Review of Niching Up

[AndrewGriffin]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Niching Up" by Chris Dreyer.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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The first thing you notice with Niching-Up, is that Chris Dreyer can write. Not all business authors can and the book is the better for it. The concept of niching up, to use his unusual phrase, is that specialisation in business is not something to fear - it’s something to embrace. Counter-intuitively “niching up means moving forward from a place of abundance and growth”. He addresses the fear that people have at giving up markets to specialise, which are often very real fears. And he’s honest that his suggestion is not for everyone. Too many business books read as if the author is convinced that his approach is a panacea.

I liked the fact that the book started with the “cons” of the approach - like the obvious fact that “serving a niche means fewer customers”. Nor are the cons easy to knock down objections - I finished the chapter on cons and concluded that the approach wouldn’t work for my business. And then came “I think in most cases you should go broader before niching up”. So I read on.

If I have a reservation about the chapters that follow it’s that there are perhaps too many stories or examples to make his points. Perhaps different ones will appeal to different readers. But there is strong content there - the chapter on building and using Expertise was particularly good. He has a nice pace to his writing, and the advice in chapters on Pricing and building relationships make cumulative sense (or compound like interest, as he might say). The chapter on Referrals made me think too - referrals are too often something seen from the recipient business’s point of view but to use them strategically to build trust in your business was interesting.

Chris Dreyer in his acknowledgements mentions his OCD. The book is well-edited and laid out as well as well written. So I’d recommend the book - especially to service industry small business owners. If you are like me, with a business that operates across a number of niches, it’s still excellent food for thought and a painless and enjoyable read. 4 out of 5

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Niching Up
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