What have Shakespeare plays, toenail cutting and mustard got in common? They're all categories of business listings on Yell.com!
Those who follow my work know I'm obsessed with ‘niching down'.
In other words, don't be just a ‘builder' or you will compete with every other other builder in your area, and your price will end up being one of the deciding factors for your customers.
Instead, be a specialist in some kind of building work – specialists are expensive, and rarely slected on price (can you imagine saying ‘I want the cheapest brain surgeon you can find'!).
For example a general builder could specialise in:
- Single-storey extensions
- Refurbishment for disabled homeowners
- Garages using only reclaimed stone
- Carbon neutral projects
Course, you don't need to turn down other work – just make sure you're being known for one thing.
What's that got to do with Yell?
Good question!
Whenever I'm helping private clients to choose a niche, I have them list out all the different types of products and services that the target market want – and this takes hours (and we always miss some).
So I've compiled a list of every single category that you can advertise in on Yell.com – in other words, this should cover 99% of the services and products that your target market will buy.
You can access the spreadsheet for free here.
- If you use Google docs just click ‘File -> ‘Make a Copy' and you can save this to your own Google drive
- If you use Excel click ‘File' -> ‘Download as…' and choose ‘Excel'
If you sell to homeowners (which is my favourite niche!) then look at the second tab where I've listed just those sectors/niches that only a homeowners is likely to buy.
Hope this helps.