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.