Strategic Scaling: Navigating Business Growth

Catharine O'Leary: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to kickstart the conversation. I am your host, Catharine O'Leary. And today I want to dive a little deeper into the world of strategic scaling. So this is scaling your business to grow into maybe new sectors, or maybe it's growing into new product lines, or new new offers, and so on. So it's really navigating your business growth. And really scaling your business is a crucial step to to growing your business. And we want to explore how to leverage quizzes, and how quizzes can guide your journey with to growth with precision and insight, the way that you have gotten to the place that you are now, which is likely, you know, putting a lot of effort in putting a lot of hours in doing everything yourself, if you're a solopreneur, or having a small team beside you, the way that you are going to exponentially grow is not going to look the same as the way that you've gotten to where you are now. So this is not about just throwing more hours at things or about even just about throwing more resources at things like you know, hiring more team members, or getting more processes, you're going to need those for sure. But you really want to scale with precision and with insights. And what I want to do is talk a little bit today about how you can use quizzes, to gain some of that insight that you can make, you know, data driven decisions so that you can make decisions that are best for your business in a way that you've actually got the you know, the information in your pocket and the data in your pocket to say, Yes, this sector makes sense, or yes, this product makes sense. Because you don't want to be wasting time going into areas that are are not going to be sustainable for you. Again, scaling really does involve more than just increasing your sales. It's about smart expansion, right. So we've all seen businesses that expand far too rapidly, they expand to, to the point where they can't fulfill, they expand to the point where they can't get the products on the shelves or you know, get the the the salespeople on the sales calls, or whatever it is. Or they expand to the point where everybody's working so much and so hard and so fast, that things get lost in the in the shuffle things are falling through the cracks. And you know, that kind of frantic pace is just not sustainable. Right. And it's not fun. Like that's, that's craziness, not to say you won't have moments of craziness, we all know, as entrepreneurs, to like, it's kind of a world of crazy, you get that right. But you really want to make sure that you're doing this smartly. You're doing this with a plan, and you're doing it in a way that is going to let you and your business and your team lives lives that they want to live. So it's not just you, you know, working 24/7 That's not probably why you got into business is not really sustainable. So let's just go through some ways that, you know, we can make sure that you have the information that you need to expand smartly. Right now, maybe you're facing challenges in identifying the right areas for growth. And, you know, this is where quizzes can, can help you figure out you know, whether the areas that you're thinking of, you know, scaling into can can help you because basically a quiz can really, you know, if you think about it as a way to gather vital data on customer preferences and market trends and guiding your decision making. This is really how corporate uses market research. You know, where they're gathering information on how consumers are using their products and services and how they're using competitive products and services and what the market trends are doing. They're using that information in order to gain that data in that insight to drive their decision making. Right and that's, you know, that's something that entrepreneurs also need to do in order to get into that position of smart expansion. Right? So for instance, a quiz on customer service preferences, even within your own community can reveal insights into maybe expanding your support channels effectively. Maybe for example, if you did a quiz on the cow are we doing in our customer service? And which of the following would you like to see us add? I'm not promising them but you know, maybe it's Voxer and or, you know, immediate text support or it's an additional coaching call weekly. You can actually, you know, see from your customer service pro references as you ask your clients, you can expand your support channels more effectively. Again, you know, once you have that data, then you can look at the options of how to actually service that. Let's go through another example. Think about a sector of your business that you want to grow. You know, how well do you understand your audience in this area. So if you have a, as you know, a group or segment, maybe you have a segment in your, in your business that you that is under served. So it's a segment that you haven't spent a lot of time on, or you don't have a lot of products or services for right now. But they are in your database, they are in your your business in your community, maybe thinking about something that you can offer to them? Well, how well do you understand this particular audience in this area, that's where a quiz could come into place in unlocking this knowledge, and you know, being able to align your growth strategies with the customer needs. So it's kind of like taking your lead generation, your big lead generation quiz and paring it down to just talk to one segment of your current base, or maybe you put that out to that segment. But you you go beyond your own community and talk to everyone within that segment that has those needs to really understand, you know, is it a, is it a product offering for you? Or is it a sector that you can go into, like, is there the growth potential there to invest your time and your effort into it. So that's one way you can, you know, kind of use a quiz and other ways to create a strategic growth quiz that, you know, gets really deep into the understanding of your, your clients, and what your potential clients are looking for. So maybe instead of a new sector, you're actually exploring a new product line, you can use quizzes to gauge customer interest, you can ask your ideal clients about their challenges and preferences, and even what their feet what they feel is missing in the current market, not just you learn not just your products and services, but just in general, there are lots of different ways that you can do this. The challenge will be to to create the right questions to make sure that you are getting the information that you want, but in this approach ensures you're not just launching a product for the sake of launching a product, it makes sure that you're launching a product that actually answers a need. There's a lot of people that think if they build it, you know, they will come you know, if you build it, they will come that is no longer true. Right? That is just there is there's too much out there is so much white noise so much. You know, there's challenges in you know, breaking through to your ideal clients to begin with, but you're gonna have a lot easier time to breaking through if you're answering a need that your clients are, are asking for, and are saying that currently they're not getting met, right? So efficiency and scaling really means growing with that consumer insight. Right. So quizzes can help you, you know, understand which area of your business has the highest potential for growth, you know, assessing customer interest in an eco friendly product can guide your shift to sustainable offerings, just as an example. So lots of ways that you can use quizzes to gauge market interest to make sure that you are, you know, meeting a need for that that is being unmet right now. And making sure that, you know, there is a market for what you're offering. You know, let's look at another case study. Imagine a small clothing brand that uses quizzes to identify a strong customer interest in organic materials. This insight can direct they're scaling towards an eco friendly line, that will lead to increased sales and customer loyalty. That's a way that you know, you can use the information that your your clients are giving you in, you know, maybe a usage and awareness study, you can then look at the information and the insights to see whether or not what you're thinking is supported or better still use it to ideate and to innovate something new that you hadn't even thought of yet. And you know, like use that information, get into that that zone of what is this data telling me? What are the holes that that it's telling me that I, you know, that are around my products or services that are around what consumers need that I can fill that nobody else is doing? Like maybe there's some I call it, maybe you're leaving money on the table, right? And you know, there's some whitespace opportunities that nobody nobody's seeing right now because they're not looking at it in the way that you would be looking at it with your data.

So scaling is about measurable outcomes. You know, track changes in consumer behavior and preferences and satisfaction. This is all compass right compass information for guiding you to scaling efforts towards, you know, success and avoiding those pitfalls. Right. So, again, this is about being curious about what consumers are currently doing, about what they need, about what their say they need, and what's not be or their frustrations with, what what's not being met, and your ability to kind of be able to gather that information and distill it into, you know, products and services. That's what, you know, that's, that's how the fortune 50 Really, you know, go about their next product launch, or their next, their next best service offering, the more involved you are in understanding what's going on with the market trends and your customers and what they need. It's, it's going to help overall to scale your business, but it's also going to help you retain your customers, your current clients, because you're asking them, what's going on with them, and what's going on with their business. And it's gonna, it's going to improve the way that you talk to your potential ideal clients. So all around, it's a win win win, when you actually do understand and keep asking, keep being curious about what your customers and your clients are needing and wanting and what they're being frustrated by. Because that could be the next opportunity for you, that could be the next golden nugget for you to expand your business. So you want to be eagerly applying those insights to your business. If you want to learn more about quizzes and about, you know, connecting with me visit quiz from a biz.com. And there you'll discover the number one missing gap in your business that's stopping you from attracting more clients. And to see the quiz that I use for you know, attraction and retention. This is what I'm using for my clients to better understand not only attracting my ideal clients, a no initially, but also trending what's going on with them throughout the journey. And as they work with me on a client retention side as well. So discover that power of targeted growth and make informed decisions that align with your business goals. Again, don't just build it because they're not just going to come that's that's just not a thing anymore. Data driven insights and data driven decisions are going to go a long way to making sure that you get you know, you actually get to that next level in a smart way. And and you know, you expand smartly. So that is what I hope for you so I'm curious about your scaling challenges and success. So share your stories with our community. Let's learn and grow together. And remember, scaling your business is a journey of discovery and innovation. It's really a journey of curiosity. So thanks for tuning in. Let's keep these conversations going. And until next time, stay curious to stay connected. Thanks