Jay Mitchell was celebrating his business’ one-year anniversary when the market news hit. It was 2008, and the economy faced a crisis of the likes not seen in decades. New businesses would likely suffer, Jay knew that. He had some concerns about the times ahead for his own business. Yet he also held on to a strong sense of hope.
Jay founded his business a year prior not to reap fortunes or bask in material rewards. Jay started Mereo LLC with the guiding light of Seek to Serve, Not to Sell®. This philosophy would prove Jay’s blessing and protection in the following 15 years he has supported clients.
This foundational way Jay led — and continues to lead — his business and his life has delivered sustainable, meaningful rewards. And Jay has since been dedicated to sharing the power of Seek to Serve™ with others.
AN EDUCATION IN SEEK TO SERVE™
In 1996, Jay Mitchell graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelors of Arts with Distinguished Honors in Communications from the Honors College. More than that, he left his alma mater with foundational values to put others first.
“Serving others was modeled for me time and again during my time at Baylor, and it was something I felt passionate about committing to any of my future endeavors,” Jay said. “Seek to Serve means putting the needs of others (the client in business) first. Really get to know them. This way, you will better understand how you can meet their needs and together you can solve any obstacles they face. This approach is truly a win-win situation.”
Jay started his career in sports broadcasting at KWTX Broadcasting Company as a producer and reporter. Through this industry, he was able to learn how to interview people by asking valuable questions and by listening — a key part to serving others. This brief stint prepared him to enter the B2B world two years later with a keen ability to uncover pains clients did not even recognize at the time.
In 1997, he broke into the B2B world at Optika, followed by stints at i2 Technologies and JD Edwards, where he began helping B2B leaders get back on track to dominating their industry in product marketing, sales enablement and marketing communications leadership roles. and assisting them in any way he could. Jay recognized and empathized with pains leaders faced daily, such as fractured messaging and misalignment between marketing and sales. He did all he could to help in his current position, but Jay was the kind of person determined to do more — to make a larger impact.
“As an employee, you can only help one person at a time.”
Following his role serving as Chief Marketing Officer and Partner-in-Charge of Marketing and Revenue at Tatum, where Jay employed leading practices and lessons learned from the technology arena in a pure professional services environment, Jay felt called to serve more people. Seek to Serve™ inspired him to make the jump to business ownership. He named his company Mereo, Latin for “to win through serving,” and the root for “merit.”
“Merit is a prize, and my prize is a buyer’s problem being solved.”
Jay had the foundation, a name and the drive for his business, so where did he take Seek to Serve, Not to Sell® from there?
GROWING SUSTAINABLE SERVICE
A little over a month after founding Mereo, Jay landed his first client through a past co-worker and friend in his network at Microsoft. Instead of banking on that grand achievement, Jay did not rest. He focused on how he could improve his insights to serve his client and engage more.
So he went directly to the source. Jay called up countless B2B leaders and asked them, “What are the top challenges you struggling with now? What is a pain in your behind that you just ignore because you do not see a fix? If you could remove one roadblock to revenue performance, what would it be?”
Through networking, Jay noticed many of these B2B experts and leaders struggled to get their marketing, sales and product teams talking. This became Mereo’s core niche service. As he and the Mereo team began solving these pains for clients, they felt ready to expand their services even further. Because of these B2B leaders trusting Mereo enough to share more of their struggles, they were able to recognize and solve other obstacles in the industry — disjointed merger & acquisition assimilation, weak value propositions, the need for more intentional sales training, fractured go-to-market strategies, ineffective product launches, among a myriad of other pains. This is where Mereo evolved to be able to assist more B2B leaders.
Business continued smoothly. Then, the 2008 economic crisis arrived. Mereo was only a year old. This was a scary and uncertain time for everyone, especially new businesses. There were two points that made Jay and Mereo hope: the pivot of the economic downfall and Seek to Serve proving to work.
As the economy began to recover, Jay was more and more confident Mereo would not only survive but thrive. In addition, through the Seek to Serve philosophy, Mereo was able to stay afloat since the first year of the entrepreneurial endeavor had been invested in building real, lasting relationships with clients. While businesses were forced to cut funds, they still chose Mereo when they faced an obstacle. Through Seek to Serve, Jay and the Mereo team have spent years investing in relationships with clients by getting to know them on a deeper level and, in turn, are able to better assist their needs.
In the years since, Jay established a seasoned and talented group of Principals have been instrumental in serving B2B professionals. With this guiding light of Seek to Serve, Mereo has helped hundreds of clients. The company Jay founded and leads today has been recognized as a finalist and won numerous awards. Among these recognitions, most recently Mereo was presented a gold medal in the Top Sales Awards 2021 in the eBook Category.
Despite achieving success alongside clients and facing multitudes of market disruptions in the past 15 years, Jay’s mission continues to remain steadfast: He is committed to assisting as many B2B leaders as he possibly can. He strives to uphold the Seek to Serve philosophy through Mereo and continue to do so even when faced with challenges of their own. With Jay, there are no shortcuts. His goal is always to provide the best assistance he can while forming lasting relationships. Mereo has always been rooted in the Seek to Serve, Not to Sell philosophy, and this philosophy continues to strengthen as time goes on.
LEARN HOW SEEK TO SERVE CAN BENEFIT YOU — IN BUSINESS AND IN LIFE
Mereo has assisted countless organizations and B2B leaders over the past 15 years by staying true to the Seek to Serve philosophy. This is a philosophy Jay has stood by his whole life, and it is a philosophy that can lead any leader or person to sustainable, meaningful success. Uncover what it means to Seek to Serve, Not to Sell with Mereo’s free eBook.
