ScaleHQ Podcast

100th episode!

Today I reveal my 6 biggest takeaways from 100 interviews with successful Founders and experts on scaling. And a little update on my crazy move to Europe.

After 2 years of speaking to successful Founders, experts on many aspects of business you need to master to scale, we have finally reached the 100th episode! (woop woop).

This week, I summarise my 6 biggest takeaways from the first 100 episodes.

Whether you’re a regular listener or new to the ScaleHQ Podcast, this is one you won’t want to miss this very special episode if you want to scale to 8 figures + .

Oh.. and I add a few special updates on new episode formats for 2024 AND an update on my recent crazy, life-changing move to Europe.

The highlights from this week’s episode:

🔗 03:22 Takeaway #1 - Develop a clear growth strategy to develop competitive advantage.

🔗 06:30 Takeaway #3 - Level up a few key roles as early as possible

🔗 09:17 Takeaway #4 - Don’t write off acquisitions because you’re afraid of them (I’ll explain why)

🔗 10:49 Takeaway #5 - You’ll have to listen to find out!

🔗 13:36 Takeaway #6 - You’ll have to listen to find out!

🔗 19:41 - The future of the ScaleHQ podcast in 2024

🔗 21:48 - My family’s recent crazy move to Europe - how to follow the journey

Watch or listen to the full episode on:

Spotify: https://loom.ly/NuK50WA

Apple: https://loom.ly/-oy8jL4

YouTube: https://loom.ly/u_vibuw

ScaleHQ website: www.ScaleHQ.com.au/100

#scaleup #businessgrowth #successtips

After co-founding then exiting Australia’s largest buyers agency Cohen Handler, Ben founded Buyers Agent Institute.

In just 5 years, he scaled it into a high profit, 8-figure business.

This week, I interview him to find out what his secret is to building a successful, high-growth business.

After amassing 3 billion in residential and commercial property purchases in just 9 years, Ben Handler decided it was time to exit his role as Co-Founder and CEO of Cohen Handler, Australia’s largest buyers agency and start the Buyer’s Agent Institute (BAI).

BAI is an education business focused on helping people become buyers agents.

He scaled it to 8-figures, and high levels of profitability in just 5 years.

In this episode, Ben reveals his secrets to building a lean, variable-cost business model and his approach to building predictable, scalable sales funnels that consistently produce high growth rates.

Some of the best bits:

04:06 - “Building a business with someone else is more exciting than going it alone”

26:41 - “The best marketers are expert in only one platform, do revenue shares and don’t take many clients”

31:54 - The intricacies of designing scalable sales funnels

37:09 - “People can copy your website, but they can’t copy your story”

48:29 - “The more fulfilled you are outside your work, the better your growth will be”

Watch or listen to the full episode on:

Spotify: https://loom.ly/NuK50WA

Apple: https://loom.ly/-oy8jL4

YouTube: https://loom.ly/u_vibuw

ScaleHQ website: www.ScaleHQ.com.au/99

#EducationBusiness #GrowthStrategy #SalesFunnels

This week, Talila Kroy is back to reveal how you can use strategic partnerships to take your business growth to the next level.

Customers buy from people they trust, and they like. But how do you short-cut the inevitable time it can take to develop trust with a new customer?

Strategic partnerships is one incredible way. Why?

Because recommendations from partners of your work instils instant trust in that customer, and saves you having to establish it for yourself.

Strategic partnerships are like planting an orchard of fruit trees, rather than going to the shops to buy fruit each day.. which would be like direct sales.

Yes.. it’s quicker initially to just buy that fruit directly and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s tiring and requires a higher workload over time.

If you plant an orchard, there’s more work upfront, but if you then nurture that orchard and allow it to grow, and mature.. that orchard (strategic partnership) will deliver ongoing, high quality fruit exactly the way you like it, season after season, after season.

This week, I have Talila Kroy from the award-winning emple (experts in developing repeatable client acquisition systems) back for a third time on the ScaleHQ podcast, sharing her secrets on how to set up enduring strategic partnerships that deliver value for both parties, in an authentic and genuine way that protects your and their brand and your respective customers.

You’ll love learning how to use strategic partnerships as a key channel that enables your business growth.

Here are the highlights of this week’s episode:

04:46 - The benefits of strategic partnerships over direct sales.

08:36 - The typical conversion rates in partner-delivered leads.

18:15 - The ingredients that make strategic partnerships flourish.

26:33 - Different ways of creating value for each partner (and their clients).

36:08 - The rhythms that matter in the partnership as it matures.

48:05 - The things that can go wrong and how to avoid them

Watch or listen to the full episode on:

🔗 Spotify: https://loom.ly/NuK50WA

🔗 Apple: https://loom.ly/-oy8jL4

🔗 YouTube: https://loom.ly/u_vibuw

🔗 ScaleHQ website: www.ScaleHQ.com.au/98

#Acquisition #Partnerships #LeadGeneration.

How do you add 200m in revenue in 2.5 years?

This week Sean interviews Ben Marsonet the Group CEO of Altus Traffic to understand their rapid transformation.

Ben Marsonet’s had an incredible journey.

From Traffic Controller at 18, to Group CEO of ANZ’s largest traffic management business.

2.5 years ago they had $140m in revenue, under new ownership and Ben’s leadership they now have $350m in revenue having completed 4 acquisitions in just 12 months.

You’ll love this week’s humble and inspiring guest on the ScaleHQ podcast. Join us as we unpack Ben’s story, and the secrets behind this rapid growth.

Some of the highlights from this week’s episode:

03:55 - The current scale of Altus.

10:00 - The pivotal inflection points that have led to the significant transformation.

14:15 - When is the right time to take on private equity investment.

22:12 - The biggest challenges under private equity ownership.

26:51 - The ingredients that led to the 140m-350m. transformation.

35:42 - Ben’s biggest learning as a new CEO.

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Watch or listen to the full episode on:

• Spotify: https://loom.ly/NuK50WA

• Apple: https://loom.ly/-oy8jL4

• YouTube: https://loom.ly/u_vibuw

ScaleHQ website: 

#growthjourney #scaleups #ceotips

From Startups and Success to Burnout: A 15-Year Entrepreneurial Journey.

Only 2.3% of businesses successfully scale beyond $10 million.

And of those, even fewer manage to succeed in building 4 successful companies in a 15 year period. But that’s exactly what Ryan Trainor has done.

Since the age of 24 Ryan has founded and led or co-founded, a labor force company, three successful education businesses and the largest video game and entertainment venues business in the southern hemisphere.

But these sorts of achievements unfortunately can take a significant toll on your physical health and your relationships with those around you.

Ryan, after burning out in 2022, realised he had to take a look at how he was managing his ambitions, his health and his relationships.

You’ll love hearing both the strategies that helped him succeed as a serial entrepreneur, and how he’s grappling with the impacts of his burnout.

Here are this week’s best bits from the full episode

02:18 - The foundations of Ryan’s repeated successes.

07:48 - The issues that arise when you start assigning genius to what you’ve done.

11:47 - Was building to step back a plan, or an accident?

17:25 - How to manage financial risks when you step back from CEO.

23:07 - What happens when you ignore the signs on the way to burnout.

33:28 - How to find success at home when you’re used to finding it in your business.

Watch or listen to the full episode on:

• Spotify: https://loom.ly/NuK50WA

• Apple: https://loom.ly/-oy8jL4

• YouTube: https://loom.ly/u_vibuw

• ScaleHQ website: www.ScaleHQ.com.au/96

#BusinessGrowth #Burnout #Relationships.

This week, Sean deep dives into unique approaches to events as a potential (and often ignored) way to bring potential clients through your pipeline.

Just wrapped up a ScaleHQ podcast episode with Morgan Ingram (4x LinkedIn Top Sales Voice who’s helped Salesforce and Zoom revolutionise their sales effectiveness), that's a goldmine for any business leader looking for a unique way to bring prospects into, and through their pipeline. 🎙️

Did you know that only 30% of companies are hitting their sales targets using traditional methods? 🎯

We explore why traditional tactics aren't working like they once did. 🤔

But what truly stood out in this conversation was the resurgence of face-to-face interactions and events as an interesting opportunity for deeper engagement (and usually free of creativity from your competitors so easier to stand out). 🤝

It's not just about booths at the event anymore; think hiring a bar with drinks, demos, and immersive experiences NEAR the event (listen for details) as just one example. 🍹🎉

You’ll love this week’s episode, here are some of the key bits:

03:25 - Why buyers aren’t responding like they used to

08:17 - Content isn't just king, it's the whole game! We dive into why

11:36 - Events? Think beyond booths. Imagine lounges, demos, and mini-conferences

17:39 - How you convert your interactions into business opportunities

25:11 - How to measure ROI with events

30:15 - The future of video content + live events as a unique combo

Watch or listen to the full episode on:

• Spotify: https://loom.ly/NuK50WA

• Apple: https://loom.ly/-oy8jL4

• YouTube: https://loom.ly/u_vibuw

• ScaleHQ website: www.ScaleHQ.com.au/95

#Sales #EventActivations #CustomerAquisition

Sales expert Talila Kroy breaks down her secrets to recruiting sales people, to help you take your customer acquisition to another level.

Roughly 50% of sales campaigns fail, you can’t just hire a few people off LinkedIn with “Salesperson” as their role and hope to see your profits increase.

When it comes to hiring salespeople, you need to find someone with the right motivation and mindset.

This week, Talila Kroy from emple returns to the ScaleHQ podcast.

Talila is an expert when it comes to recruiting and managing sales teams.

This episode, she breaks down her secrets to recruiting sales people, to help you increase the likelihood that you’ll end up with a high performance sales team.

Here are the best bits of this episode:

07:24 - Finding the right motivation behind salespeople.

18:41 - Why your culture matters so much in the hiring process.

22:43 - Mastering writing the job advertisement (it matters more than you think!).

29:17 - Setting expectations about remuneration when hiring.

34:46 - Designing your first and second interviews.

42:56 - When do you assess your applicants?

Watch or listen to the full episode on:

#BusinessPodcast #ScaleUpBusiness #businessgrowth

How can you maximise the performance and potential of your team?

This week, Sean breaks down one of the best and most simple talent management tools around, the 9-Box Grid.

To maximise the performance and realise the potential of your team, you need a structured approach to how you assess that performance and potential, and a clear plan on how to maximise it.

Or to move them on!

Whatever the right decision is.

The 9-box grid is a commonly used framework by leaders around the world.

It's a simple diagram that allows you to assess your team members based on two important factors: their current performance and their future potential.

In this episode I unpack the 9-box talent grid, how it works, the pros and cons, and what to do with people once you've assessed where they fit!

Here are the most important parts of this weeks episode:

04:31 - What does the 9-box grid look like?

08:08 - The pros and cons of the 9-box grid.

11:29 - How to assess performance and potential using the grid.

18:51 - How to optimize your professional development budget.

Watch or listen to the full episode on:

• Spotify: https://loom.ly/NuK50WA

• Apple: https://loom.ly/-oy8jL4

• YouTube: https://loom.ly/u_vibuw

• ScaleHQ website: www.ScaleHQ.com.au/93

#BusinessPodcast #businesspodcast #businessgrowth #ProfessionalDevelopment.

Growing your company purely through word-of-mouth is a great way to build your brand, and it is a key indicator of a good business when you are able to get to 7-figures.

But if you want to scale to 8-figures and beyond, you'll need a scalable customer acquisition system. And that means if you're in a B2B business - you'll likely need sales people.

It's not just as easy as hiring a salesperson and expecting them to implement an effective sales process into your business. Unfortunately, they just do not, and will not come with that.

You'll need to build it yourself or get help from someone to do so, so that you can set those salespeople that you hire up for success.

This week, I interview Talila Kroy an expert when it comes to building and refining sales process that leads to better conversion rates in all types of businesses but particularly B2B.

This is the first of two episodes - this week is about ensuring you have the foundations in place before you start recruiting, next week we'll unpack the recruitment and assessment process.

Here are the best bits of this episode:

04:59 - The most common mistake Founders make when hiring salespeople

11:26 - Massively improve speed-to-competence by developing a success model first

15:08 - Sales remuneration design.... have I accidentally made them lazy?

21:04 - Getting the sales targets and KPIs right (and they're two entirely different things)

30:11 - How to effectively manage performance of your salesperson

37:13 - Getting onboarding right builds both confidence, and competence

43:32 - Insights into building a capability assessment model

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Watch or listen to the full episode on:

Spotify: https://loom.ly/NuK50WA

Apple: https://loom.ly/-oy8jL4

YouTube: https://loom.ly/u_vibuw

ScaleHQ website: www.ScaleHQ.com.au/92

Visit our guest:

Website: www.emple.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emple-australia/

Unlock your sales potential with a FREE 20-minute session at 

• https://pages.emple.com.au/saleshireready
🚩 Are you Sales-Hire Ready?

#BusinessPodcast #businesspodcast #businessgrowth #business #leadershipinsights

Markets get crowded. So how do you differentiate?

This week, I interview Rowan Kunz, who has managed to scale his business in a market with super-low barriers to entry - its as crowded as you can get!

Rowan's the Founder of Art of Smart Education, a 14-year old tutoring and mentoring business that helps high school students navigate the tricky world of succeeding academically WHILST navigating their way into the course and career pathway best suited to them.

Art of Smart have achieved 5x firsts in Australian education and built a strong competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace and this week, I wanted to find out his secrets to success so you can leverage those principles in your own business.

Here are the highlights this week:

16:28 - Tackling differentiation in a crowded, low-barrier-to-entry market.

25:35 - Overcoming scale constraints.

30:48 - The 3 C’s that helped Rowan scale.

42:14 - If you could change anything about the education system, what would it be?

46:54 - Expected impacts of AI in education

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Watch or listen to full episodes on:

• Spotify: https://loom.ly/NuK50WA

• Apple: https://loom.ly/-oy8jL4

• YouTube: https://loom.ly/u_vibuw

• ScaleHQ website: www.ScaleHQ.com.au/87

Visit our guest:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rowankunz/

• Website: artofsmart.com.au.

#qualitycontent #businesspodcast #businessgrowth