The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 62 Degrees – 7:09 a.m.
I drank the “be a specialist” Kool Aid® for quite some time, until I realized that I hated doing the same things over and over again. To me, specializing in the DOING part of the equation (i.e. I write copy) sounds like a boring way to spend the rest of your life.
“I specialize in dotting I’s and crossing T’s,” so if you have any, send them over! EEK! That sounds like a miserable existence to me.
Plus, I was always aware of the downward fee pressure that exists when the “doing” is the focus of your specialization.
But isn’t specializing where the money is?
Yes, but I totally missed the smart way to specialize.
The factory gave birth to the specialist. When labor was broken down into different parts, specialists emerged that knew how to do ONE tiny little thing. Specialization led to the dynamic where specialists competed for “getting picked” to be the specialist. This is largely a race to the bottom if you haven’t noticed. Yuck.
May I suggest you stop specializing in a TASK and start specializing in a RESULT. Instead of limiting yourself to the marketplace’s perception of the value of you doing X, this REMOVES the limit to your value and focuses the conversation on that thing people have always willingly paid for: RESULT.
It’s the difference between the perceived value of fixing a flat tire vs. giving someone the freedom to travel anywhere they want to go.
For example, the Lead Lab is starting today. (As it turns out, this struck a chord and there are only two spots left with about three hours to go before enrollment closes. If the registration button is missing, you’ll know we’re full.)
Who is more valuable? The “Facebook Lead Specialist” or the person who can take a specific service provider and create a lead generation system using the best tools for the job?
Well, if you’re working with people who have already diagnosed their pain (no leads!) and prescribed themselves a solution (I want leads from Facebook!), then human nature is such that they will look for the cheapest/competent provider of that solution.
But if the specialist is the one who is tasked with CREATING the solution, that’s a completely different story.
I was listening to a podcast the other day (I forget whose it was!) and the host mentioned the phrase “expert generalist.”
In lead generation, that’s a helpful thing to be. You know a fair amount about a lot of different things. That way, you can prescribe solutions that are appropriate to the specific problem.
If you’re a specialist, ask yourself if you’re specializing in an “task” or a “result.”
In general, clients invest most in the pursuit of a RESULT.