When Being a Generalist Works Against You

📉 Losing clients?

🔁 Spinning your wheels?

🚫 Stuck with flat growth?

😟 These are all signs your target market is too broad.

💊 The cure?

🛑 Stop being a generalist and instead focus on your best-fit customer.

Questions to ponder:

- Where is being a generalist hurting our ability to grow?

- Who is our best-fit customer?

How do we get more of them?

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does losing clients signal a target market that's too broad?

Because a broad market often means client relationships aren't specific enough to build the kind of deep fit that keeps clients retained. Churn tends to increase when positioning tries to serve too many different types of buyers.

What does "spinning your wheels" reveal about market focus?

That effort is being spent without clear direction or compounding results, often a symptom of trying to serve too many different types of clients without the focus needed to build repeatable systems.

Why does flat growth point back to an overly broad target market?

Because without a specific, well-defined audience, marketing and sales lack the precision needed to consistently attract and convert the right prospects, leaving growth stuck rather than accelerating.

What's the "cure" for these three signs, according to this framing?

Stopping the generalist approach and instead focusing on the best-fit customer, narrowing the target market enough to build the depth and precision that drives real growth.

What are the practical questions worth asking to diagnose this problem?

Where being a generalist is currently hurting the ability to grow, and who the actual best-fit customer is, along with how to attract more of them specifically rather than continuing to serve a broad, undefined market.