When entrepreneurs start their own companies, they often dream big, imagining their small startup transforming into an international corporation. Running a business in this context can feel like navigating a dangerous jungle full of competitors, waiting for you to slip up. If you’re selling cars, hiring out developers, or running a recruitment or marketing agency, this might sound familiar. Even if you have a great business idea, you can be sure someone else is already working on it. In other words, competition is always present, no matter the industry you engage in. However, this doesn’t mean that if you’re selling furniture online, and 100,000 other companies are doing the same, you should give up. The presence of competition means the need for rivalry, and the more competitors you have, the more costly it becomes to:
- Win over customers
- Scale your revenue
- Increase hiring
- Acquire new clients
- Attract investors
As Peter Thiel (if you don’t know him, Google “founder of PayPal”) says, “Competition is for losers.”
Avoiding Competition in B2B*
Those facing competition must ask themselves, “What sets me apart?” Essentially, why should someone choose my offer over other similar ones? They must build a strong Unique Selling Point (USP) or Unique Value Proposition (UVP)—something that distinguishes them. However, those who find their niche don’t have to compete (in an ideal world), or their competition is minimal. Can you find your niche even if you’re in an industry with many established players? Absolutely. At AutomateMeUp, we’re a lead generation agency, but our niche is providing the best sales data on the market. There is some competition in this space, but it’s much smaller compared to general B2B lead generation. In our niche, we only have three competitors across Europe and none in Poland. How did we achieve this? Simple. We decided to operate in this niche, and because our goal is to develop SaaS, we created software (ProspectMeUp) that allowed us to enter the market.
Owning a Niche and Draymond Green**
Is it worth finding your niche? Absolutely. One great example is Draymond Green, an NBA player for the Golden State Warriors, whose story I heard on the ELITE MENTALITY podcast.
Draymond Green’s mentality:
- Being indispensable by doing the invisible work—Green made a name for himself by focusing on game elements that aren’t flashy but are crucial for winning, like defense, rebounds, assists, or setting screens. These are often overlooked, especially by stars, but are key to success.
- Team-focused thinking—Green often highlighted that his role is to do whatever it takes for the team to win, rather than focusing on what the team should do for him.
- Leader and communicator—Despite average stats, Green was recognized as a leader, which became his true value. Coaches called him the “heart and soul” of the Golden State Warriors because he ensured others were in the right spots and fully engaged in the game.
In this way, even though Green wasn’t a star, he became irreplaceable for his team—he found his niche.
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Why Be the Draymond Green of B2B?
Draymond Green’s “niche” helped him secure constant game time. His contract became “bulletproof” because no manager thought about replacing him. Doesn’t this sound familiar? Being indispensable is the surest way to secure a steady revenue stream for your company. At AutomateMeUp, while some clients stopped using our cold mailing services, we still provide them with the best prospecting data. This makes us irreplaceable, even when our clients use competitor services.
Finding Your Niche in B2B
How do you find your niche when there are thousands of competitors? Here are a few steps:
- Think about what your clients are willing to pay for that few others are offering. For example, in Poland, over 6,100 companies are involved in custom software development, but very few offer solid Service Level Agreements (SLA) for the maintenance of the services they’ve built. Yet, this could generate regular, monthly income.
- Create a preliminary offer.
- Test if there’s interest—whether through cold emails or conversations with current clients.
A business operating in a niche, as one of the first, acquires customers much more cheaply than the competition.
How We Gained a Client in the UAE by Leveraging Niche Strategy in a Saturated Industry
In 2022, we gained our first client in the UAE, selling lead generation services. How did we do this, despite competing against 8,300+ companies with no local portfolio? We created an application to track anonymous website visitors. This solution wasn’t widely sought after in the context of B2B lead generation campaigns at the time. Communicating this unique offer to leads proved key and successful, as our competitors focused on automating LinkedIn outreach and cold mailing. We went niche, and later upsold our cold mailing campaign service alongside the niche offering.
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fx5Q8xGU8k
**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draymond_Green
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