Are you the specialist, the expert, the go-to guy or are you known as the one stop shop guy who tries to do everything?

I knew a speaker who told me he could speak on anything. Just give him a week to prepare and a book to read and he was ready to give training on that topic. When I asked him what made him think that was the best approach to being a professional speaker, he responded that he had been a corporate trainer for 15 years and that was how he did it for them. Two years later he was back in the corporate world because he could barely make a living being a generalist. Sidebar: What does that say about the quality of training being given in organizations using trainers for every topic?

Rule of thumb: If a supplier is constantly going in new directions and offering anything under the sun, run the other way because they are acting out of desperation. Think fast food companies are desperate? Remember the no-bun burgers? Today, sub shops are now selling pizza. Pizza places are now selling chicken wings. If its food and they can make a dollar out of it, they want to sell it. Run, this is a company in desperation!

Now look at how you approach your customers. Are your sales people looking to sell anything they can to make a commission and close a deal? Are you operating from a position of strength or desperation? Do your customers see you as a commodity or the specialist they must use?

Specialization is the key to profit maximization.

The following four questions are strategic questions every organization should be addressing to maximize profits:

1. What is the one thing you are best at?

CEO's I speak with are constantly telling me how good their organization is at so many different things. I ask them directly: What is the one thing on which you completely smoke the competition to the point there is no competition? Sometimes I hear silence. Sometimes I hear bravado and hogwash. Most of the times I get nervous responses with multiple answers and none of the answers indicate a dominant market share, let alone eliminating the competition. In other words, most CEO's dont know what their strategic competence really is; therefore, they are not maximizing their specialist abilities, or their profits.

It takes honest self-reflection and guidance to find the one thing that has the potential to dominate a market. Once you have that strategic answer, the rest of the questions become much easier to answer.

2. What do you sell where price is not a critical concern because they have to have what you are offering?

Let's say for example you are a personal trainer known for creating the most significant Body Mass Index (BMI) improvements in a short period of time. The competition cant compete with your results and you are considered the go-to lady. The products you sell would be highly valued and receive little price resistance.

Once you have defined your strategic competence and your clients know you as the expert in such an area. Your products and service are easy to sell in fact they become in huge demand and price is not the defining factor. What products do you currently sell that if positioned properly would create higher volume and higher margins because you are the expert source and preferred provider of such products?

Before you say to yourself, "Everyone offers the same things I do; price is always going to be an important factor." Consider this example: A Pontiac is a piece of transportation. A Porsche is an experience of transportation. Both are cars that will get you from Point A to Point B. Why do people pay more for one than the other? Whose customers are more likely to use the dealership for maintenance and service and quibble less about the cost of those services? Of course, the Porsche owners, because not just anyone is going to be trusted to touch that car; only the experts regardless of the price savings one might get.

3. Where are you wasting resources trying to sell low profit products that your sales people don't care about and are hard sells?

Many sales meetings are butt-chewing sessions about missed quotas, lack of commitment and failing to make that sales call a hundredth time. It's exhausting for everyone involved yet the painful process continues to be repeated daily in businesses all over this country. It doesnt have to be that way.

If you are properly positioned in the marketplace the services and products sell themselves, the sales people love what they do and the resources required to make the sale are drastically reduced. Profits then increase! It's pointless to be pushing products and services that have to be "sold." Educating the prospect is drastically different than selling the prospect. When you have established expert status what you offer becomes the preferred choice and you no longer have to move low-end products and services. High-profile defense attorneys dont do real estate closings, top real estate agents don't work with tiny houses, and your staff shouldn't have to be product pushers if you position your organization properly.
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