The Question
How might we identify new business opportunities for a diverse provider network?
Before answering that question, we needed to understand the providers’ mindsets, motivations, business stages, and support needs.
Research & Insight
Turning provider research into shared understanding across the business.
A research study that brought clarity to who the providers were, how they worked, and what kind of support they needed from the business.
I led the research which included interview planning, provider and coach interviews, synthesis, segmentation, and a research report shared across the business.
The Context & Challenge
We did not have a shared lens of who we served.
WealthGuide connects customers with local professionals across financial and life services. As the network grew, the business needed a clearer picture of who the providers were, how they operated, and what kind of support would help them succeed.
The network included professionals at different stages of business maturity, but there was no shared provider segmentation across teams. That made it difficult to plan services, tools, and program support.
The Process
I started with the people behind the network.
I worked with the product manager to define the research goals, identify provider groups, and prepare the interview plan. We spoke with providers and coaches to understand how professionals managed referrals, served customers, grew their businesses, and worked with the program.
Research Focus
- Motivations
- Business needs
- Pain points
- Growth goals
- Support expectations
- Future services & tools
Research Synthesis
A pattern emerged in the findings.
Clustering the interviews helped move the team from individual stories to a clearer view of how providers thought, worked, and grew. I grouped the recurring findings into six themes.
Six Themes Emerged from the Provider Research
01 Behaviors
- Relationship- and service-oriented
- Focused on managing day-to-day operations
- Valued networking with other professionals
- Needed more support with processes, training, and delegation
02 Pain Points
- Overwhelmed by administrative and accounting work
- Manual and disconnected tools slowed down their work
- Inconsistent lead quality. Referral follow-up was difficult to manage
- New technology adoption
03 Wants & Needs
- A connected workflow between the portal and CRM tools
- Automation of follow-up, tracking and communication
- Better-vetted leads with clearer categories
- Practical scripts, templates, training, and coaching
04 Business Direction
- Plans to grow referrals, teams, and business systems
- Hire administrative or accounting support
- Continue learning while maintaining strong customer service
- Prepare to step back, retire or sell the business in the future
05 Insights
- Relationships, customer service, and repeat business were strong drivers
- Marketing knowledge and interest varied widely
- Follow-up and lead-conversion tracking were inconsistent
- Providers needed better communication with leads
06 Opportunities
- Connect the portal with CRM tools for automated workflow
- Provide scripts and follow-up communication templates
- Offer time management, business processes, administration, follow-up and personal development training
Two mindsets emerged
Across the six themes, two clear mindsets appeared. Producers were focused on serving customers and managing day-to-day work, while Growers were focused on building teams and expanding their businesses. Working with the product manager, I mapped how ownership and team size shaped these mindsets.
Insight Formation
How the interviews became a model
01
Research Inputs
- Provider interviews
- Coach interviews
- Interview notes
- Synthesis
02
Recurring Patterns
- Different stages of business maturity
- Distinct goals
- Different support expectations
03
Two mindsets emerge
- Producer: focused on service and operation
- Grower: focused on scaling and building
04
Core Insight
Professionals at different stages did not need the same kind of support.
05
Strategic Direction
Education, coaching, tools, and communication should respond to provider stage, goals, and mindset.
Targeted Personas
Two provider mindsets gave the team a shared language.
The Producer and Grower mindsets gave the team a simple way to talk about what providers were focused on and the kind of support they needed. They were not fixed labels. A provider’s priorities could change as their business grew.
The two mindsets were developed into personas that captured each group’s behaviors, priorities, challenges, and support needs.
Below are the two personas, built from the clustered findings and used across teams as a shared reference.
Bringing the findings to the team
The final presentation translated the research into a clear story about the two mindsets, their needs, and the opportunities they created. It gave teams a shared reference for discussing provider support and future product direction.
Selected slides – the Producer and Grower summaries that the team worked from.
Producer Summary
Mindset
Focused on process and very hands-on in selling and buying. Less focused on growth, with teams of one to five people.
Opportunities
- Process automation, such as marketing campaigns
- Communication tools, including scripts and customizable message templates
- Business process training
- CRM and portal integration
- Marketing support, including content creation templates
- Lead vetting
Grower Summary
Mindset
Focused on growing the business and team through training, hiring, and expansion into new territories.
Opportunities
- Business training for team growth and scaling
- Customized training materials for their teams
- Business leadership training
Evidence
What actually changed.
- 01The business gained a clearer understanding of provider types, needs, and motivations.
- 02Internal teams gained shared language for discussing the provider network.
- 03The findings circulated across the business and informed conversations beyond the original project.
- 04The insights influenced future customer-provider and provider-portal thinking, including a later team-management feature.
Insight
It began as a request for personas. It became a shared way to understand the network.
The research revealed patterns across a growing provider network and gave internal teams a clearer way to discuss provider needs, business stages, and future service opportunities.
The project ended with the research report rather than moving into journey mapping. Even so, the findings continued to circulate across the business and influence later product thinking.
Start a Conversation
You don’t need to have it all figured out before we talk.
Tell me how I can helpTell me what you’re working on, what feels unclear, and where you hope to go. We can begin by making sense of it together.