For those familiar with the film The Usual Suspects, the name Keyser Soze will no doubt be immediately recognizable – and wholly unforgettable. Yet, while the illusive Soze is the driving force of the film, he remains an invisible phantasm throughout. As the character Verbal Kint explains it, “nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but…anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power.”
In fact, the power of Keyser Soze is something that every advisor can replicate – a power so strong that it has raised certain individuals in this business to almost celebrity status – it’s the power of reputation.
Have you ever asked yourself how it is that principals of certain smaller firms garner such high visibility and attention, while others with billions under management barely register a blip on the radar screen? The primary difference is that those individuals and firms have achieved two critical success factors – they’ve been able to carefully craft a highly-focused niche, and they’ve mastered the art of effectively communicating their attendant value proposition.
Armed with those two weapons, every one of you has the ability to build a mystique around both yourself and your firm – a mystique that can go a long way towards generating a steady stream of qualified introductions from both existing clients and professional advocates. So, where do you begin?
Your goal in carving out an effective niche should be more along the lines of: “Our firm specializes in catering to the complex financial needs of senior executives who are concerned with managing the short and long-term tax consequences of their equity positions.” Is that a narrowly focused niche? You bet! But assuming that you can deliver superior service, it will strongly position you as THE go-to firm for executives with complex concentrated equity issues.
Finally, don’t be afraid to be aspirational. Remember that highly-focused niches tend to quickly become self-fulfilling prophesies. By thinking narrow and deep, you’ll be well on your way to building a reputation for effectively and profitably catering to a niche of “unusual suspects.”
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