ProfitSchool

Jeff Sauer and Chris Mercer
  • 5.0 (3)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
ProfitSchool

An unfiltered conversation between two veteran entrepreneurs and agency owners highlighting the decisions you'll need to make in your business.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    Mergers and Partnerships - Our Perspective After 12 Months

    Welcome back to the ProfitSchool podcast Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer. Today's topic is Mergers and Partnerships - Our Perspective After 12 Months. After 12 months of partnership, Jeff and Mercer share honest insights about their business merger, including the importance of pre-partnership relationships and testing compatibility through smaller projects. They emphasize how specialization has been key to their success, with clear divisions of responsibility allowing each partner to lead in their areas of expertise while remaining flexible in overlapping domains. Both partners acknowledge the challenging learning curve of their first year, including managing expectations, having difficult conversations, and creating new systems that work for everyone. The transition from individual thinking ('I') to collective decision-making ('we') proved essential, with both partners learning to understand and respect each other's perspectives. Creating a new brand rather than merging existing ones helped establish a fresh culture that combined the best elements from both partners' previous experiences. Continuous communication and expectation adjustment are crucial to maintaining a healthy partnership.

    31 min

  2. JAN 28

    Extending the Sales Window

    Welcome back to the ProfitSchool podcast Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer. Today's topic is Extending the Sales Window. Extending the sales window involves creating multiple opportunities to connect with qualified prospects rather than limiting yourself to a single interaction or offer. Jeff and Mercer discuss how early communication should qualify prospects' interest, intent, and ability before moving to close, treating each step as a mini-sale. When prospects hesitate, successful salespeople step back, address specific objections, and reframe their offering to match the client's needs and comfort level. Strategic follow-up sequences, no-buy surveys, and regular check-ins help maintain relationships with prospects not ready to purchase immediately. Redirecting prospects to more suitable solutions builds trust, even if less profitable, and often leads to stronger long-term client relationships. The duo reminds us to maintain an abundance mindset rather than desperately pursuing every potential sale, focusing instead on creating sustainable client relationships.

    30 min

  3. JAN 21

    How to Qualify a Sales Prospect

    Welcome back to the ProfitSchool podcast Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer. Today's topic is how to Qualify a Sales Prospect. Sales qualification protects both your time and the prospect's time by ensuring you're working with clients who are truly ready and able to benefit from your services. Early-stage businesses may need fewer qualification steps to gain experience, but mature businesses should implement stricter qualification processes to maintain profitability. Effective qualification examines four key areas: the prospect's interest in solving their problem, their intent to move forward, their ability to implement the solution, and mutual agreement on deliverables. Warning signs of poor qualification include high rates of ghosting after sales calls, frequent price objections, and constant scope creep from clients. Pre-qualifying tools like application forms or brief surveys help filter prospects before investing time in lengthy sales calls, improving close rates from 30% to potentially 50-75%. A well-designed qualification process helps redirect unsuitable prospects to more appropriate solutions while maintaining professional relationships that may lead to future opportunities.

    31 min

  4. JAN 14

    Building DOP Systems

    Welcome back to the ProfitSchool podcast Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Building DOP Systems. DOP Framework: Jeff and Mercer explain their system framework - Define (strategy), Organize (tactics), and People (management) - as essential components for effective business systems. System Evolution: They share how systems should remain at 90% completion, allowing room for continuous improvement through feedback and adaptation. Team Integration: Rather than relying on dedicated project managers, effective systems become embedded within the entire team's workflow. Self-Correction: Good systems include built-in mechanisms for identifying and correcting issues, with team members naturally enforcing proper usage. Practical Application: They describe how they reorganized their Offers system based on time rather than Products, demonstrating how systems can evolve to serve their purpose better. Growth Process: Systems should start simple and grow naturally, avoiding the common mistake of creating overly complex processes that hinder rather than help.

    30 min

  5. JAN 7

    Goals for 2025

    Welcome back to the ProfitSchool podcast Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Goals for 2025. Top of Funnel Focus: Mercer and Jeff outline plans to strengthen their marketing presence through YouTube channels, aiming for 20,000 subscribers for MeasureU and 5,000 for ProfitSchool. Product-Led Marketing: They emphasize creating marketing content directly from their products, ensuring authentic value delivery while maintaining high production standards. Brand Evolution: MeasureU will expand from pure analytics to broader marketing optimization, while ProfitSchool will build out its product catalog and coaching programs. Team Development: Moving from founder-focused to team-led operations, with staff taking ownership of content creation, coaching, and system improvements. Systems Refinement: Maintaining systems at 90% completion to allow continuous improvement, while encouraging team members to create and teach systems to others. Market Expansion: Plans to reach broader audiences by reframing their offerings - MeasureU focuses on marketing improvement through measurement, and ProfitSchool addresses growing freelancers and established team managers.

    31 min

  6. 12/31/2024

    End of Year Recap

    Welcome back to the ProfitSchool podcast Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is End of Year Recap. The Original Plan: Jeff and Mercer share their initial 2024 merger strategy: Q1 for internal combination, Q2 for public announcement, Q3 for ProfitSchool focus, and Q4 for expansion. Revenue Reality: Starting with an ambitious $1.8M target, they adjusted expectations to $1.1-1.2M as the year progressed, learning valuable lessons about realistic goal-setting. Quarter Progression: They outline the year's journey: Q1 (combination), Q2 (integration), Q3 (simplification), and Q4 (unlocking new opportunities). Brand Evolution: The creation of MeasureU emerged as a solution to managing multiple brands, bringing together their separate strengths under one unified vision. Key Learning: Supporting multiple brands and systems created unnecessary complexity; simplification led to better results and easier operations. Future Growth: The year's challenges and solutions created a stronger foundation for future growth, with streamlined systems and clearer direction for both brands.

    31 min

  7. 12/24/2024

    Handling Conflict - I to We

    Welcome back to the ProfitSchool podcast Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Handling Conflict - I to We. From I to We: Jeff and Mercer share how they transformed personal perspectives ("I") into collaborative solutions ("We"), using their experience of merging separate brands into one unified company. Understanding Different Views: They explain how conflict often stems from different but equally valid perspectives, like their contrasting approaches to using "I" versus "We" in business communications. Market Feedback: External customer feedback helped guide internal decisions, showing how market response can help constructively resolve internal conflicts. Conflict as Process: Rather than viewing conflict as negative, they present it as a natural process where two different viewpoints or forces meet, creating an opportunity for growth. Growth Through Discussion: The hosts share how their perspectives make each other's ideas "10-20% better" through constructive disagreement and resolution. Solutions Focus: Instead of trying to prove who's right, they recommend focusing on the situation and finding common ground to create new, better solutions.

    32 min

  8. 12/17/2024

    How to Price Your Products

    Welcome back to the ProfitSchool podcast Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is How to Price Your Products. Supply and Demand: Mercer and Jeff explain how pricing isn't just about charging more - it's about understanding market dynamics and finding the right balance between supply, demand, and profitability. The Profit Formula: They share a practical approach to pricing: calculate your costs, double it for unexpected issues, then multiply by 3-4x to create the necessary margin for marketing, taxes, team bonuses, and business growth. Value Communication: Price is a conversation between your company and the market about value exchange. Success comes from helping clients understand and agree with the value you provide. Market Alignment: Different markets expect different price points - the same service might need to be priced 10x higher for enterprise clients versus small businesses, simply because of market expectations. Recurring vs. Project Pricing: The benefits of recurring revenue models over one-time project fees, including the ability to recover from initial setup costs and build long-term profitable relationships. Price Increase Strategy: The importance of graceful price increase communications, with real examples of both successful and unsuccessful attempts at raising prices with existing clients.

    31 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

An unfiltered conversation between two veteran entrepreneurs and agency owners highlighting the decisions you'll need to make in your business.

Information

  • Creator
    Jeff Sauer and Chris Mercer
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    92
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    Copyright © 2024 by ProfitSchool. All rights reserved. No part of this podcast may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
  • Show Website
    ProfitSchool

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