Healthy Business Growth Comes from Depth, Not Just Disruption — Here’s Why

History is rife with examples of “exciting” new business offerings that crash and burn. A business might make a big swing designed to change the game, but rolling out new, cutting-edge products and services that nobody asked for isn’t always the wisest approach.

Here’s the truth: in the startup world, we like to praise disruptors while forgetting that sometimes the smartest growth opportunities come from much subtler moves. In fact, your next best new product or service could be hidden in plain sight.

As the founder of multiple startups, I’ve learned that strategic expansion isn’t necessarily about overhauling your business or pulling yet another rabbit out of a hat. It’s about uncovering every possible way that the products and services you’ve already built can deliver more value to your partners or existing customers.

Building an initial customer base is labor- and cash-intensive. Why invest more energy in this pursuit when your existing relationships have yet to be optimized? Deepening existing relationships should be paramount.

But how do you determine what additional offerings your customers truly need? How do you know which products and services will allow you to deepen those relationships and drive growth? Here are three steps to reveal your next new offering.

Start by (actually) listening

The development of any new product or service begins with careful listening and genuine curiosity. I’m talking about market research that springs from customer obsession — not just scouring Google Trends for ideas.

When my business development team heads out to see partners, I always say: “Don’t ask what they need; ask what their problem is.” It’s a crucial distinction. The client is an expert in their own situation. But we should be the experts about the services and products that can solve their problems.

My current business, for example, is a consumer finance company that partners with clinics to help their patients secure loans. But in talking with clinic owners, we learned that they have financing struggles of their own; acquiring cutting-edge medical equipment is expensive, and freeing up the capital is challenging for them. That kind of financing wasn’t something we’d considered offering when we first launched. In fact, we never would have known it was a market niche if we hadn’t initiated those open-ended conversations.

Studies show that business students are taught to present but not to listen. If we learn to take in what we hear from customers and partners truly, we might discover that the offerings on deck aren’t what they want at all. Or that we’re leaving money on the table by overlooking opportunities to diversify our products and services — and, as a result, our revenue streams.

Related: These Are the Top 5 Threats Facing Retailers Right Now — and What You Can Do to Get Ahead of Them

Take stock of what you have

Discovering the problem is only the first step. Next, you have to evaluate whether you should offer a solution. But remember, this isn’t about doing a 180 or creating a whole new vertical. Instead, ask yourself: Is this additive to our existing business, or just a shiny distraction?

In our case, we had the basic know-how, products, and staffing to deliver a solution for our partners. The financing mechanisms we’d set up for individual consumers could be easily retooled to provide financing for clinics – and we wouldn’t break our backs in the process.

It’s important to model how long it will take to realize your ROI. Building an app, for example, may feel like an organic extension of your core business, but time and resources are lost in rounds of complicated testing before any revenue can be generated. So, even if it fits in every other way, a capital-intensive offering with delayed revenue might not be worth it.

That said, if the bandwidth and expertise are already in place, and the new product or service is an efficient use of time and resources, then you’ve potentially just struck gold. The key is looking for those baked-in connections: the light lift and the smart reimagining of existing products and services so that they can easily serve additional use.

Decide whether to greenlight

You’ve heard what’s really needed, and you’ve taken stock to confirm that you have the skills/equipment/team that can fulfill that need. Then, it boils down to deciding whether this is actually a great opportunity or a distraction.

After a basic cost analysis (will it generate revenue?), a more complicated question is to ask: What is the risk to your current customer relationships when you expand your list of offerings? If your new product or service isn’t executed well, the trust you’ve built could be damaged.

Brand dilution is a further risk. Any brand can grow weaker when new products or services don’t bolster and complement its original offering. That might be as simple as an overabundance of similar products (Burberry’s famous check pattern was used on so many bags and jackets in the 1990s that its brand value dimmed). Or it could mean the company totally loses the thread and new offerings are no longer aligned with larger goals.

Before greenlighting, ask yourself, “Will this lead to more growth?” and “Will this help us grow into the best version of our business?”

Read More: I Did a Manifestation Exercise Called ‘Ocean of Abundance.’ Then I Went to the Beach, and This Happened.

The real return

When done right, the delivery of new products and services should feel like a win-win. The client or partner has their problem solved. And you’ve unlocked a brand-new revenue stream. Most importantly, your existing relationships are deepened, and the ties that bind you together grow stronger.

True usefulness is the goal here — delivering a new offering custom-made for the market whose intricacies you’ve come to master. This starts when you stop asking what you can sell people and start asking how you can truly help them.