--- title: Are you trying to address too big a market - or solve too many problems? description: If you're in a B2B market, here's why sacrifice, courage and focus beats spreading your bets every time. --- This is a search field with an autosuggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # Are you trying to address too big a market - or solve too many problems? ![Bob Apollo](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/78fa41976d534cacbb0e22e151bc6816) Post by [Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo) June 7, 2012 I don’t know about you, but I’m always uneasy when a CEO describes his or her strategy and somewhere along the way you hear a variation on the “after all, how hard can it be to grab a small share of a big market” argument? Well, the answer is always “a lot harder than you think”. The only thing aiming for an overlarge target market does for you is to dilute your efforts to the point where even those modest ambitions are unlikely to ever be achieved. Actually, that’s wrong - that strategy brings with it a whole raft of other undesirable baggage, including: You might just as well, as Sir Thomas Lipton once said of yacht racing, resign yourself to “standing under a cold shower tearing up fifty pound notes”. Except you probably won’t have anything like as much fun. Or bump into that nice Mr Ellison in the dockside champagne bar. ## Choose a market you can dominate Of course, the proper strategy is to do the opposite - to narrow down your market definition until you find one that is just big enough to satisfy your ambitions and which you have the chance to dominate. You can always expand from there into product or market adjacencies - and do so from a position of strength. But of course, that strategy requires a certain amount of sacrifice and courage. As does choosing to focus on solving one critical problem really, really well - better than any other option open to your target customers. ## Solve one critical problem really well The natural tendency here is similarly self-defeating: to focus on so many features, so many capabilities and so many problems your product could solve that you end up diluting your focus. When you fail to choose which problem you are going to focus on solving, you bump into those same old issues again: ## Stand out from the crowd If you’re a B2B company in its growth phase, the worst thing you can do is to spread your bets. Your chances of winning are miniscule. Instead, you’ve got to your research. Test the market. Find out what really matters to your prospects. Fail fast and learn. Then, as a pattern starts to emerge, focus your energies on solving the critical issue you have identified for the market you have chosen better than any other option available to your prospects, including deciding to do nothing. You’ll find that it’s far easier to expand from a position of strength than to compete from a position of weakness. So why do so many companies spread themselves too thinly rather than be brave and focus? Is it because it’s easier to say yes than to say no? Or because spreading your bets somehow reduces the chances of losing? Not in this world. ###### Tags: [B2B Marketing, ](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/topic/b2b-marketing) [Intelligent Targeting, ](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/topic/intelligent-targeting) [Complex Sales](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/topic/complex-sales) ![Bob Apollo](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/78fa41976d534cacbb0e22e151bc6816) Post by [Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo) June 7, 2012 Bob Apollo is a Fellow of the Institute of Sales Professionals, a regular contributor to the International Journal of Sales Transformation and Top Sales World Magazine, and the driving force behind Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners, the leading proponents of outcome-centric selling. Following a successful corporate career spanning start-ups, scale-ups and market leaders, Bob now works as a strategic advisor, mentor, trainer and coach to ambitious B2B sales organisations - teaching them how to differentiate themselves through their provably superior approach to achieving their customer's desired outcomes. [Follow me on my website](https://www.inflexion-point.com) [Follow me on LinkedIn ](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/bobapollo) [Follow me on Twitter ](https://twitter.com/bobapollo) ### Comments ###### Related Articles ### [Why Sales and Marketing Alignment Really, Really Matters](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/80213/Why-Sales-and-Marketing-Alignment-Really-Really-Matters) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **Jan 09, 2012** According to a recent Aberdeen Group report, “alignment of marketing and sales goals is a key strategy for many ... ### [Why Your Sales Process Doesn’t Matter](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/81251/Why-Your-Sales-Process-Doesn-t-Matter) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **Jan 31, 2012** Coming from somebody who has consistently sought to promote the value of focus and process in all matters connected with B2B ... ### [Connecting the Marketing Message with the Sales Conversation](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/96939/Connecting-the-Marketing-Message-with-the-Sales-Conversation) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **May 13, 2013** I recently recorded an on-demand webinar with BrightTALK on the increasingly important need to connect your marketing ... 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