Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Behind the Scenes: Writing Our First Book:

• Initial Thoughts and Experiences: Jeff introduces the topic of writing their first book and the initial challenges faced, including rapid industry changes. Mercer recalls Jeff's earlier work on service stacking and is curious about the process.

• Strategies for Writing a Timeless Book: Mercer and Jeff agree on focusing on strategies and management principles rather than tool-specific content. Jeff highlights his experience with a book accelerator program and acknowledges the effectiveness of a framework-based book.

• Developing the Book Concept and Structure: Jeff explains the evolution of his broad "Profit Pillars" concept to a specific and focused framework on sales and service stacking. He shares the process of validating the concept through workshops and using the recordings as an outline for the book.

• Writing and Editing the Book: Jeff details the process of hiring a ghostwriter and navigating the initial drafting stage. He shares the time-consuming nature of editing and the decision to personally handle the final edits to maintain consistency.

• Marketing and Promoting the Book: Jeff discusses book marketing challenges and the necessity of having an effective book funnel. He shares his experiences with a book funnel service and the importance of having a pre-existing audience.

• Lessons Learned and Future Plans: Jeff reflects on the overall experience, rating it low for immediate results but high for valuable learning. The episode concludes with a recap of the key points and a look at the next steps for their book project.

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Creating RAD Products:

• Introduction to RAD Products: Jeff and Mercer introduce the concept of "RAD products," emphasizing the importance of focusing on results, actions, and delivery in product creation. They highlight Amazon's strategic approach to defining results before building products, using the Kindle as an example.

• Defining Results in Product Creation: The hosts discuss the strategic value of focusing on the result for users, which could include saving time or achieving a specific outcome. They stress the significance of benefits for both users and the company, particularly for service providers.

• Benefits vs. Features in Service Provision: Jeff explains how service providers should emphasize their benefits, such as reducing risk, rather than just features. Mercer and Jeff discuss aligning product benefits from the perspectives of the user, the company, and the team for market success.

• Confirming Benefits Through Actions: Mercer discusses the importance of validating product benefits through actions like surveys before investing resources. He emphasizes ensuring the team has the skills and capacity to deliver the confirmed benefits to various stakeholders.

• Delivery and Management of the Product: They discuss how crucial delivery is for meeting deadlines and budgets, and maintaining customer loyalty. Jeff shares examples from Microsoft's different delivery approaches and highlights the role of management in successful product delivery.

• Real-World Example Measure U: Mercer presents Measure U as a real-world example that consolidates multiple logins into one platform, improving user experience. They discuss the simplicity and continuous improvement of Measure U, underlining its benefits like ease of access and better delivery.

Welcome back to the ProfitSchool podcast with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Management Mistakes.

Topics Covered In This Episode

• Introduction to Management Mistakes: Jeff Sauer and Mercer introduce the topic of management mistakes on "Business Unfiltered," emphasizing the value of learning from errors to aid others in avoiding similar pitfalls.

• Early Management Experiences: Jeff highlights his journey from a small team to managing 50 people with no formal training, reflecting on the initial challenges of wanting to be the “cool boss” and the importance of providing structured feedback and coaching.

• Importance of Clear Communication and Expectations: Discussing the "wagon wheel mentality," Jeff and Mercer emphasize the need for managers to empower their teams by providing clear direction, enabling problem-solving skills, and avoiding taking over tasks themselves.

• Hiring and Firing Decisions: Jeff and Mercer discuss the perils of quick hiring without due diligence, the necessity of daily check-ins during onboarding, and the difficulty of firing employees who initially seemed promising but failed to meet expectations.

• Empowering the Team and Setting Clear Goals: They highlight the need to nurture team growth through constant communication about career development, warn against early introduction of incentive plans, and stress the importance of setting clear, attainable goals.

• Investing Smartly and Managing Performance: Jeff advises against hiring for multiple roles unless necessary, sharing insights on making smart investments with clear returns. They also cover avoiding quick bonuses, the pitfalls of profit-sharing incentive plans, and the importance of setting realistic expectations to maintain team motivation.

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Sales Discovery Calls and Qualifying Questions.

Topics Covered In This Episode

• Introduction to Sales Discovery Calls and Qualifying Questions: Jeff Sauer and Mercer explore the distinct yet interconnected roles of sales discovery calls and qualifying questions, focusing on their importance in business-to-business and high-ticket sales.

• Understanding Sales Discovery Calls: Jeff elaborates on making sales calls conversational rather than interrogative, sharing strategies such as asking prospects about their business or problems.

• Utilizing Discovery Calls in Measurement Management: Discovery calls help understand a prospect's current situation, technology stack, and problems, ensuring that the provided solution aligns with their specific needs.

• Difference Between Discovery Calls and Pitches: Differentiating discovery calls from pitches, which aim to align solutions with identified needs. Mercer highlights building a bridge to aid prospects, even if it involves referring them elsewhere.

• Qualifying Questions for Identifying Bad Customers: Mercer and Jeff share how qualifying questions, such as past problem-solving attempts and investment mentality, help identify prospects' readiness and suitability for the service.

• Key Qualifying Questions: Budget, Timeline, Sophistication, and Participation: Jeff outlines the importance of determining a prospect’s budget, timeline, sophistication, and participation to ensure they are a good match, thereby protecting the service quality.

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Feeding Your Sales Pipeline.

Topics Covered In This Episode

• Introduction to Pipeline Feeding: Mercer and Jeff delve into the fundamentals of feeding a sales pipeline, emphasizing the importance of nurturing leads across all funnel stages—top, middle, and bottom.

• Defining Sales Funnel Stages: Jeff introduces the concept of "small data" for small businesses and stresses optimizing the middle funnel. The duo underscores defining marketing qualified leads and the steps in between funnel stages.

• Nurturing the Pipeline: The conversation highlights the need for planning and a logical approach to nurturing leads from awareness to commitment, leveraging educated guesses and understanding customer behavior.

• Off-Site and On-Site Marketing Strategies: Balancing off-site and on-site marketing, Mercer and Jeff discuss driving traffic through retargeting ads and off-site offers, and the importance of personalizing communication using modern technology.

• Role of Discipline and Planning: Emphasizing the importance of discipline, the hosts talk about slowing down to think through the pipeline stages, using data and primary research for effective management, and embracing failure as part of growth.

• Final Thoughts and Actionable Steps: Mercer and Jeff wrap up by urging listeners to take action, even starting with basic plans. They highlight the use of data for pipeline improvement and encourage joining the Profit School community to apply the podcast insights.

• Distinguishing Sales and Marketing: Mercer and Jeff explore the roles of sales and marketing, highlighting how they intersect yet specialize in distinct functions as businesses evolve.
• Nuances of Sales and Marketing: The discussion covers the differences between one-to-many (marketing) and one-to-one (sales) approaches, with marketing setting the stage for sales activities.
• Bridging the Gap: Emphasizing the need for sales skills in marketing, Jeff and Mercer discuss how understanding customer objections and beliefs can enhance marketing effectiveness.
• Challenges in Integration: The hosts address common issues like marketing and sales silos, poor lead quality, and the importance of aligning efforts for better outcomes.
• Optimizing Marketing Strategies: It is important to comprehend the customer journey and integrate sales processes with marketing strategies to create effective campaigns.
• Streamlining Sales and Marketing: Jeff discusses integrating sales and marketing by managing offers as a unified process, leading to consistent growth and improved results.

• Five-Year Forecasting for Business Growth: Jeff and Mercer dive into the aspirational goals of a five-year business forecast, highlighting potential growth and challenges. They discuss the "paper billionaire effect" and the importance of a solid business model and market competition.
• Financial Projection Tools: Jeff introduces a spreadsheet tool for tracking revenue growth and explains how to project client gains/losses and retention rates over five years. He emphasizes the value of financial projections in making operational adjustments.
• Overcoming Fear with a Five-Year Vision: The hosts reflect on the importance of having a clear five-year vision to overcome impostor syndrome and make significant business decisions. Mercer shares personal experiences and the benefits of journaling to visualize future progress.
• Setting Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs): The discussion stresses the importance of pushing beyond comfort zones to achieve substantial growth.
• Maintaining Long-Term Goals with Vision Boards: Mercer practices regular reviews and updates his long-term goals through journaling. The hosts discuss balancing focused work with strategic planning and the significance of revisiting goals every six months.
• Aligning Teams and Systems for Goal Achievement: Jeff emphasizes the critical role of alignment and systems in scaling a business. The conversation includes the need for regular goal reviews and the courage to set long-term objectives, despite fears of falling short.
• Leadership and Long-Term Planning: The podcast wraps up with insights on the role of leadership in creating and sharing a five-year financial forecast. Both advocate for long-term thinking, involving the team in goal setting, and prioritizing revenue and profit goals for sustained success.

• First Pricing Experiences: Mercer shares his initial approach to pricing his WordPress training video site, highlighting the pitfalls of undervaluing work by basing prices solely on creation time.
• Freelance Pricing Tips: Jeff emphasizes the importance of realistic pricing, advising freelancers to divide their annual income by 500 hours instead of 2000, suggesting a rate of $100/hour to reflect the true value of freelance work.
• Project-Based vs. Hourly Pricing: The hosts discuss the benefits of project-based or retainer models over hourly pricing. Jeff advocates for these models as they offer more sustainable revenue streams and better reflect the effort and value provided.
• Adjusting Rates for Consulting: The episode covers strategies for raising consulting rates based on market standards and the consultant’s experience. Jeff stresses the importance of justifying price increases with proven results.
• Understanding Client Segmentation: Jeff advises charging high prices to small businesses and emphasizes targeting larger clients who can afford and appreciate higher-value services. Understanding the demand and supply curves is crucial for effective pricing.
• Value-Based and Dynamic Pricing: The hosts explore value-based and dynamic pricing strategies, advocating for a balance between value and price. They also discuss the significance of maintaining consistency in revenue and profit margins for business stability and growth.