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Unlocking Growth: Why Insight and Research are the Keys to Business Success

Have you ever thought you knew exactly what your customers needed — only to find out that they expected something completely different?

In today’s fast-paced world, understanding your customers and stakeholders isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a must. It is the difference between a business that grows and one that collapses.

Stakeholder insights are a priority in being able to deliver exceptional value, discover new opportunities, increase retention, profit, well the list goes on.

For us it’s not just about gathering the information, it’s also about how you use it.

Throughout this article we (Bella & Alex) outline our key moments in our most recent podcast conversation and what they mean for your business.

We highlighted in our recent podcast episode how this exact point can be detrimental to your business growth and success. Unfortunately so many service businesses fall into the “I think” trap when it comes to the needs of their customers and how their stakeholders understand the value of their business.

We talk about the way to know you’re truly delivering what your clients and stakeholders want.

Investing in real, meaningful customer insights and research. This isn’t just about ticking a box, it’s about creating a business that’s aligned with everyone and primed for growth.

A note from us: some of the sections have links to specific parts in the episode where we talk directly to a topic, jump to the topics that you want or enjoy the whole piece.

The difference between assumption and reality

Have you ever heard the phrase “You know what thought did?”

The phrase is typically used in a humorous or teasing way to remind someone that assuming or overthinking without proper information can lead to mistakes. It often suggests that acting on assumptions instead of verifying facts can get you into trouble.

One of the biggest mistakes service businesses make is assuming they know what their customers are looking for and need without actually validating their wants, needs and pains points with them.

It’s very easy for us to draw on our experience and skills to help clients or even team members to achieve a certain outcome.

However without confirming or validating if what you are offering/ talking about is exactly what they want and need you are working based on assumption.

Assumptions with the market can mean our service offerings and messaging flops harder than a lead balloon.

No engagement and no sales.

Assumptions with clients can cause:

Assumptions with team members can mean you give them responsibilities or tasks that don’t fit their skills, don’t align with where they are looking to develop and overwhelm them. This could lead to unproductivity, reduced quality outputs and low staff retention.

As much as we know, in order to really understand your customers, stakeholders or anyone that has a direct link to your business, try to take the time, listen and ask questions to dig deep to gain an understanding as to what they are really looking for from you.

An activity for you from Bella: Take note of how many times when talking about your clients, your team or growth you use the words “I think”.

For example- I think that my team knows our value proposition, I think that our clients are really happy, I think we are growing.

Give yourself two weeks then calculate how many times you’ve said it.

Then over the following weeks go and ask your team about the value proposition, obtain feedback from your clients and run the numbers, what is your rate of growth?

What do they tell you?

Don’t Just Look at Customers — Consider All Stakeholders

Yes, understanding your customers is vital, but it’s only part of the picture.

If you only focus on customer feedback, you risk overlooking valuable insights from other stakeholders.

You need to take a 360-degree view, bringing in perspectives from across the value chain — your internal teams, external suppliers, and especially the client-facing staff who engage with customers every day.

These people often hold insights that go beyond what surveys and analytics can tell you.

When you leave them out of the conversation, you run the risk of relying on assumptions, which can lead your strategy off course.

The problem usually isn’t with the research itself — it’s that it hasn’t been interpreted in a holistic way. Talking to all stakeholders helps you identify where friction is happening and where things might be slipping through the cracks.

It’s about seeing the bigger picture and understanding the entire business ecosystem.

Listen to Alex’s perspective in our conversation: https://youtu.be/33ogJ4nHP6c?feature=shared&t=454

Look at the experience as a whole

To truly understand how to improve your client experience, you’ve got to look beyond individual sections of your clients journey. Improving client touch points won’t make a difference if your internal process and way of delivering has gaps and leakages.

When looking holistically, it’s not just about a single touchpoint, like a sales call or an email follow-up, it’s about the entire journey from start to finish.

Every part of that journey matters, from how a prospect first hears about your brand, to how your team delivers on promises, and even how internal processes are managed behind the scenes.

The internal experience, how your team feels and operates is just as critical.

If your team isn’t aligned with what your business stands for, or they’re struggling to deliver due to miscommunication and a lack of capacity, resource and way of working, that’s going to show up in your overall customer experience.

So therefore really.. Insight can’t focus solely on customer interactions. To make a difference, try to look at everything:

If you’re only looking at one aspect of the experience, you’re missing the bigger picture. However, from conducting research, insights can connect every piece, ensuring that entire business experience is pretty epic.

Hear Bella’s thoughts on CX as a whole: Full Episode- The key to unlocking growth: truly listening to your customers and stakeholders.

Don’t just rely on the quant

It’s easy to get caught up in the data — percentages, figures, and stats. But if you truly want to understand what your customers and stakeholders think, you need to dig into the qualitative insights.

If you’re serious about delivering a great customer experience, you need to understand the full user experience, and that means having real conversations and asking the right questions — especially why.

Why do they like something?

Why don’t they?

It’s the “why” that lets you get beneath the surface and truly grasp their needs, wants and paint-points.

Conversations give you the context behind the numbers, offering a deeper understanding that data alone can’t provide.

Sure, surveys are helpful, but those in-depth discussions uncover what’s really driving customer behaviour and stakeholder decisions.

Listen to Alex’s perspective in our conversation: https://youtu.be/33ogJ4nHP6c?feature=shared&t=2855

Action speaks louder than words

Collecting feedback is actually the easy bit.

Knowing what to do with the feedback, how to analyse and put a plan in place to be able to make the changes outlined.

Being able to find patterns and commonalities in what individuals are saying, combined with data and more quantitative information, gives a more concrete idea of areas of improvement, moments of value, key messaging, ROI, objections and so on.

Acting on this feedback, yes improves your customer and internal experience, but more importantly helps build and solidifies stronger relationships and as a result increases retention.

Hear Bella’s thoughts on action in our episode: Full Episode- The key to unlocking growth: truly listening to your customers and stakeholders.

Paying attention to the stories people tell you.

Pay attention to the stories people tell you — they’re incredibly powerful. As humans, we tend to remember stories more than we remember numbers. Yes, the data is crucial for running the business, but it’s the stories that often reveal the most meaningful insights.

Real, human stories are invaluable when it comes to building trust and connection with both customers and stakeholders.

How many times have you seen someone in your organisation ignore the data and rely on their gut instinct instead?

Bringing real stories to the table adds a layer of truth and connection to your research, grounding it in the reality of lived experiences.

For instance, customer stories are incredibly effective for shaping marketing strategies and guiding business decisions.

They provide relatable, real-world examples of how your product or service is making an impact.

Not only do they strengthen your brand’s credibility and resonate with your audience, but they also give stakeholders confidence in your direction — or even offer new insights on the next steps they should take

Listen to Alex’s perspective in our conversation: https://youtu.be/33ogJ4nHP6c?feature=shared&t=3893

Finding the time and resource for implementation.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you have a list of changes to implement based on research insights especially when time and resources and often budget ongoing is limited.

As spoken about earlier that doesn’t mean insights should just sit on a shelf.

Through the podcast episode we talk about how you can approach implementation so that it’s not such a big task.

For Bella it’s about being intentional and practical- focus on the small changes that will have the biggest impact first.

For example, if research has shown that customers weren’t quite sure what they were buying into and what they actually came out with, Start by clarifying through communication and setting expectations through onboarding and before, then maybe outlining clear touch points throughout the engagement to reconfirm and align so that clients and you feel confident that everyone knows the scope and projected outcomes.

Prioritisation is key here.

Alex says: “Don’t worry about changing everything all at once.

Even tweaking just one part of the customer journey, like refining your messaging or personalising a key touchpoint can make a world of difference. And you’ll see those results faster, which builds momentum and confidence for tackling bigger changes down the line.”

You may be surprised, Implementing research insights doesn’t have to mean a complete change to your entire business model, services and way of working, progress is always better than perfection.

It’s about getting those small wins, celebrating the positive impact, and building a solid foundation for more comprehensive changes in the future.

We both spoke on the importance of involving your team early in the process.

When your team understands why you’re making certain changes and sees how their contributions fit into the bigger picture, they’re more likely to support the changes. It’s not just about pushing them through; it’s about getting everyone onboard so that those changes stick.

Hear Bella’s perspective on finding the time and resource for implementing feedback: Full Episode- The key to unlocking growth: truly listening to your customers and stakeholders.

Building research and insight into the culture of the business

Building research and insights into the culture of a business starts with having genuine conversations with your clients. It’s about validating assumptions by asking for honest feedback.

Sometimes, you’ll hear that things are fine, and other times, you’ll hear that something’s off and needs fixing before moving forward.

Both responses are equally valuable because they help you assess whether your organisation is truly ready to grow and evolve.

By incorporating this feedback into your decision-making process, you’re ensuring that your business is grounded in reality, not just internal assumptions.

Making feedback a continuous part of your business culture ensures you’re always listening to the needs, wants, and pain points of all stakeholders. This creates an environment where you’re constantly improving — addressing problems as they arise and seizing opportunities when they present themselves.

It’s not just about reacting to what’s in front of you but having a system in place that makes sure nothing is missed, whether it’s a challenge to overcome or a chance to grow.

Listen to Alex’s perspective in our conversation: https://youtu.be/33ogJ4nHP6c?feature=shared&t=2322

Our final note

Investing in audience research isn’t just an expense — it’s a smart investment in the future of your business.

By truly understanding and acting on stakeholder needs, you can uncover new opportunities, boost customer satisfaction, and drive sustainable growth.

Aligning your strategy with real customer insights bridges the gap between what you offer and what they actually need, creating a win-win for everyone.

Any questions on any of the above topics?

Reach out to Alex and Bella on LinkedIn:

Bella LinkedIn | Alex LinkedIn

Alex Blondin