market.

That’s the specialization-differentiation imperative.

But how do you specialize if you are a general practitioner? And even if you are already a specialist, how do you differentiate yourself from the other specialists in your subspecialty? The answer is authentic differentiation.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to align the differentiation that already exists within yourself or your company’s culture with the matching slice that already exists in the market.

For example, “differentiation” is the slice in the sales and marketing pie that my company focuses on. It’s your “essential message, “ and it’s what enables generalists to command the same high status and privilege of a specialist and what enables specialists to rise above other specialists.

Here's a powerful way to brainstorm your own differentiation possibilities using W5 — who, what, where, why, when and how. It’s not as simplistic as it sounds, so if you’re ready to start your journey of discovering your differentiation (and it is a journey), then get your pencil out and take a deep breath.

On a blank sheet of paper, draw a table with six columns. Label the columns with who, what, where, why, when and how. Then as you read the descriptions for each one below, jot down whatever applies to your business today as well as what you’d like to explore in the future.