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From Generalist to Specialist

I recently interviewed Suzanne Shelton, principal of The Shelton Group in Knoxville, TN, in preparation for the March WWP webcast, Branded Studies. I've known of (and sort of known through osmosis) Suzanne for years but I've never worked with her, so it was a pleasure to learn more about her and her well-run firm in our 30-minute phone call.

Beyond Suzanne's use of branded studies, I was most interested in the story of her firm's transition from generalist to specialist, including her struggles and misgivings along the way. I won't say too much here because I'll ask Suzanne to discuss some of these points in the webcast, but some highlights included:

• The two years of positioning purgatory between when she narrowed the focus of her firm and when she began to see results
• The dramatic and unexpected impact on staff turnover caused by the repositioning of her firm
• The positive impact that specializing has had on her business development efforts, but the problems it created, too

Today, Suzanne's firm is a model for independent creative firms on the positioning and profitability fronts, among others, but she didn't get where she is without making brave decisions, embracing the hard work and even benefiting from a little bit of fortuitous timing.

Suzanne lectures 30 times a year and generates considerable profit from her research studies. But her story is as much about the transition from order-taker to expert as it is about using branded studies to drive new leads.

I thoroughly enjoyed last month's webcast Write The Book! (membership required to view the archive) where I interviewed four agency principal authors, but when it was over, I regretted how little time we had together. I would have liked to have continued the conversation for hours. This time I'll spend the bulk of the webcast talking with Suzanne, hopefully giving both topic and guest the time they deserve. I think everyone will be able to learn something from this webcast.

I hope you can join Suzanne Shelton and me on March 10th. You'll find the details here.