Two business owners met in a pub in Seattle in late January of this year. We’ll call them Larry and Bob to protect their identity. I had met with Bob to discuss increasing sales in his office furniture business and given him an idea to use. He had identified Larry as a potential Joint Venture partner for this marketing system and arranged a meeting.

Bob’s offer went something like this:

“Larry, we both sell good office furniture and we both offer great service. You’re not to far away from where I am based, as you know, and I have an idea to run by you. What is your average closing ratio? In other words, out of every ten people you pitch, how many buy from you?”

Larry replied that he sold about two in ten.

“So, Larry, what do you do with the other eight prospects? It cost you good marketing money to find them, and they all have an urgent need for office furniture, and they can afford it, or you wouldn’t be talking with them. If they leave your store, they’re going to buy somewhere else, right?”

“You’re right, Bob. What do you suggest, Bob?”

“I suggest that you say to everyone who doesn’t buy from you, ‘I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you today. I know you’re serious about getting some office furniture right away, and I hate to waste your valuable time, so I’m going to call a good friend of mine who offers equally good products and service to what I do, and ask him to meet with you and see if he can help you.’ Then you call me and set up an appointment with your prospect. I’ll do the same for you. That way, Larry, we each get to see 18 prospects instead of 10! I see your pre-sold prospects and you see mine!”

On average 50% of the referred customers buy using this technique of cross referring unconverted leads between businesses.

Since they instituted this simple, yet effective system, both Larry and Bob have seen significant increases in their sales figures, at absolutely no cost or risk. Try it in your business; work WITH your “competition”, and make more money!

I talked recently with a fellow who has a staff of eighty-five people that are not his sales team. He wants to increase his sales, so I suggested he consider turning these employees into salespeople. “But that’s not their job!” he protested.

Exactly. And that’s why most business owners overlook their greatest underutilized asset – their non sales employees. I got very excited when I realized that there were 85 people who could help increase his sales with no cost or risk!

The Unrealized Value of Your Employees

Every person on earth wants to feel important, recognized and appreciated. We want to feel that our contribution is important and that our ideas and suggestions are valued. Plus, we want to feel that we get rewarded for any value that we create. I have found that our employees at the coalface often know more about our businesses than we do. Their suggestions are based on real life, real experience and real opinions. They have insights and recommendations which could radically improve our bottom line profits, if we only gave them a reason to share those ideas, listened, and rewarded them accordingly.

Unleash Massive Sales!

Your employees want to feel a part of the business. They want to feel that they have secure jobs and that they can increase their income without moonlighting and arriving at your business half asleep. By listening to their ideas and providing them non-threatening and easy to use, understandable sales tools with a system to measure and reward results, you can unleash massive sales! When we understand that our businesses provide products and services that relieve pain and create value, we can train our employees to perceive “sales” differently. Use this massive, neglected resource – the cost is miniscule and the results are extraordinary – improved productivity and loyalty, decreased employee and customer attrition and increased sales and profits, innovation and motivation.

Give your employees what they want and the sky’s the limit

Zig Ziglar said, “You can get anything out of life, if you’re prepared to give enough other people what they want.” Most employees dread going to work and we can change that. Give your employees what they want: a voice, an ear, an opportunity, security, self esteem, reward, motivation, purpose and recognition, get your ego out of the way, and the sky’s the limit.

How workers ranked what they considered important, starting with the most important:

1. Appreciation for good work,
2. Feeling “in” on things,
3. Help with personal problems,
4. Job security,
5. Good wages,
6. Interesting work,
7. Possibility for promotion,
8. Loyalty of Management to workers,
9. Good working conditions,
10. Tactful discipline.

Apply this knowledge to your management systems and win!

If you do what you love:

• You will be good at it.
• You’ll be able to work for longer periods of time.
• You will be happy.
• You’ll get better results.

If you do what you’re not good at:

• You’ll do a poor job.
• You’ll get tired easily.

Good managers delegate to strength, not to weakness. Smart entrepreneurs do only what they’re good at and subcontract or delegate that which they don’t do well themselves. Adlai Stevenson said,

“It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.”

Likewise with Relationships

If you don’t like someone, your business with that person won’t go well. The relationship will be weak, flawed, and subject to communication blocks, misunderstandings, and stress. Games will be played and excuses made, respect lost and objectives sacrificed in the name of peace. Work ONLY with people whom you like, trust, and respect. Those strong relationships will carry you to your goals faster. Albert Einstein said,

“Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.”

Awareness Requires Introspection

In order to accomplish the above two objectives, doing only what you’re good at and working with people you like, trust, and respect, one has to do some introspection, some self-analysis, some gazing at a mirror and examining of the past.  What didn’t work in the past, and what did? When you objectively review your past performance, you will see the above two success criteria becoming blazingly obvious. Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses, and of whom you’re working with, and adjust your battle plan accordingly.

Time Reveals Ones’ True Nature

Also, realize that people change. They either reveal who they really are over time (the mask slips, and you realize that the jolly old friend is an evil old fiend) or they change their attitude and choices as their true nature starts finding a way out. One can only behave contrary to ones’ real self for a period of time; the act wears thin. Rika says,

“When someone shows you who he really is, believe him.”

When you see that people are not who you thought they were, or that they have changed, remove them from your life as soon as possible, or suffer the consequences. Replace losers with winners. Herbert Swope said,

“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure: which is: Try to please everybody.”

Your first responsibility is your objective, not making losers feel good.

Where Are You Headed?

With the above in mind, perhaps it’s time to look at what your business will be like in a few months’ time.

1. What do you love doing and do really well? That’s all you should be doing; the rest should be delegated, subcontracted, or removed from the picture.
2. Who do you really enjoy working with, people you like, trust, respect, and can rely on to do exactly what they promise, when they promise to do it, and much more? Who goes the extra mile, and doesn’t need constant motivation, managing, and manipulation? These people should be rewarded and protected from the underperformers. and parasites. High maintenance people become a real pain in the neck and slow your progress.
3. What is the ideal picture with the most benefits and profit, along with the least risk and frustration?

Good leaders constantly reevaluate and adjust their action plans and tactics in order to achieve their objectives. The know themselves, and they’re very realistic about their fellow soldiers. Study Churchill, Montgomery, and Patton, and you will see master strategists at work. They’re not addicted to their tactics, and they are strongly committed to their objectives. As the leader of your business, success is not an option; it’s a responsibility for the sake of yourself and your good people. Churchill told us, “The price of greatness is responsibility.”

Joint Venture Brokers are strategists.

They don’t:

• Do things randomly.
• Grasp at straws.
• Leap onto every new, flavor-of-the month start-up scheme.

They are sophisticated entrepreneurs who are very selective and careful with the allocation of their time and attention. They carefully and objectively consider their options and focus on profit and long-term income and potential.

Why Most Fail

The concept of “FEEDERS” is essential and foundational to your Joint Venture success. The reason why 97% of the people in Network Marketing, for example, only recruit three or four people and then quit, or take years to get any traction, is that they simply haven’t Feeders to bring them an ongoing line of new recruits. The reason why most “Motivational Speakers,” “Coaches,” and “Consultants” have no money or customers is because they don’t have Feeders to feed them business on a regular basis. Any salesperson or business owner that understands this concept will make serious money.

What Works

A “Feeder” is a mechanism that continues to feed you prospects and business, given that you follow up and manage the process and the people correctly. Smart Joint Venture Brokers create the situation where all their Joint Ventures feed each other, and they have Feeder events and systems that operate consistently and predictably. They use leverage, delegation, duplication, and leadership to set up and maintain these Feeders. A Feeder that doesn’t work is carefully monitored, manipulated, tweaked, fixed, and adjusted until it either produces or is discarded, and it is weighed an evaluated solely on its performance, potential, profit, positioning, and productivity.

Salespeople, Joint Ventures, seminars, Bootcamps, newsletters, websites, book, CD’s, reports, centers of influence, give-aways, talk, conference calls, databases, webinars, and most of all our other Joint Ventures, are all Feeders, as long as the systems are properly and professionally established and coordinated. This is one of the skills that we teach at our DollarMakers Certified Business Mentor Training program. By creating self-duplicating systems and Joint Ventures that feed each other and attract new business by design, we use a technology that creates exponential growth and wealth with no cost or risk, and very little time. “Feeders feed, losers bleed.”

“I find it difficult to find, motivate, and keep good employees. If only I could find people who are as motivated as I am!”

• When you pay people the same amount of money, regardless of their quality of work or level of productivity, you’re trying to run a capitalist business on socialist principles.
• When you overlook slovenliness, negativity, and bad service instead of punishing it, you are encouraging it.
• When you see people creating additional value for your organization without rewarding them in direct proportion to that value, you’re discouraging them.
• When you employ anything that breathes because you’re so desperate for workers, you’re setting yourself up for failure and lowering your standards.
• When you establish ceilings and limitations on earning potential, you lose the cream of the crop.

Successful, profitable businesses prosper by design, not by default. They create a climate of attraction, motivation, stimulation, and reciprocation. This is so unique and hard to find that it will bring you some fantastic people.

How to Get Employees AND Employees who Perform

Before you tell me how hard it is to find people because you live in a booming economy like that of Alberta or British Columbia, let me suggest that, if you pay more than your competition, that fails as an excuse. And before you tell me that you can’t afford to pay significantly more than the competition does, let me assure you that you can accomplish that through the use of Joint Ventures. That’s what my company, DollarMakers, does. But this is not about creating more profit through Joint Ventures; it’s about employees.

For Example…

I once provided some Joint Venture training for an award-winning restaurant. At this restaurant, all the servers had shares in the business and enjoyed a simple profit sharing process as well. Servers were hired and fired by the Servers Committee, and everything was results based. Uniforms, serving times, and menus were determined by the Servers Committee. This was a true capitalist operation, using effective delegation, profit sharing, and common sense. The owner told me, “Robin, I manage by Consequence.” They never had a shortage of job applicants.

The ONLY Way Worth Operating

Pay people in direct proportion to the value they create - measurable, bottom-line profits should determine individual earnings.

• No automatic raises.
• No unions.
• There should be no cap on the earning potential of anyone.
• There should be immediate consequences for overstepping the mark.
• People should be allowed to focus only on their strengths. (Generally, allowing an accountant or a chef into a management position is suicide.)
• Use personality type testing and give everyone a vested interest in the success of the business, while at the same time tying their income and security to the fortunes, good AND bad, of the business. When business goes down, salaries should decrease in direct proportion, depending on individual input and production, which means simply that an employee who produces exceptional profits can experience an income increase while everyone else’s wages decrease. That’s called capitalism.

Here’s my standard “Job Description: “Whatever it takes, 24/7/365, and we share the fortunes, good and bad.” My entire business is made up of multiple, interlinked Joint Ventures. I actually practice what I preach, and it works.

Most successful leaders believe that only 3% of people are truly successful, and statistics support this. Only 3% of the North America population, for example, reads books. If you look at retirement and wealth statistics, baseball batting averages, and business sales ratios, you’ll find that magical 3% everywhere.

That means that 97% of people are not ideal business partners, and you frankly don’t need them to succeed if you can get to the 3%. Entrepreneurs who try to be well liked, popular, and politically correct, waste a lot of time appeasing losers and consoling whiners, instead of  focusing on the leaders, the winners, and the results. It’s more important to be respected than it is to be liked, and then only by the 3%.

I once heard a good analogy that a friend of mine taught when illustrating that “the tall trees catch the wind”.  He said that he regarded the complaints and resentment of wanna-be’s as he would barking dogs. The opinions of successful people were important to him and he took advice only from people who were achieving more than he was. Some say they justify tolerating underachievers and has-beens with the old saying, “You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince”, however we don’t build relationships with frogs. Those are simply the duds that lead to the studs. You don’t carry stepping stones up the mountain with you.

You don’t have to justify or explain yourself to anyone who does not contribute to your success.

You simply don’t have the time and resources to waste. Rescuing victims and enabling parasites is for government and social workers. John Addison said, “Never take advice from someone more screwed up than you are”, and Boreh Dean said, “You have to earn the right to whine to me.” Casting pearls before swine is fine if you like applause, but if you like profit you need to conserve your resources.

If you are serious about creating wealth:

• become extremely selective
• set high standards
• discipline yourself
• and develop a thick skin.

You need courage to achieve success, and, if you want to join the 3%, popularity is superfluous. Study the life of Winston Churchill for a great example of this philosophy. Do what winners do, and you’ll get what they get.

1. TAKE ACTION!!
2. Read “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand
3. Get Out There and Meet New People
4. Make a List of Goals
5. Forget About The Opinions Of Others
6. Compliment Those That Deserve It
7. Learn to Listen
8. Break Away from Fear
9. Stop Worrying and Start Doing
10. Listen To Your Inner Voice
11. Stop Watching TV
12. Delegate your C items, only do the A and B items.
13. Eat Healthy
14. Be True To Yourself
15. Drop Your Bad Habits and Enhance Your Good Habits
16. Get Up a Half Hour Earlier
17. Implement Daily Affirmations - Repeat Your Affirmations Any Chance You Get
18. Be Your Biggest Fan
19. Remember Good is the Enemy of Great
20. Always Keep Learning
21. Focus Your Energy - Be a High Powered Laser
22. Don’t Be Cheap - Invest in the Tools You’ll Need to Succeed
23. Have Integrity.  REALLY.  People Catch On Fast.
24. Keep a Journal - Carry It With You Everywhere
25. Follow Great People - read their blogs, biographies and anything else.
26. Never Give Up. Never Surrender.
27. Trust In God, and Tie Up Your Camels.
28. Subscribe to a “Word Of The Day” Email.
29. You Can’t Do It All Yourself - Find Great Partners
30. Watch What People Do, Not What They Say They Do
31. Give Referrals, Ask for Referrals
32. Sleep When You’re Dead
33. Send Thank You Cards

Affirmations are essentially a personal self-improvement and self-motivation technique.

Having some Daily Affirmations that you recite to yourself at least twice a day will do wonders to change your life. Changing your life is not difficult, as it is simply a matter of reprogramming yourself. That’s basically what repeating powerful Affirmations do - they reprogram your beliefs and feelings to what you want them to be.

Repeating some really good affirmations will do wonders for you, such as:

• Your thinking and emotional state becomes more positive
• You have increased self-assurance and self-acceptance
• You begin taking more purposeful action
• Enhanced vitality and passion for life
• People treat you with more respect and interest
• You experience greater happiness and joy
• You have a renewed sense of personal power (Just like when you were a kid)

So I decided to release a poster that you can print out, that has my personal Affirmations that I have been using daily for over 10 years.  When I wake up and when I go to bed, these are the affirmations I am saying to myself, in my head.  I even say these on the plane, in the car and even when brushing my teeth.

The Daily Affirmations poster is available to anyone who subscribes to JVBlogger - either via an RSS Feed or via Email.  It’s simple - in the upper right of this blog is both ways to subscribe.  If you don’t know what ‘RSS’ or a ‘FEED’ is, then just subscribe by email - it’s easy!

It is a 2.9mb PDF file - very high quality.  I had my graphic designer put it together for me and it looks quite stunning printed out and on the wall by my desk!

Please let me know what your personal affirmations are in the comments section below, I’d love to hear them.