Can you grow a market research company to £6 million in just two years?
On this episode of Ponderings from the Perch, the Little Bird Marketing podcast, host and CEO Priscilla McKinney talks with guest and Potentia Insight Managing Director Suzy Hassan about building a successful consultative data collection company from the ground up. They explore how Potentia Insight achieved remarkable growth by focusing on human relationships and niche market research solutions rather than relying solely on digital automation, which dominates the industry.
They discuss how the key to rapid business growth lies in maintaining personal connections with clients, suppliers, and staff while leveraging senior-level expertise to deliver consultative services. Hassan explains that their approach centers on providing clients with a single point of contact who takes projects from start to finish, contrasting with larger organizations where clients work with multiple team members. The conversation reveals how focusing on hard-to-reach niche panels, such as UK farmers and tradespeople, allows smaller agencies to fill gaps that larger global panel companies often overlook. "We use technology as much as we can,” Hassan explains. “But it was more adding back that human element that sometimes is a little bit lost now in our day and age of technology."
The discussion covers practical strategies for business partnership success, including the importance of implicit trust and complementary skill sets between co-founders. Hassan shares how personal outreach, LinkedIn engagement, and strategic event sponsorships have consistently filled their pipeline through effective lead generation strategies while deliberately avoiding blanket email marketing in favor of personalized communications. They also explore how supporting industry networks like Women in Research creates meaningful professional relationships that extend beyond traditional business development, ultimately providing deeper customer insights that drive business growth.
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