We were going to write about the Paulson plan and its help to community banks. But the plan appears up in the air now that the U.S. House of Represenatives narrowly rejected it. So, instead we're going to talk about how to get business coming your way. And the answer is specialization.

Ivan Misner's latest column focuses on the admittedly "counterintuitive" notion that the fewer things you give the impression you're able to do, the more people will seek you out to do what you say you can do. As he puts it, "You're an office-furniture wholesaler? No help. You specialize in custom-designed, made-to-order desks, shelves and file cabinets in large lots? Bingo. You've snagged an appointment."

The advantages to specialization:
-You'll be the one they think of. When something directly up your specialized alley comes up, people will head for you. By contrast, if you advertise yourself as a generalist, then people will not head for you--instead, they will head for, well, a specialist.
-It's easier to describe. If you do a specific thing, it's very easy to communicate this to others. If you do many things, by contrast, it is hard to place them all under a single, memorable rubric.
-You are likely to step on fewer pre-existing toes. Misner gives the example of an insurance agent who offers several different types of insurance. For someone to switch to you, they likely need to sever several different relationships--one with a life insurer, another with a home insurer, etc. Offering only life insurance, by contrast, will make someone more amenable to switching to you.

We'd add that specialization is well-suited to this long tail world of ours, in which there are nearly infinite niches to fill. Misner says that trying to be all things to all people will work only if you're Wal-Mart. In other words: you're not Wal-Mart (unless the good people down in Bentonville are reading this, in which case they're probably on the wrong blog); only Wal-Mart is Wal-Mart. And when people need one-stop-shopping, they are going to go to Wal-Mart. (Lord knows there's probably one nearby.) Instead, be there when they want one specific thing, and they want it done well. Be special--be a specialist!