Specialization Drives Focus!
by Gary Ryan Blair

If you want to win the game and walk away with most of the marbles, than stay focused and you'll win most battles simply by default.

From a strategic point of view, it's so much better to have 50 percent of one market rather than 10% each of five markets. Yet conventional thinking leads someone down the trail of diversification. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Retailing is like a mirror to the world. It's without question the most sensitive industry and the quickest to reflect changing customer wants. In virtually every category, retailers are narrowing their focus in order to capture a larger share of the market.

But wait, there's more. In order to win big, retailers are expanding aggressively in order to become nationwide brands or even global powerhouses.

As a result, the smaller independent store is rapidly becoming extinct. Small independents are being eaten whole and replaced by a national chain or franchise. The national chains dominate virtually every retail category.

Look around you; from fast food to dog food, from drug stores to shoe stores, from houseware to hardware, from car rental to video rental, from coffee shops to sandwich shops, from office supplies to pet supplies, from stock brokers to pawn brokers.

Even professional service firms are getting in on the act. Keep a close eye out for accounting, advertising, stock brokerage, real estate, and optical professions.

You're delusional if you don't think the medical, legal, and banking industry are not heading in the same direction.

Of course many people are in denial, and they refuse to see what is happening right in front of their eyes. They circle the wagons and hope for the best. Yet in the long run they know they're toast. The small local retailer has only three real options.

1. Join a national chain,

2. Start your own, or

3. Get out of business.


What retailers are doing so should every business.

Being a specialist is exactly where the power lies. That's why the focused organization develops managers who share the company's focus.

The specialist effect:

If you have a real medical problem, chances are you will wind up in the offices of a specialist. A cardiologist for a heart problem, a dermatologist for as skin problem, an ophthalmologist for an eye problem.

Everybody knows a specialist knows more about his or her specialty than a general practitioner does. Whether it's true or not doesn't really matter. The perception is the reality, and everyone knows that specialists know more about heart problems, skin problems, eye problems, etc..

The same principle applies in business.

Focus drives specialization. Buyers know this but sellers often forget!

It's no secret that people and organizations loss their luster by becoming unfocused. They try to be all things to all people. They concentrate on the short-term gain by getting their feet in as many opportunities as possible and therefore become unfocused. The philosophy is a weak one, Damn the long term and full steam ahead!

It's been my experience, that great leaders, in spite of a multitude of distractions, know how to keep things focused. They know how to inspire and motivate their followers to keep them pushing the main choice. They refuse to let side issues overwhelm them.

To aspire to be a great leader you must think, act, and above all demonstrate true leadership skills. So much of your success will be dependent upon your ability to find true north and focus everything toward that end.

Everything Counts!
Gary Ryan Blair

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Written by Gary Ryan Blair - The GoalsGuy is your online goal setting and personal leadership coach. Check-out My Personal Strategic Plan and learn how to achieve more in the next year than most people do in a lifetime. See why best selling author Brian Tracy said, "This is the most remarkable, simple, and practical guide for ANYONE who wants to create the ideal life!" Click Here!



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