The last two emails talked about being a Salesforce specialist, instead of a generalist. Now, why should you bother specializing in the first place? Isn’t it better to serve a larger client base?
Actually, not necessarily.
There are a few advantages to being a specialist.
For example, if I ask you to think of a Salesforce consultant who has at least 3 certifications, you probably could think of dozens of people.
Now If I ask you to think of a Salesforce consultant who focuses on Marketing Cloud for nonprofits, I bet that list would be significantly shorter, perhaps down to one or two people.
It’s possible that people in the former group actually do Marketing Cloud for nonprofits, but because they don’t position themselves as such, it’s hard to think of them. They are small fish in a big pond.
So one advantage of being a specialist is you become a big fish in a small pond. Again, you choose the pond, but once you position yourself with more precision, your name will rise to the surface of the conversation.
As a specialized consultant, your fishing net does become smaller, but you actually catch more fish.
The takeaway
OK, that was a lot of fish references, but they help illustrate the point. By becoming the person for a particular specialization, then it’s easier for others to refer to you when they hear your keywords.