Go Big or Go Home

Many entrepreneurs and Joint Venture Brokers are caught in the trap of stealing one grape at a time, rather than dealing with the owner of the vineyard. They work hard on one deal at a time and then waste a lot of time waiting to see what will happen, while they tread water and run on the spot. (And Spot hates that.) They seem to have forgotten that sales is a numbers game, and that closing ratios are real. It’s time to unleash the power of the Excessive Sowing.

There is a Biblical parable that tells of seeds that were erratically scattered, some falling on the road and consequently eaten by birds, some falling on rock and consequently unable to take root, and some falling on thorns, which choked the seed and the worms ate them. It was, according to the parable, only the seeds that fell on good soil and were able to germinate, producing a crop thirty, sixty, or even a hundredfold, of what had been sown. We would do well to remember that parable. Especially in today’s world, where people are inundated with millions of choices and options.

I once consulted to a realtor who wanted to increase her sales. She told me that she sent out 200 postcards every three months and that it worked well for her. I asked her why she didn’t send them out every month. She replied that she hadn’t yet tried that. So we started sending them out every moneth. Sales increased. Then we doubled the amount that we sent out to 400 postcards. Sales increased. Then we started sending out 800 postcards. More sales! Then we sent them out every week insteade of every month. Another increase! Sales stopped increasing when we got to 1,500 postcards per week (the Law of Diminishing Returns) so I advised the realtor to sell this postcard sending business to other realtors. We started with our own city, and soon she was offering the service nationwide. She made far more money from selling her postcard sendiong business than she ever made selling houses.

How much money do you want? How badly do you want it? Sow excessively, madly, abundantly and consistently. Don’t steal a grape – grab a vinyard. Run multiple Joint Ventures at the same time. Do it all with no cost or risk. Go crazy! Double what you do, then redouble it. As yourself the right questions: “How can I reach ten times this amount of people at no cost? How can I quadruple my sales? With whom can I Joint Venture? What resources can I borrow?” Go big or go home. Think big. Expect success. And mix only with other wild farmers who believe in abundance. Read "The Tipping Point".

Robin J. Elliott www.dollarmakers.com

Who Would You Buy From?

These days, we’re inundated with choices. I can view 40 live movie channels on an airplane, 200 TV channels at home. As fast as I can click the remote control or my computer mouse, I can be offered yet another choice. 50 different breakfast cereals, a million realtors, insurance salespeople, restaurants, service providers. How do you choose the right one? Is it really all about price and quality?

I recently had a friend approach me who wants a website. He has very limited money to invest, so I talked with one of the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum Members who does websites at an unusually reasonable price through his organization. He offers a really great deal. But did I refer my friend because he can get an excellent, e-commerce web site that allows him to make changes, create new pages, change text, add images, add HTML, flash, mp3’s for sound and video with full, free support and 500 mb’s of space, all for just $799 and only $49.99 per month?

NO. I referred him because I like and trust this webmaster. And why do I like and trust him? Because he does what he says he will do, when he says he will do it, on time and in a professional manner. No hidden costs, no nonsense. He has a positive, optimistic, helpful attitude and he knows his stuff. I can refer my friend to him with the peace of mind of knowing that he will be well looked after and taken care of. My choice was based 20% on price, product and professionalism, but 80% on the PERSON whom I chose to refer to my friend.

Relationship comes before business. Joint Ventures should be based on people, trust, integrity and personality, rather than the quick buck. Perhaps we should spend more time on assessing people than on evaluating their products and services. The foundation of a good business choice is a strong, trusting relationship. Perhaps we should get back to basics. That will make our choices easier. Earn the right to doing business. Sow before you reap. Walk your talk. Or your competitor will eat you alive. Find good people who abide by a Code of Ethics at the Joint Venture Forum.

Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com