How to Choose the Best Niche with Aaron Ross - a podcast by Michael Veazey

Learn how to choose the best niche for you. Aaron Ross will be talking about nice-to-have and need-to-have for your niche.


Aaron’s BackgroundAaron was in business to business SaaS (software platforms) but nailing a niche is universal to any business.

He started at Salesforce.com and created the outbound selling function fro them and added $100M in revenue for them.After that, he ended up writing and publishing Predictable Revenue. 

He is now co-CEO of a business with 50 people and $7 million in revenue this year.Plus a father of 9!

Aaron’s specialism is finding the uniqueness of a business; taking existing businesses and helping them grow - or identifying why they don’t grow.  In all cases, there are universal issues.His mother also grosses about $1M a year on Amazon USA selling flower seeds and bulbs.

She has been gardening for 20 years and has specialized knowledge and supplier relationships. Motivated by the IRS (US tax) debt!Why do entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs resist niching down?
We’re in a world of overwhelming. So messaging MUST be focussed to cut through the noise.If you had a radio station that played jazz and rock and classical, it would be very confusing. But a lot of entrepreneurs do this with their messaging.However,  entrepreneurs resist niching down, due to:

Fear of missing out.Fear of being too small
Being too boring eg selling red spoonsBut once you’ve done it and realize the value of it, you will be more open to it.

It’s SO much faster to scale with a clear message.It’s about human perception in the end.
Different opportunities - how to prioritize and pick a nicheIt’s not necessarily to be a one-stop-shop - if it solves the pain of the customer, that’s okay.

Aaron left SalesForce.com in 2006 (and a year of M&A) - he wanted to make a way of making as much money as possible.

Aaron tried creating various businesses:“Unique Genius” - how to make money with your unique skills and personality

“CEO Flow” - how to make mini-CEOs in your business.In 2011 Aaron got married, his wife had 2 kids already and then had another on the way.

So I had to actually make money. And ended up increasing his personal income 10X.How to choose your niche
Look at your opportunities:Where do you have your strongest case?
What’s been proven to work?What is profitable?

Aaron had the most reputation in sales, plus expertise. Also, it was valuable to clientsAnd thus profitable. This is why he ended up creating a successful, profitable business in the outbound sales in a B2B niche.
Need to have vs. nice to have It’s hard to sell something to someone if they don’t perceive they have to have it.

When have customers paid the most money and got the best value?Trust is premium

Anyone can make any claim they want.They need to trust you can deliver on the promise.
But the customer has to also trust that they personally can do it.For example, gain muscle ads - you have all the proof (mostly best successful customer studies) - that you can deliver on this.  But the consumer has to believe he can gain 20 pounds - but also possible for him too.

Make it feel simple or doable - all the pieces in one physical package.Eg 1 Aaron just bought a basic piano keyboard with a seat, headphones, etc.

Eg 2 It could be a 7-step process if you’re running an agency. So the client can see himself doing it.Info overwhelm is not the answer
People have great info overwhelm. What they need is more clarity, not content.The same applies to content marketing. Empathy is a vital skill - how do you get in the shoes of the customer.Twilio is past $100s of Millions in SaaS in the USAIf people send SMS etc. via apps, they use Twilio like Uber.

It’s a platform, so it’s great but also so much choice.It’s like Lego - they have prepackaged a product, like a spaceship with all the instructions.

Further episodes of Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners, and other e-commerce sellers and digital entrepreneurs.

Further podcasts by Michael Veazey

Website of Michael Veazey