Attract Ideal Customers: Ask The Quiz Queen with Catharine O’Leary

You're kind of avoiding that tire kicker freebie seeker person that's just gonna like you know all download this and they'll never read it and they never do anything with it. You're you're actually talking to the person that's interested in the answer. So whatever question your answer like asking, they actually want the answer to because they're going to do the quiz to get it. So you've already kind of pre qualified people to be action takers on your list. And you're now engaged with people that are interested in your topic, not your freebie.

Hey Chuck here, and I'm so glad that you're listening to this episode. And I just want to take this quick moment right now to let you know about our free collaborators toolkit. And this episode is all about partnership and collaboration. And our guests share many resources, tools, and things that you can use to make collaboration and partnership easier in your business. So if you're looking for better ways to grow and scale your business, through collaborations, and strategic partnerships, this free collaborators toolkit is going to contain the best resources from our workshops, as well as contributions from our guests. And these tools could be the missing link that you've been looking for. And they're going to help you to solve everyday business challenges, and access, highly effective ideas that can help and grow your business exponentially. I know they've helped me and I know they're gonna help you as well. And the best part about these tools is that they're completely free. And our gift to you for being a valued member of our community, and a subscriber to the show. So you can get access to all of the resources contained inside the collaborators toolkit today by visiting the website at WWW.collaboratorsunite.com/toolkit. That address again is www.collaboratorsunite.com/toolkit. Go ahead and register today get access to all the resources and I'm gonna see you on the inside. Now. Here's the episode.

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the show, Chuck Anderson here and I have another amazing guest for you today. I am joined with Catharine O'Leary. Thank you, Katherine for being my guest on the show. Now, it says Catharine O'Leary quiz queen and I'm not going to even try to give you the you know, introduce you I know you can tell your story better than I can. But I know that you're doing some amazing things with quizzes and quiz funnels as a growth strategy for businesses. We'll talk about that we'll talk about partnership. We'll talk about collaboration, we'll talk about growth in business. And so all of that. So Catharine, thank you so much for being on the show today.

Oh, thank you for having me, Chuck. I can't wait and say I've been looking forward to it.

Fantastic. Well, let's dive in. Catharine, I think a great thing that everybody wants to know is, you know, who are you? And what's your story?

Oh, yeah, well, um, I am known as the quiz queen. But I did not grow up wanting to be the Quiz queen. I wanted to be the Wolf of Wall Street. So I went into corporate and I actually landed in market research and consumer insights. And in the corporate world, all that really means is a fancy way of saying translator between what the consumer is wanting and needing so surveys, we would ask a lot of questions, whether it's focus groups, things like that. Asking consumers about what they're using, what they're wanting, what they're needing, what the pain points were, and then translating that information for corporations to understand better, what products to develop, develop, what services they needed, what the next blue, the iPhone would be, what you know, what the next widget needed to be, and also their messaging and conversation. So I did that for about 25 years and worked with some some pretty big, big hitters in Apple and Adobe and Pepsi. And then I started to realize the three hours on the road was a long time for commuting to do the job. So I started a business and in on my own and, and yeah, like, I think a lot of people, you think it's going to be easy, you're gonna walk in, you got all this experiences. Easy peasy, right? And what I found very quickly was that lead generation was hard. It was it was hard. It was expensive. It was time consuming. And I was just I was talking to the wrong people. I was consistently attracting, like, it seemed like everyone bought my ID Your client and, and I was just wasting a lot of time on the phone talking with people you know is little bit of cajoling a little bit of crying a little bit of you know, like, just just very stressful. And I almost went back to corporate, I thought, you know, maybe three hours in the car isn't that bad, I'll do audiobooks, you know, like, it'll be fine. And I thought, no, there's got to be a way to do this, there has to be a better way to connect with my ideal clients in a way that isn't creepy. And I'm not slipping into DMS, and I'm not doing anything weird. And it's not too time consuming. And I'm, you know, you're making that you're starting that conversation. And you're really starting that, that relationship. And I realized, I had it in my hip pocket all the time. And it was around quizzes and quiz funnels. So I created one for myself and got some pretty good results, I was able to 10x My, my email list fairly quickly, I was able to reduce my advertising spend by two thirds. And, and my sales conversion suddenly actually started to hit my my actual one on one conversations were with people that wanted the products, and not you know, just everybody else, it seems. And so, you know, similar to the way that you find a great restaurant, and you tell everyone about it, I started telling all my my business, friends about it and entrepreneurs about it and realized that I had a skill set that that I could utilize and create a business out of. So I actually started to consult and create quizzes for other people and created a course. And then now I'm well on my way to, to hopefully, you know making sure that every business has its quiz.

There's so much about your story that I love. And I'll try to remember all of them. But you know, one of the first and foremost is that moment where you felt like, Man, this isn't working, do I go back to my job and do what I was doing before. And I know I've had that moment as a former chief marketing officer, do I go back and have the corner office and, and the team and the salary and the bonuses and all of that kind of stuff, and the three hour commute, never seeing the kids and all of that kind of stuff. And then that leading to an aha moment of man, I really don't want to do that. And I think it's that moment where the best solutions and the best ideas come from I know it was for me and it sounded like that's what happened for you as well.

Well, you just you really dig in, you dig in and you realize like, I'm sorry, but it's a billion dollar industry somebody has to be doing it right. There has to be a system somewhere that that is making this work and I'm just not doing it like the way that it should be done so and I really didn't want to be back in the car for another three hours a day.

No, me neither and and will never ever ever do that again. And so what do you think it is about quiz funnels when compared to your usual like lead magnet free download this free this free that? What is it about quiz funnels that is really making a difference in the results.

I think it's it's really around a little bit of the you're taking the consumer, you're taking your client on a journey. So you're asking, you're starting with your offer, right and you're gonna reverse engineer to your your quiz book, you're gonna have your target audience in mind already. So you're already only talking to your target audience, but then you kind of get to play and take them through a little bit of a self discovery journey for them. So they're just not getting another handout. They're just not it's not another checklist. Nothing wrong with those things are they're fantastic. But this is a little bit more of a self discovery. I wonder what kind of you know, business personality type I am or I wonder what my superhero secret power is a when it comes to delegation. And, and there's a little bit of a treat at the end with an aha moment and you know, you're kind of in their head around oh my gosh, I like yes, time management. That's exactly what I needed help with. How do they know that? And it's a it's a warm handoff, then to your webinar, or your one on one sales call or your masterclass or whatever that looks like. So it's a little bit of fun. It's, it's, you know, it's still serving the purpose of answering a question in a way that they get to kind of play around and, and get a little bit more of a of a journey and you know, in 60 seconds or less, they get to play with you and and then it's a it's so obvious that, you know, we should work with Chuck next because he obviously knows us.

And I really love that about quiz funnels. And, you know, something that I've noticed, you know, from one marketing strategist to another is that, you know, you there's lots of ways to lead, you know, generate leads and build a list. But if you put the wrong people on the list, they're not buying anything. And I know that there's members of our target audience right now that are listening in right now. And they're nodding their head, and they're going, Yeah, that's happening to me right now. Like, you know, I've got 1000 people on my list, but they're not buying anything. And then comes along quiz funnels. And, you know, it's just a whole other experience. And I've seen some pretty cool ones in the in the diet industry and the parenting industry and all sorts of different quiz funnels. So I love the strategy. And so like, what are you seeing in terms of the different results that you're seeing in terms of the the leads being generated through through quizzes, in comparison to the usual ways that leads are generated?

Well, it kind of you're kind of avoiding that tire kicker, freebie seeker person that's just gonna, like, you know, all download this, and they'll never read it, and they never do anything with it. You're, you're actually talking to the person that's interested in the answer. So whatever question your answer, like asking, they actually want the answer to, because they're going to do the quiz to get it. So you've already kind of pre qualified people to be action takers on your list, and you're now engaged with people that are interested in your topic, not your freebie, right. So they're interested in learning more, because that's why they took the quiz, because it took the quiz to learn something about themselves. And you've, you know, you've offered that now you're offering them even a further opportunity to learn more about what you know, how you can work together and, you know, service their business or, or their, you know, their personalities or whatever, whatever it is, that you're you're offering or your services. So, I think that it's, you know, it's, it's a way to make sure that your list is not just your target audience, but it's responsive, because you don't want a list of people that are like, you know, like 5% click rates, and, you know, it's just, it's all your metrics just go down, if you don't have the right people on your list, so you're just spinning your wheels, and you're just talking to the people again, just like on the phone, where you're just, you know, you're kind of chasing the sale, and you don't want to ever do that.

I'm gonna lean into our listeners for here for a moment, say, look, Does this sound familiar? Right, because you're generating leads in your business, and you're, you know, get the juicy carrot, get the lead magnet, you know, give them a free download and build your list. And this is what everybody does, yet, there's this, you know, afterwards can be this disconnect, this still this gap between that and the thing that you're selling. And Catharine, what I love about what you're saying here is that this is a better way of generating leads, and at a higher quality, more engagement, and they're more open and ready for the next thing, which, you know, downloads don't really do.

Yeah, download doesn't mean a sale. Right? So, you know, like, get, get the people that are ready for you on your list. That are and maybe they're not, they're not quite ready, but they're having the conversation with themselves. So that, you know, that's okay, they can go to the podcast and listen to you. Or they can, you know, they can be in your email sequence and get, you know, maybe the, the workshop that's coming up or whatever else, but at least they're in your nurture sequence, but they're ready for you. They're not they're not the person that is so you know, you know, behind the scenes or ahead of the game that they're just you know, it's just a freebie seeker thing that like, it's just it's wasting space on your on your CRM.

Oh, wasting space on the CRM, that is so true. And then I just purged a couple of 1000 people that, you know, they don't open the emails they're not in so why why fool myself in thinking that my list is this size, when it's really the size, and you know, what's real, I think is a much better number, and more engaged. So, so I mean, that really helps so, so definitely, we're going to make sure that everyone knows how to connect with you at the end of the interview, we'll get you to share your contact information, because I know there's people listening to this going, yeah, that's my problem, because my lead generation strategy is not generating the right people. I want to make sure that we have a chance to talk about a little bit about partnerships and collaboration and, you know, in this entrepreneurship journey, you know, we all start off as kind of being solo entrepreneurs and and and, you know, we have this idea we go off and do it. We hear people all the time talk about oh, I'm a self made this or I'm a self made that but really and truly I don't think we None of us are really self made. So how of partnerships and collaborations played a role in, in your business in your journey.

Massive, massive couldn't couldn't be in business without my collaborations, my JV partners, and my affiliate partners are amazing. I love building relationships with other businesses, because you know, as all businesses grow, you know, the tide rises all boats. And I think that there is a misconception that everyone's in competition with each other. Like, there's more than enough, you know, to go around. And, you know, as long as you're collaborating with what makes sense for your, for your audience, and what's going to serve your audience. So, you know, for for my audience is entrepreneurs that are growing, you know, experienced entrepreneurs growing their businesses, you know, and maybe the next step for them is a webinar system more, or something like that, I want to make sure that I have that joint venture, because I don't do that necessarily, I want to make sure that I'm able to pass them on to somebody I trust. So that you're, you're more of a holistic, I like to be the person that people come to me, and I'm happy to refer them to the next person in the chain, if you will. So I think it's massively important. I think it's maybe underestimated for the solopreneur. Like, if you're just starting out, like get into some of the some of the communities and learn how to JV because I think it's a game changer. Honestly.

I look back on, you know, the 27 years that I've been doing this, and how much easier it has been whenever I've worked with someone else, find that partner that, you know, is strong, where I'm weak and vice versa. And together, we can accomplish so much more. I mean, we have our horror stories as well. I mean, everyone has that collaboration or partnership, that didn't work out. But you know, you should never let that stop you. Because there's always I always think there's one, you're one good partnership away from like just that next level in your business, and you don't even know who you're going to meet until you start putting yourself out there like conversations like this.

Yeah. Well, and then that, like, you know, and this leads to me introducing you do so and so when you introduce me this like I mean, it just starts to expand quickly. And you'll be surprised about how quickly that it can expand. So like don't do it, don't do it by yourself. It you don't have to, it's, it's really not hard. So I would I would suggest to anyone because you are one connection away from a million dollar idea, or a multi million dollar idea. So you know, keep making the connections.

And keep making those connections, keep having those ideas and follow up on them as well. Right. And so some people don't have a lead generation problem, they have a follow up problem. But that's a whole other episode. So, so Catharine, we have a part of our show where we recognize that entrepreneurship is a growth exercise. It's a journey where we want to grow our businesses, but we also grow ourselves as well. So we always like to hear from our guests, like who has been your most influential leaders or mentors, or the person who you've learned the most from that others maybe could be inspired by as well. So who would that be for you?

I'm actually I'm in a mentorship program with a gentleman called Mark lock. And he runs shorten the gap along with some other fairly large businesses and, and one thing that I will say is that you'll never know what package your mentor will come into. Because he's a lot younger than I am. And, and maybe people wouldn't expect me to consider him a mentor, but he's a genius in sales and marketing. And so don't don't put up with any kind of false barriers as to, you know, what, what experience that you need, because, you know, the teacher shows up when you're ready, and just be open to you know, accepting that person, you know, as they show up.

So true. I mean, and how easy is it to judge that person, when they come into our world go, Oh, they're that or they're this and, and but when we're just open and we drop all of that it leaves us open to receiving the thing that we are really looking for or needing at that time. So I think that's so cool. And I love how you mentioned that, that aspect of it, because I hear it and see it all the time. I know I'm guilty of it from time to time as well. Just happens and and yeah, so I thank you for pointing that out. Because I think that's an important takeaway for our listeners. The other part I like to ask to Catharine is books. I'm a reader. Well actually, I'm a listener. I subscribe to Audible I'm not so good with the reading but I I always find the the audiobook version of it. But there's so much wealth of information packed in these books. And so if you were to recommend a book to our listeners, that would be a must read. What would you recommend?

Thinking Grow Rich, I think is is like a keystone. And I certainly, I continually read it actually, it's one that I always go back to, because it always seems to have lessons after the fact. And you know, you'll learn something else. And you go back and think, oh, that's where it is. So it's one that I've actually read a few times. And I love it.

You know, I remember being inspired by Bob Proctor who made a life and a career out of studying that book. And, you know, someone asked him about speed reading one time, he's like, I don't speed read, I slow read, like, I'll open a page, and I'll look at a paragraph. And I might study that paragraph for an entire day, just really trying to understand it at its deep level. And there's so much wisdom. I mean, it's a book that, you know, it started my journey as well, I want to say that that was the very first book that I read, and at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, it's one that with so many books now that it's easy to overlook, and when it was written, but it it contains so much wisdom that you know, just, you know, get rid of the tactic of the day and all of that, but at its core, its foundation, the principles in that book are absolutely the key to success.

Well, and they've stayed they've stood the test of time. Right. So I mean, that was that was written back in one the 1920s or, or something along those lines. So you know, like, we've gone through several dot coms we've gone through, you know, like, we're about to embark on web 3.0. I mean, things are vastly different, and yet the same. So I think your foundations and your underlying principles are going to be you get those right. And then the rest. Yeah, add on later as you need.

Absolutely. Catharine, thank you so much for everything you've shared today. And I'm sincerely hope that our listeners were inspired by the things that you've shared, and especially this idea of quiz funnels, because I know it's a game changer. Absolutely. I know, we're going to be sending some people your way. How does everyone get a hold of you? Where what's the best place to look for you?

Yeah, you can just reach out to thequizqueen.com. And you can find me there.

Fantastic. And I know that we're going to have a link in the show notes or below this video. So you can check that out as well click that link, and we will happily connect you with Catharine. Catharine, thank you so much for being on the show. And I know we could probably spend another hour talking about this. And we both have stories to share. But I appreciate that and look forward to the next time our paths cross. If you're gonna leave our audience with just one last word of wisdom or tip, what would you say to them?

Make sure to ask, don't guess.

Simple as that, ask, don't guess. Right, seek to understand. It's one of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. So love it. Great words to me this one on Katherine, thank you so much. And to our listeners. Thank you for tuning in. And until next time, keep moving forward and keep living your dream and building your dream business and making that big impact that you were always meant to make on the world. We all need it. Thank you so much for doing this and make sure you tune in for the next episode where we'll have another amazing guest. In the meantime, connect with Catharine and we'll see you on the next one.

Bye.