“The Dance of Money” – Do You “Financially” Have Two Left Feet or Are You a Money $$$ Magnet?
Your major responsibility as an entrepreneur is to legally and ethically get as much money as possible moving from your clients to you.
I recently spent a pleasant morning consulting with Peter and Karen Morley of Belhus Racing at the Vines and Peter couldn’t wait to tell me that he had topped my price for a Mars Bar. You may remember that I auctioned a Mars Bar for $20,000 and then donated the money to the Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Children’s Oncology Ward. Well, Peter claims his Mars Bar was worth $38,000 to him.
Peter’s Mars Bar truly is an extraordinary Mars Bar. You see, for some months Peter and Karen have been trying to sell their 1 hectare block next door through an agent, without success. It was agreed that $180,000 was a good price to expect, minus commission, leaving $172,000 in the hand. The long and pools (or your dream house and short of it all is that 6 months later there had been no sale or even surrounding gardens) so much as a “bite”. So Peter, after reading something in my package that clicked (Karen tells me he takes it to bed with him,seems it gets him all worked up!) took matters into own hands and wrote an ad. Within weeks the block sold for $210,000 with no commission to pay! Peter puts it down to my Mars Bar story and has refused to eat the treat he got with his pack. Instead he had it framed , calling it the $38,000 Mars Bar
What Peter inadvertently described, was the dance of the $$$,which under pins all free enterprise. Lets face it, nothing zero site costs happens without a sale and that needs to be understood So Here’s How Some of Australia’s Rich Dance With the $$$ In essence, they sell money or the opportunity to make money. Frank Lowry, founder of Westfield, reported to be Australia’s second richest man, sells opportunities for people to run businesses in his shopping centres. Harvey Norman sell opportunities for business people to make money under the “Harvey Norman” banner. What they actually say is “come and rent, lease or franchise from me and I will bring umpteen thousand clients per week to your [respective] premises’. Neither of these gentlemen could be as successful as they are now if they did not sell opportunities for individual business owners to make money.
The share market is another example of how wealth is created by the sale of opportunities, except this time a company is floated on the stock exchange for many times it’s “normal” value based on the sale of the company shares. In reality, the companies concerned would struggle to get anywhere near that value if they were simply selling the business. Some of Australia’s richest men buy businesses, list them on the stock exchange, then sell shares in that company. Would Bill Gates be the world’s richest man if he sold just software? No chance. What makes him rich is that he sells shares in Microsoft.
Real Estate developer and former taxi driver Harry Triguboff, who went on to found Meriton is another Australian billionaire, who sells most of his property developments to investors. He too sells money (opportunities) and dances masterfully with the $$$.
The plethora of “Wealth Creation” Seminars (real estate, share trading) is another classic example. They are simply offering people the opportunity to make money. It is no accident that I am in the information business, selling money (opportunity). As I write, we are testing a new product “How to Get a Government Job – Fast”. In order to to test it I wrote a quick, cheap classified ad and the phones lit up – 50 odd calls is a good result. I then had to madly organise a sales letter, which I didn’t have time t to write myself. I got Alexi Neocleous of Cashflow Marketing[alexi@kaizenmarketingsystem.com, ph. 02 9522 5026] to write it for me. He did a fantastic job. If you want some copywriting done I recommend you give him a call. Anyway, we mailed the sales letter two days ago and we are waiting to see if we get some orders. I am telling you all this because, as you can see, I am selling money or the opportunity of having a reliable, secure Government job $$$. This is how I dance with the dollar (although it’s the only dance I do), selling the most sought after product on earth – money!
My Mars Bar auction demonstrates the dance of the $$$ very well. It goes something like this……… I hold up the Mars Bar to the audience …. “Are there any chocoholics in the room apart from me?” Most of the audience usually confess.
“Who else in the room has a Mars Bar?” No one has to date. “Ah – a captive audience, I can charge what I like!”
Then I continue, “But it’s not just any Mars Bar, it’s an extraordinary Mars Bar. Why? Well for a start, if you send in the wrapper, you might win another one! One in every six wrappers is guaranteed to be a winner.” Very clever of Mars! My own daughter certainly gave it her best shot! Denva devoured enough Mars Bars to make me consider the possibility that we might be responsible for the next significant boom in the dental industry!
“And Mars are very generous because as you can see this Mars Bar is 20% bigger for the same price! But look, you also have the chance to win a free car, just by buying a Mars Bar! You might even enter the draw to win $250,000! I have even seen where they have 200 “Mars” fridges to be won! So who will give me $10 for the Mars Bar?”
Sometimes at this point, a severely addicted chocoholic has heard the words Mars Bar enough times to cause them to begin salivating and they’ll open the bidding.
I continue, “Remember this is no ordinary Mars Bar, it’s an extraordinary Mars Bar … because it comes with this video, What’s Hot What’s Not – Boom Businesses of the New Millennium …” And I go into detail about the benefits of the video to anyone in business or contemplating getting into business and looking for the right vehicle. I then ask for a higher bid, say $20.
It goes on like this as I introduce more and more manuals, books, videos and a free consultation, espousing the value and benefit of each item, to an increasingly hungry audience. And as they bid higher and higher for more and more added value, the pace of bidding quickens and when the amount bid reaches a certain level, there are often two or three who will begin to attempt to outbid each other.
By adding value in this manner, I have got as much as $6,000 for the Mars Bar at auction, and as little as $150 in a very small group.
What does this tell you??
Well unless you nodded off over the last page, it’s glaringly obvious! Adding value has a profound effect!!
And the important question raised by this demonstration is this … At what point does the exchange take place? When is the money in your pocket worth more to you than whatever it is you are buying??
Think about what happened as I took an ordinary small ticket item and began to add value to it. The bidding began at $10 and ended up well into the thousands!
Most people never know how much they could charge for their product!!
And it’s for this reason that I advocate putting your prices up until such time as the marketplace has determined exactly what it is willing to pay!
I strongly recommend that business owners put their prices up by 10% immediately! This is because they often struggle with profitability. It’s madness! People are often afraid to value their businesses and they charge prices that barely cover costs. Remember cost is only one reason people will come to your business! It’s proven that people will gladly pay full price if they can see the value and they get the service! Profit has never been a dirty word to me. Let’s face it, without profit your business will soon crumble and disappear to the detriment of all who buy from you and those whose livelihood depends on you. And you certainly won’t have anything to sell…
I have tested ‘overnight’ price rises, in business after business, both my own and those of my clients and to the surprise of all concerned, rarely has there been a complaint. The few who will complain are the ones you’re better off without anyway, because they are the price shoppers, they shop with all of us. They’re not yours exclusively…
I want to add a very important footnote to my Mars Bar story. I’m told the Mars Bar is one of the world’s most ‘sold’ confectionaries, I believe it and the reason why is obvious! “Mars” build their selling around added value and “widgeting”! That’s how powerful these two strategies are! And have you noticed that Mars Bars are usually stacked right beside the cash registers in virtually every food outlet you enter?
I certainly know it works! On a recent trip to Brisbane, I went to purchase my stash of Mars Bars from a 7 Eleven outlet. When I noticed a huge display of Mars Bars not far from the counter, I asked “What is your best seller”?
The gentleman replied “Mars!” as he reached under the counter to retrieve two large shopping bags full of Mars Bars wrappers, handed in by the lucky people who had won their ‘free Mars Bar”!
The reason that he kept them was that Mars gives him a credit to the value of his wrappers, by way of free Mars Bars. I asked him another question, “Why do you buy so many Mars Bars and stack them next to the counter?” He replied, “Because if I buy 200 boxes, of Mars Bars, I get 40 boxes FREE!”
Would you say the people behind the Mars phenomena are smart? Very smart?? Could you find a place to stack something if the last 40 boxes of whatever it was, represented 100% net profit to you?
Mars KNOW they are not a chocolate maker! They know they are really a marketing company which just happens to use a gooey chocolate bar as its vehicle! And they have turned it into a widget!
So put your prices up and add value to your product or service. The result will surprise, perhaps even astound you!
But back to the Mars Bar auction. In fact I had not intended including it at all in the Boot Camp because despite the fact that it was run over 2 ½ days, I think I could run one for two weeks and still be pushed for time!
I had very special inspiration for conducting this Mars Bar auction. Her name is Sinead and she has since turned twelve. Sinead was diagnosed three years ago with an acute form of Leukaemia and more recently she has had to spend much of her time in hospital. She is bright and beautiful and has found her way into the hearts of the many Australians who have seen her story televised. Sinead and her family are special friend of ours.
We enrolled other presenters who generously offered their products and services to create a “widgeted” package of gargantuan proportions and great value. As the auction went on, to say that the energy in the room was electrifying is an understatement. Presenters called out additional items of value or hours of their time as the auction progressed. When the participants heard that sick children were to benefit they simply opened their hearts along with their purses and wallets.
The bidding came quickly and climbed higher! By the time I closed the auction, $8,000 had been bid for the package and a participant had pledged $500 for the Children’s Ward in a separate cheque. A jar we had placed at the back of the room was stuffed with money.
In Melbourne, the following week we did it all again, only this time we raised $20,000 for the Royal Children’s Hospital there! In total, with the sale of the packages and individual donations, well over $30,000 was raised. And it took about 10 minutes!
When Sinead heard about the result, apparently her smile lit up the room.
Again, we witnessed the “dance of money”.
It is the same with any auction. Watch any expert auctioneer and his assistant as they go from one group of bidders to another working to move the bids up. Often bidding stalls, they will work the bidders, work the bidders and after what seems a very lengthy gap in bids, somebody breaks his silence and bids higher and another flurry of bidding follows. House auction bidding that starts at $300,000 moves easily to $400,000 with a second wind.
The dance at a Real Estate auction goes something like this…each bidder has inspected the property probably more than once, doing their due diligence. They decide on the maximum price they are willing to pay and resolve not to bid beyond it. They then sit in on auction day, still determined that their reserve will not exceed their predetermined maximum price. The Auctioneer and his team attempt to ‘seduce’ the buyer into violating his maximum and pay more. This is the Dance of Commerce. In fact, every seller is trying to ‘seduce’ the buyer into spending, preferably buying bigger options, deluxe models, in one way or another, to buy even when no purchase was intended or at least spending more than was intended. I am not bad at this dance myself (again, it is the only dance I do).
Don’t allow false feelings of inadequacy deter you!
Your goal is to be ‘OK’ with and shameless about being as good at it as you can possibly be. Don’t allow fear or guilt to sabotage your ability to reach a lofty goal or achieve a superlative result for yourself. After all, you are entitled to make the sale, you are no less worthy than your competitor. Only a handful of people achieve this level of self-liberation, where money is concerned. Those who are financially liberated seem to have “the Midas Touch” ; everything they touch “turns to gold” or they are perceived as being “lucky”. I think there is much more to it than that. Psychologically and emotionally, they attract wealth.
Most people subconsciously feel “unworthy” of manifesting maximum wealth. There is a myriad of assumptions that reflect “unworthiness”. The worst is reflected in what you charge for your product or service.
Almost without exception, most people undercharge based on their fears and biases. I cannot remember a time in one of my own businesses, or in coaching others, that “price” could not be overcome as an objection to buy.
Decisions made, purportedly in the customer’s best interest, such as “They can’t afford that much” or “I wouldn’t pay that much” or worse still, “They shouldn’t really spend their money on this, they should spend it on something more important”.
These misconceptions stop sellers from selling and the “Dance of Money” from being performed.
Sellers are rarely celebrated for what they are – leaders of commerce – instead, the media, journalists and professionals, popular culture – shovel guilt at sellers. Mothers want their children to become pillars of society – teachers, doctors, lawyers – not ‘sales people’. Many of those who look down their noses at sellers are, in fact, covert sellers themselves. Charities like Lotto, religions and even Telethon do exactly the same dance, usually with greater immunity than most commercial sales people.
Just as I strategise a sales letter to achieve maximum sales, the team behind Telethon carefully plan every minute to yield top $$. Recently I attended Church for the Confirmation of a friend’s daughter. The plate was “passed around” no less than three times during the service, probably for a general donation, then the building fund, followed by a “mission fund” for a third world country. None of this happens by accident. It is just as scripted as any good sales presentation. They make unbridled use of guilt, intimidation, fear, pride and/or love in their quest for funds and rightly so because of their virtuous intent. But as is the case with most charities, only a percentage makes it to the end of the poverty line. This is not a judgement, the point I make is the money extracted from people is not necessarily put to better use than money extracted from consumers by a business, which then employs people who make donations, support charities and make purchases from third world countries in desperate need of trade. They even pay taxes that support community projects.
Zig Ziglar says “Wimpy sales people have skinny kids”. I would add, they have skinny wallets! Do you really think that if you do not extract every justifiable sale from the process it will somehow be used for some more worthy cause? If the car salesman does not do his best to sell leather trim, window tint and rust proofing, adding an extra $25 per week to your monthly payments, you will put it to a better cause such as sponsoring a child, an education fund or a deposit on an investment property. In any poor neighbourhood the kids are wearing the latest $300 shoes, even more expensive jeans and there is a “Fox” dish on the roof, yet their homes obviously need a little TLC.
The Vet who refuses to raise his consultation fee because “his clients cannot afford it” should try a $25 experiment. Give $25 per month to 50 clients for a full 12 months and then conduct a survey to see where the “extra” money went. Do they appear to be better off in some way? No, spending expands to meet the pay cheque. Rich and the poor, the money gets spent! No question that it will be spent, the money is going to move. The question is to whom, how much of it will you get, versus your competitor?
Honestly, you cannot do that unless you simultaneously deliver value! If you want lots of money coming your way, then deliver massive value! The market place will not continue to reward you with $$$ for long if you fail to deliver enough value, although it is interesting to note that not everyone’s interpretation of value is the same. Only this week, I have received 5 calls/emails from individuals praising the effect my Mail Order package has had on their lives, but just to keep my feet on the ground, today I received a blast from a guy who bought my package two years ago and has conveniently decided he has been “conned” by a “get rich quick” scheme. You go figure.
Bottom line, we are all unique, not everyone interprets things the same way and we each bring our unique biases and belief systems to any process. It comes down to the questions we ask and the action we take, which makes the difference. In my view, motion beats meditation any day. This applies as much to the educated as to the uneducated, to a resident of Peppermont Grove to one from the poor side of town, to a business the size of your corner store or to IBM. Like the law of gravity, this ‘law’ does not discriminate.
So it is a universal truth that money moves in exchange for value!
The best part about this is although by law you can’t actually print your own money without having the federal police storm your door, nor create your own currency and call it “blatchmans” punse or “stratmars” – nobody would accept it, you can’t make you own money – but there is no limitation on how much value you deliver!
That’s why there is no plausible reason for remaining poor or struggling in business. You are free to create all the value required for money to move toward you!
Dan Kennedy puts it beautifully when he says:
The Secret Math of Rich Entrepreneurs:
How Subtraction Adds to their Wealth
Here is what only rich entrepreneurs who routinely, regularly and easily attract wealth, understand (that the general population does not): you cannot accept wealth with a closed fist.
The “tight-fisted person” fearfully, reluctantly, grudgingly parting with each cent, repels wealth. Such a person is unattractive to wealth.
At seminars, it is the most successful people who are the very first to rush to invest in additional how-to resources. This is very revealing to those who pay attention. These people eagerly invest in information and in motivation, secure in the knowledge that each dollar subtracted from their purse or wallet for such purchases, will be replaced in multiples. These same people practice charity, incidentally, with the same sense of security and the same result. For these people, subtraction is multiplication.
I couldn’t agree more. True wisdom is to be found in Dan’s words.
There is a formula for getting rich and as with all formulae, it is exact. Just as with geometry and algebra, it is impossible to fail when this formula is carried out with precision.
YOU have as much right to wealth and a wonderful lifestyle as anyone else. You ought to desire unlimited access to the best life has to offer in every sense – in a physical, spiritual and intellectual sense.
It often seems to be a legacy of our upbringing or whatever contributed to the way we view ourselves in the world, that we feel an uneasy guilt whenever the desire for wealth or possibility of achieving it for ourselves, occurs to us. It’s as though we really feel undeserving. What we really yearn for is the better and more abundant life, which wealth will afford us. In today’s demanding society, it would be impossible to live a really abundant life in every way, without money. Try filling your role as a spouse, a parent, an employer, employee or even that of a citizen, if you have nothing to give. And in case you’re wondering if I was born with the proverbial silver spoon in my mouth or if I have the added advantage – to some – of an extensive education., I wasn’t and I didn’t! In fact I struggled through school with an undiagnosed learning problem.
But I have made money. A Lot of money. The reason I am wealthy is that I learned what works.
Don’t be mistaken, a high IQ, and loads of talent or a private school education is no guarantee of riches either! Highly intellectual people are poor too! Of course natural ability is surely an advantage. But school drop-outs, so called dumb-bums, and people with less than average academic achievements to their credit, can certainly be rich. By the way, just because you might be “better at it” than someone you can think of who is obviously ‘loaded’, doesn’t automatically mean you will be too. And where you live is inconsequential. Not everyone who lives in a particular premier suburb or even street will share the same level of wealth. This is rarely the case. Everywhere, rich and poor co-exist and often share similar or the very same vocations.
If you can’t quite come to terms with the idea of being wealthy you, that is your choice. You may feel disadvantaged by a less than ideal or supportive background; you may even have surrendered to a “victim” mindset; really bought into the story. But if you’ve reached the point where you’re absolutely sick of the hard slog with little or nothing to show for it, my relentless, tough-as-nails, show-no-mercy style of marketing is definitely for you. How can I be so sure? It’s simple really: I’ve been in your position at some point in the last 20 years or so. I have also coached innumerable clients – who are also just like you.
The truth is, only 5% of successful people, when presented with a solution to a problem, act upon it. In fact, a large proportion of you will statistically not even finish reading this newsletter even though at some point in time, you’ve probably parted with your hard earned money. You see, reading this newsletter, listening to tapes and reading books doesn’t actually “work” by itself. For you to achieve a new and different result and to profit from reading publications such as this newsletter, there are 3 basic steps you must not ignore and in order they are: AWARENESS, DECISION and ACTION. What I can do is create the awareness for you, the rest is up to you! I’m not going to be dropping by your place asking if you’ve actually done anything yet and frankly no amount of money would interest me in taking on the role of saviour or personal nag.
But – here is a tool, which when used correctly should see to it that 70% of you will make significant progress! It’s a 30 Day To-do List!
Believe me when I tell this simple exercise of writing a “30 Day To Do List” may be the single most important factor in determining your future success or failure. When you read, even this newsletter, you may experience some “Ah-ha” moments or blinding flashes of the obvious. You should record these as you have them! Begin to make a list of anything that resonates with you. Fill page after page, arranging your list in order of priority to you. Now go into action! Work on the most important, placing it at the top of your 30 Day To-Do List. Commit to taking action on one thing every day for the next 30 days to see that this priority is achieved. Surprisingly, if you undertake this simple but staggeringly effective discipline, you will break with normality and you will ‘mysteriously’ begin to succeed where before you have failed. I have included a 30 day To-do list at the end of this Newsletter. I urge you to use it!
With over 16 business bought and sold – some started from scratch – I have a vast amount of experience to draw from. Everything I write about is based on my 29 years of experience and on exactly what has worked for me … and what hasn’t. This newsletter addresses some of the aspects of business I have first hand experience of.
I’m an ordinary bloke who has worked his way to where I am now, my achievements are borne of the ability to be ‘street smart’. There are enough academic theorists out there and plenty of them write books about business. I am in touch with business. I own and run “information” businesses of my own, I make sales every day and deal and negotiate with all manner of people.
Can I save anyone? No, it’s impossible to drag people to success, especially once they’ve got to the stage where they’re peddling like hell. People can only save themselves! Even out of those who attend my talks or even take the step of investing in my information, a high percentage never do anything with that knowledge and information! Though I’d like it to be different, I’m realistic about it.
If you are already in business, have the confidence to move forward in an efficient, productive manner. If you’ve never been in business, after listening to other business people talk or even having attended one of my seminars, you may even go right off the idea altogether, but if that happens, you’re probably spooked too easily to succeed in the fluctuating, challenging world of business anyway. But if you are ready to move, what it will do is navigate you around many of the pitfalls and problems that can occur. It will even help you cope with problems that can’t be avoided.
What you will learn from me is not about the basics or even strictly the logistics of business. This information is everywhere. My focus is on “high probability of success” – and if you’re already in business or contemplating taking the plunge, it’s the only approach to take!
