Once you’re focused, find a way to stand out from the crowd

So you've identified what it is that you do brilliantly, or at least well enough to offer you real specialist status in your potential customers' eyes. This is not as difficult as it seems. One of my specialist areas of work is presentation skills and nearly everyone who has ever got up to speak to anyone thinks they can run a presentation skills course. It's a really competitive and commoditised area unless you have something that sets you apart. What I did was to think for myself about the challenge of bringing something new to the field.

So, over time I developed my own approach, with my own materials and methods and tested them out with clients and colleagues and they liked what I'd done and "Fit, Focus and Flair" (http://www.allcow.com/) became my Unique Selling Point. Nobody does presentation skills like me. It doesn't mean that I'm better than everyone, because there are some great people out there doing what I do. I just do things differently. Clients may choose to work with someone else, but they'll remember me. That's what differentiation is. It gives you an edge so that when a client thinks "How is this person different to the 234 other people offering the same thing?" you have something interesting and persuasive to say.