Grant Cardone - If You're Not First, You're Last - Sales Strategies to Dominate Your Market and Beat Your Competition

I know some of the most intelligent people on this planet who ended up dead broke because they were masters at their trade but didn’t know how to manage, invest, and make money grow. They were missing an understanding of the very wealth that they worked so hard to amass.

Get a few straightforward books on money, and learn everything you can about the topic. People who have money in the bank and growing investments make better salespeople and businesspeople. They have more confidence and appear more professional because they have their money working for them instead of the other way around. Understanding all the terminology that’s used in regard to financial planning, money, finance, savings, and debt won’t just make you feel financially secure. It is also the first step to increasing your motivation to reach your goals.

A financial plan differs from a budget and is the basic entry point to creating wealth. It serves as a road map for creating finances and correctly managing your income. It’s the financial motivation that takes you to work each day. The first step to take here is to determine your budget, or how much money you currently spend. If you don’t already have this in place, then do it now by making a list of everything on which you spent money over the past three months. It will probably help to use your checkbook or credit card statement. Next, figure out how much money you actually need to bring in monthly in order to create solvency and get all that you want accomplished. Solvency is defined as the ability of an entity to pay its debts with available cash or the ability of a corporation or individual to meet its long-term fixed expenses and accomplish long-term expansion and growth. In other words, the better a company or individual’s solvency, the better off it is financially. An insolvent company or individual can no longer operate.

Solvency is a different concept from profitability , which refers to the ability to earn a profit. Businesses can be profitable without being solvent (e.g., when they are expanding rapidly); they can even be solvent while losing money (e.g., when they cannibalize future cash flows, like selling accounts receivable). A business is bankrupt when it is unprofitable and insolvent.

This is where most people fail with financial planning: They never create a plan that makes them solvent. They spend the lion’s share of their time on the budget portion: car payments, mortgage, credit cards, gas/electric bills, other utilities, insurance, food, restaurants, entertainment, dental and medical bills, etc. They completely disregard the more important issues, like future needs, savings, self-improvement, children’s educational accounts, vacation funds, home improvement funds, and retirement savings. They’re left with only a budget; they never create a financial plan; they spend their lives paying others; and they never get around to funding themselves.

A true financial plan should clearly state your monetary goals. It should outline exactly how you’re going to create surpluses of money, what to do with the surpluses, and how to manage and invest that money. A plan suggests that you’re doing something to make things happen ; it’s not a historic evaluation of what has been done already (a budget). Plan means a method of achieving an end, a strategy of how one is going to stay viable and solvent as a household or a business. A budget is a list of all those things on which you’re spending money. Clipping coupons, saving money, cutting back, and anything to do with controlling expenses is all about a budget whereas a financial plan focuses on wealth creation .

One of the reasons why people never seem to have enough money is that they focus their attention on a budget instead of a plan. You need to ask yourself the following questions: How much money do we really need in order to live? How much do we need in order to fund future retirement plans, vacations, education for children, savings, investments, etc.? Who has the money to fund those activities? How much activity will be needed to create that kind of money? A financial plan is the expansion consideration, not the contraction (budget) consideration. It lays out how you are going to reach your goals, make your dreams come true, and have the future you desire; it’s the motivation for going to work in the first place.

During tough times, your customers will have their attention pinned down in the same area as everyone else and will of course be more reluctant to make purchases. Since they’re also focusing on their budget, you have to do a better job at “unpinning” them by showing how your products and services can help them expand. The degree to which you have a complete understanding of how much money you actually need in order to create the future you want will determine how successful you are in selling over these objections. The more dedicated you are to designing a financial plan, the more clearly you can focus on how much money you must create in order to pay yourself (not just the creditors)—something that will inevitably lead to your success in the marketplace.

So take some time to determine how much money you actually need and all the potential sources available to you: your power base, past clients, people to whom you have been unsuccessful in selling—basically anyone who can contribute to your financial plan. Don’t forget that even during periods of economic contraction, there are still people who have money and will spend it. After all, there is no shortage of money on Earth; there is a shortage of planning, motivation, courage, action, and follow-through. Your own personal lack of wealth merely means that you don’t understand something or don’t have the correct motivation. Once you put a financial plan in place, you will spend the rest of your energy finding those people who need your products and services—people who will fund your financial plan and help you advance and conquer.

Your sales, communication, negotiating, and closing skills are vital to your achievement in order for you to advance and conquer. You can’t take market share unless you can sell your ideas, products, and services. Every profession has a skill set. A carpenter needs a hammer, nails, and lumber, and—to the degree he knows his trade—he will be desirable in the marketplace. A farmer needs a tractor, seed, trucks, fertilizer, water, fuel, etc. A boxer needs a good jab, a great hook, solid defense, stamina to go 12 rounds, footwork, and a fight plan. A chef needs proper utensils, recipes, seasoning, food, refrigerators, stoves, ovens, and warmers.

When things are tough, you and your company need—more than anything else—organizational, management, and planning skills and the ability to sell your products and services. You could fail as a manager, but if you were able to sell enough of your products and smartly control your money, you could still be successful. You can plan and organize until you’re blue in the face, but if you can’t sell your products, what does it matter how organized you are?

Most of us don’t have a line of people waiting for our products; we actually have to generate interest, sell our product, and close the deal. The lifeblood of every company is revenue, and revenue is generated by sales. Therefore, every organization’s most necessary assets—that alone can determine its success (or lack thereof )—are the sales skills of its employees.