Do you think you could increase profits if you had very little or no competition? Would you like to get the jump on your competitors? Would you like to stay a step ahead of you competition? If your answers to the above questions is no, you’re either Bill Gates or you should seriously consider seeing a psychiatrist. If your answer to the questions is yes, you’re in the right place and reading the right thing ... at the right time.

There have been a lot of articles, books, and seminars touting the importance of having a niche. With the huge numbers of look-a-like products and services, it’s vital that you target an unfilled gap in your market. If you fail to do this you risk getting lost in the crowd. Especially, if you’re a small business with limited capital (which is why it’s called a small business).

This article is for those who already have a product or service, but would like to make their niche stronger. I call this niche maintenance. I coined the phrase “niche maintenance” in my first book Niche Creation Secrets That Build Wealth because even the most successful products and services need maintenance.

To my surprise I see businesses develop a product or service, enjoy a burst of success then allow sales to go flat. They often wonder what happened. They’ll usually blame it on the competition, the economy, or limited capital.

When in most cases they failed to do simple niche maintenance on their product or service. In most cases they don’t have a money, sales or profit problem, they have a niche problem. More specifically a weak niche, and I promise you my friend a weak niche= weak sales.

Every successful product or service from apples to zebras has a strong niche position; a specific benefit or advantage that nobody else in their market is providing at all or as well.

But even the best niches, weaken, become outdated or obsolete. That’s why you need to perform regular niche maintenance on your business, product, or service, just like you would perform maintenance on you car. Whether it’s your car, your body, or your niche; regular maintenance helps to keep it working strong for you..

I’m sure you’ve seen many successful businesses fail after a burst of success, it’s usually because they failed to do niche maintenance. Don’t let it happen to you. Keep reading.

I’ve included an exclusive “Niche Maintenance Checklist” that will keep your product or service strong and will help to give it longevity. I suggest you go through this maintenance checklist at least one a month, or each week for maximum benefit.

Niche Maintenance Checklist for Products and Services: Give yourself 1 point for each yes answer. Your goal should be to maintain a score of 10.

1. Do I know what my competitive advantages are?

2. Do I have them written down? And do I constantly try to add to them?

3. Name at least one new problem my target customers are facing that I can solve through my product or service this week or month?

4. What extra service can I provide that my competition can’t provide?

5. What ways can I speed up service to my customers without sacrificing quality?

6. What ways can I get my satisfied customers to recommend me to others?

7. Do I aggressively solicit comments, complaints or questions from my customers?

8. Do I know my competitors latest competitive advantages over my product or service?

9. Do I avoid getting complacent or satisfied? Do I aggressively seek how to improve ...DAILY?

10. Do I aggressively seek and test new ideas while holding on to what works?

By reviewing the above checklist and scoring at least a 10 each week you are insuring yourself of maintaining a strong, profit generating niche. Ignore it and you could allow failure to sneak up on you.

Roy Primm (The Niche Man) may be contacted at http://www.NicheBrain.com Roy Primm (The Niche Man) has written hundreds of articles showing you how to improve your product, service and response. How? By simply improving the niche factor. To read more go to NicheBrain.com

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