Specialize

Recently, the Country Music TV station show called Crossroads brought together two artists from different genres of music. John Mayer, a rock/pop artist jammed with Keith Urban, a country rock star. Both of these artists are rare birds who are singer-songwriters, and lead guitar players all in one.

My mind turned to others of their kind, like the great blues artist B.B. King, and Phil Keaggy (pictured above), one of the founders of contemporary Christian music from the ‘70s. They too exemplify a thought that I have dwelt on for some time now and that is the importance of specializing. Each one of these artists have a similar set of gifts, but they have specialized in different genres of music for a reason. They know something that you and I know but maybe do not think about a lot. What they know is that we like what we like. Either you like the blues or you do not. However, if you like the blues, you know who B.B. King is. You have also likely bought one of his albums or downloaded his music.

Three important influences have channeled me in the direction of specializing in my church consulting. First, I Googled the topic church consulting and researched 200 websites and discovered a very interesting thing: 37 different church consulting specialties, everything from fundraising to audio-visual technology to children’s ministry.

Secondly, a friend and mentor encouraged me to read some marketing material by Harry Beckwith. I chose Selling the Invisible which is now on my Recommended Reading list in this blog. Beckwith says that specialization works and that it is counter-intuitive. We may think that by specializing, we will lose the opportunity to do many things. However, when we specialize in doing something difficult a Lesser Logic takes over. This Lesser Logic says that if I can do the difficult, I can do many other lesser things and I will be trusted to do them too.

Finally, in my Society for Church Consulting training Dr. John Ewart spoke about 26 methods for acquiring church clients (A-Z) and one of those was specializing and branding yourself. We need to be prepared to do broad work in the area of church health, but we should also know our strengths and concentrate there.

So, when you pick your guitar up, ask yourself what you are good at, who needs it, and why. Then play your song from your strengths. Specialize.