Grant Cardone's Success Blog

During periods of major loss or change, individuals and businesses experience a number of stages in response to the loss or change. Everyone has to go through each of the stages in order to recover and the speed at which you get through them will determine how soon you recover.

1) Denial - Refusal to believe and accept that things have changed, typically involving some loss. All efforts and energy invested in resisting that conditions have changed.

2) Anger/Blame - Finding a target to blame for the change. All energy and effort is spent on finding someone or some institution to assign as reason for current situation.

3) Bargaining and Hope - This stage involves people bargaining and hoping for someone to save them. This is a low level of responsibility. Lots of businesses are in this phase today as they wait for the banks to free up capital or the government to come in and suddenly save the day. This is just another level of denial of the situation.

4) Apathy - Acceptance that things have changed and no one can save you and that in fact there is nothing you can do about it! This results in people moving into major contraction and worsening of their own condition by saving money, energy, resources, creativity and any efforts to figure a way out. The higher your responsibility level the shorter this stage and the lower your responsibility level the longer this stage. Apathy is a form of quitting or withdrawing.

5) False Acceptance and Action - A spurt of effort to accept conditions and do something about it resulting in inconsistent and disappointing actions. This is the first stage of accepting that things have changed but in this first stage of acceptance most underestimate the degree of change (pain or loss) and then take actions based on earlier scene.

6) Disappointment (another level of apathy) - . Because the actions used are from the past they will not result in satisfactory levels of production causing disappointment, confusion and possible frustration. This however results in and prepares the individual, team or company for true acceptance of the situation and what is required to dig out.

7) True Acceptance Stage - This final stage is where the individual or team becomes fully aware of the amount of change for the first time and is now prepared to let go of the past and move into the future. This is the first time that an awareness of the need for new skills and actions will be needed. In this final stage of acceptance people will experience a reinvigoration and excitement about their business and future and become highly interested in reinventing themselves and their business.

In just the last weeks I have personally conducted over 100 tele-conference calls directly with over 800 business owners, executives and managers. The results of those calls suggest people are moving through the stages. Clearly the companies and individuals that are taking the time to have conference calls with me are going to have a higher degree of responsibility, so the statistics that follow are most likely not representative of the general population.
Here are some of the results obtained from the teleconference calls with me.
• Almost 80% of them stated they are no longer concerned with who is to blame but rather what they need to do.
• Over 95% believed as a result of the call that no one was going to come in a save the day. (This is critical realization for moving on.)
• Almost 100% of those on the calls expressed disappointment in the results from the actions they were taking and realized they were in the false acceptance stages.
• 99% of these same people acknowledged that they needed to learn new actions, new skills and new approaches for the new economy and that this change had to start with management.
• 98% agreed that while their economy was problematic, it was not the problem. This is also critical to recovery, as anyone in the blame stage will not take action as they are using all their energy and creativity assessing who is responsible.
• Lastly, over 90% believe the call moved them through the stages more quickly so that they could reach the final stage of 'True Acceptance' and start taking new actions to achieve new results.

Posted by Grant Cardone at 2:40 PM | Permalink

Whatever it is that you value should be done daily and if it's not important then don't do it. How you start you day is going to determine how your day turns out.

In this market you cannot afford to miss one opportunity and you must have the right attitude each day. You must take the right approach and make sure that each day is filled with a high level of action. Those that can get these three things done DAILY will win and those that do not will be punished!

Think about the things that you do everyday such as eating, dressing, driving, talking or walking. Because you do them everyday they are normal disciplines that you no longer think about but do automatically with ease. These activities are natural to you because of the number of times you've repeated the actions. They are also necessary to your survival so it is non negotiable as to whether you learn it or not because they are essential to your survival. When it comes to maximizing every opportunity in an economic environment that is drastically contracted, where buyers lack confidence and where banks are beyond careful your skill set is critical and vital to the survival of your career and your future!

In today's market your survival literally depends on your ability to generate traffic and close deals and those skills have to be improved upon daily. Not once a week or twice a week. This is something that has to become a ritual for your company to start each day with a planned, high motivation meeting whereby management and sales people are shown NEW ways to solve problems.

Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Michael Jackson, Warren Buffet and anyone that reaches a level of greatness all have some things in common. What are they? They are all top achievers in their respective fields of expertise. They are beyond their competition and they got there because of a greater commitment to learning their trade! A Daily - Disciplined - Commitment to improving on their game of expertise!

Planned Daily Meetings prepare sales teams and management for the situations they will face daily. Of the hundreds of companies I am talking to each month the one common thread is those that are expanding and winning are doing daily focused, planned and positive meetings each day that prepare the staff with new ways to solve problems and sell their products!

Today's economic survival is based on solving problems not on selling. Your customers will purchase because you solved a problem for them. And the more you provide your people with solutions to solving today's problems the more motivated they will be, the more productive they will be and the better their attitudes will be. This has to be done daily. Imagine if you didn't show up to your business four days of the week? That is what you are doing when you don't start each day with a planned meeting that provides your people with solutions, motivation and hope!

Posted by Grant Cardone at 4:29 PM | Permalink

(excerpts from "The Closer's Survival Guide")
by Grant Cardone

#6 - Being Reasonable is Not Good in the Close

Being reasonable is an unfortunate human condition that is perpetuated and promoted in our society as a good thing. Most people tend to think that being reasonable (rational) is a good thing but when it comes to 'closing the deal' being 'reasonable' with your customer will cause you to fail in the close! When you become reasonable in the close you become sold on all the 'reasons' people can not do buy your product or service. This is a problem.

At this point you are no longer the closer but rather become he/she who is being closed. Price is too high, payments too high, we don't make decisions the first day, and on and on are just a different version of your sales presentation being reversed onto you! The moment you become 'reasonable' with your prospects 'reasons' for not closing and you fail to close and instead get closed. Much of what your customer is telling you may have validity but the reality is when you are completely convinced (sold) on your product or service you will become unreasonable and not allow your customer's reasonability, stalls, excuses, reactions, objections and complaints to keep you from closing because you are NO LONGER willing to be reasonable!

And this idea of being reasonable is THE thing that will crush you from making your dreams come true and creating the life you want. Every person that has done anything great on this planet had to be UNREASONABLE to some degree. What if Jesus Christ, the Founders of this great country, the Wright Brothers or Bill Gates would have been reasonable? At the point where you start to rationalize and make sense of why you can not have the life you want, or reach your goals or close the deal you will start to fail!

I wrote an article last summer before the economic fallout had started that stated, "as soon as we hit serious economic turmoil you will see this fabricated nonsense of being reasonable become the undoing of millions of people. People have lost the importance of completing tasks and getting things done. People are being convinced to enjoy life rather than create a life they enjoy. Urgency to complete tasks and close deals as a daily habit is missing in our society today. It seems that the individual only approaches something with urgency when his survival is threatened and most of the time it is then too late."

The close requires you to be unreasonable! This is just the last servicing step of several actions involved in selling, not unlike bagging the grass and bringing it out to the street is the last action in mowing a lawn. Until something is completed it is not done! One of the things I work on in my life is to complete actions started and complete them as fast as possible. The more I complete, the more I can complete. The less I complete, the less I seem to complete (which ultimately reduces my desire to start new things).

Salespeople with unclosed deals are punished more than they are aware! Watch someone become less and less ambitious as more and more deals don't close. Watch them quickly become lethargic, despondent, critical, negative and hopeless.

Get in the habit of approaching everything with a sense of completion and urgency to complete and close. Never be reasonable with time! This discipline is critical to mounting up sale after sale and one that is understood by true professional closers. How do you manage time? Complete every action once started, do it as fast as possible, and then go on to another task. It's the same with closing deals. Don't put off closing and don't be reasonable with all the reasons not to close! Remember successful people are unreasonable and unsuccessful people have every reason not to be!

Posted by Grant Cardone at 3:35 PM | Permalink

#9 - A Shortage of Closing Material

A lack of closing material will stop the close. It is one of the top ten reasons for not closing the deal. The close is where you hit pay dirt for the first time. While most sales people agree that the average customer has to be asked five times before they will finally close, the very same sales person only has four closes. That would be one close short of what would be needed on the average customer during a normal deal. When times get tough buyers get more resistant and that means you need even more closes.

The reasons the close does not take place are finite... not infinite as many think. The close itself falls into a handful of categories; time, money (price/payment/terms), product justification, stalls and third parties. The number one biggest reason for not closing is never asking, the next reason is that the sales person was unable to persist because he/she ran out of ammo!

Due to a lack of successful techniques and closing material, salespeople are unable to persist in the close. It is not because you aren't motivated, its because you don't know what to say. No matter how powerful the rocket it won't get anywhere without fuel. The fuel for the Closer is closes. You need hundreds of them drilled and rehearsed, loaded and ready to be fired off where appropriate!

I have personally met hundreds of thousands of salespeople and only a small percentage of them have even a handful of practiced, rehearsed and prepared closes. I know thousands of salespeople who, after leaving my seminars and being on my closing programs have as many as one-hundred completely rehearsed, drilled to perfection magical closes that they are able to use and depend on in real life selling situations. All of these individuals watched their confidence, their love of their job and their incomes soar!

Great sales people are rare and great closers are even more rare. While some of us have more natural gifts that would incline us to be sales people no one is born a great closer. This talent can only be learned and it is the kind of skill that can always be improved on. The single thing a closer needs is a wide variety of closes in order to stay in the deal and persist until he/she gets the yes!
How many of these do you know?

• DELIVERY CLOSE • JUSTIFY CLOSE
• CHECK CLOSE • LOCK CLOSE
• SCALE FROM ONE TO TEN CLOSE • EVERYTHING THE SAME CLOSE
• PAYMENT CLOSE • MONEY EQUAL CLOSE
• PAYMENTS TO FIGURES CLOSE • COPY CLOSE
• RATE CLOSE • LEAVE ME SOME PAPERWORK CLOSE
• EQUIPMENT CLOSE • IMPORTANT PERSON CLOSE
• TITLE/REGISTRATION CLOSE • THIRD PARTY CLOSE
• PAPERWORK CLOSE • TREAT YOURSELF CLOSE
• SPOUSE STALL CLOSE I • WORK HARD TO EARN THIS CLOSE
• SPOUSE STALL CLOSE II • YOU DESERVE IT CLOSE
• SPOUSE STALL CLOSE III • DISCOUNT CLOSE
• SPOUSE STALL CLOSE IV • SUMMARY CLOSE
• UNAVAILABLE PARTY CLOSE • NO EQUITY CLOSE
• UNAVAILABLE PARTY CLOSE II • BEN FRANKLIN CLOSE
• INSURANCE CLOSE • COMPARISON INVESTMENT CLOSE
• SECOND PARTY ASSIST CLOSE • COMPARISON CLOSE
• SECOND BASEMAN CLOSE I • SAME PRODUCT CLOSE (YOURS)
• SECOND BASEMAN CLOSE II • SAME PRODUCT CLOSE (THEIRS)
• IMMEDIATE DELIVERY CLOSE • NOW AND LATER CLOSE
• AGREEMENT CLOSE I • FLUSH THE OBJECTION CLOSE
• AGREEMENT CLOSE II • YOU KNEW THAT BEFORE CLOSE
• AGREEMENT CLOSE III • GRATITUDE CLOSE
• WON´T BE THE LAST TIME CLOSE • THE UNWIND CLOSE
• BE GRATEFUL CLOSE • GOING TO WAIT CLOSE
• CONGRATULATIONS CLOSE • WHEN VALUE EXCEEDS PRICE CLOSE
• DO IT ANYWAY CLOSE • THREE AGREEMENTS AND CLOSE
• DISEASE CLOSE • MINOR POINT CLOSE
• DO IT FOR ME CLOSE • WHO TAUGHT YOU THAT CLOSE
• INVENTORY CLOSE - MOVE DOWN • ABLE CLOSE
• INVENTORY CLOSE - MODEL UP • INTELLIGENCE CLOSE
• SELECTION ALTERNATIVE CLOSE • DO THE RIGHT THING CLOSE
• PACKAGE ALTERNATIVE CLOSE • DO THE RIGHT THING CLOSE II
• PAYMENT BREAKDOWN CLOSE • SCARCITY CLOSE
• BUDGET CLOSE I • TAKE AWAY CLOSE
• BUDGET CLOSE II • FIRST OR LAST CLOSE
• BUDGET CLOSE III • SOONER OR LATER CLOSE
• BUDGET CLOSE IV • GET IT DONE AND OVER CLOSE
• BUDGET CLOSE V • NEVER THE BEST TIME CLOSE
• ASSUME ZERO BALANCE CLOSE • WON´T ALLOW CLOSE
• PAYOFF CLOSE • OWNERSHIP CLOSE
• DELAY PAYMENT CLOSE • CONTRIBUTION CLOSE
• NO COSIGNER CLOSE • PERSONAL FAVOR CLOSE
• MOMENTUM CLOSE • BEG CLOSE
• NEED TO PRAY ABOUT IT CLOSE • THE GAME CLOSE
• THINK ABOUT IT CLOSE I • COMMISSION CLOSE
• THINK ABOUT IT CLOSE II • LEAVE IT UP TO THE BANK CLOSE
• THINK ABOUT IT CLOSE III • PUPPY DOG CLOSE
• THINK ABOUT IT CLOSE IV • FEEL FELT FOUND CLOSE
• THINK ABOUT IT CLOSE V • QUALITY CLOSE
• RE-PRESENT CLOSE [RE-DEMO CLOSE?] • FUTURE DATE CLOSE
• APOLOGY CLOSE • PRICE GUARANTEE CLOSE
• REFUSE TO BELIEVE CLOSE • NOW OR NEVER CLOSE
• CAN´T QUIT CLOSE • DONE EVERYTHING POSSIBLE CLOSE
• THREE YES´S AND THEN CLOSE • GET MORE DONE CLOSE
• REFERRAL CLOSE • HANDSHAKE CLOSE
• DOWN TO THE PENNY CLOSE • ADDITIONAL SERVICE CLOSE
• REDUCE TO RIDICULOUS CLOSE • PRESSURE CLOSE I
• BETTER TO LIVE RICH CLOSE • PRESSURE CLOSE II
• CAN´T TAKE IT WITH YOU CLOSE • PRESSURE CLOSE III
• NO SHORTAGE OF MONEY CLOSE • RASH DECISION CLOSE
• REASON TO BUY CLOSE • RASH DECISION CLOSE II
• IF I COULD, WOULD YOU CLOSE • NOTHING TO DO WITH DECISION CLOSE
• ELEVENTH INNING CLOSE • EITHER WAY CLOSE

Posted by Grant Cardone at 9:35 AM | Permalink

YOU CAN NO LONGER AFFORD THE 'BUSINESS AS USUAL' ATTITUDE AS THIS IS NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL AND EXTREME TIMES REQUIRE EXTREME ACTIONS! The current economic condition is a serious 'game changer' and this article is designed to show you how to take advantage of the changed game. I am going to show you one simple thing in this article that will immediately result in increased business.

Your business is different today and different times require different actions, different attitudes and a different set of approaches. This is not business as usual and as popular as it is to say, "just get back to basics", this naïve thinking will prove deathly. You have banks backing up on loan amounts, customers more resistant to make decisions, no-cost - easy credit has disappeared, unemployment numbers hitting levels never seen before, and bad news combined with a lack of consumer confidence flooding the minds of everyone. The fact is that most of your people have never sold in this type of environment! These market conditions require you and your people to think and act well beyond the norm. The game has changed and you now must change the game you play in order to advance your position. Do not look for 'best practices' at this time, look for 'game changing' practices that will separate you from the competition.

If you do what you did last year or anything even remotely similar you will find yourselves going backwards and may even cease to exist. In addition to thinking about what you can do to get a deal closed, determine what your competitors will not do and do that!

Determine what your best competitor is unwilling to do and do it and you will not only survive but you will seize market share. We are now talking about going way beyond basics and instilling new actions for sales and management. Again this is not business as usual but business unusual. Sit down with your management and pick any action that can create results, for example 'follow-up'. Determine what your best competition will not do regarding follow-up. Let's say the answers are, 1) will not call immediately, they wait a day, 2) will not make personal visits, 3) management/exec's do not make calls. These answers show you the actions that you want to take right now. You have now discovered three game changing actions that will make THE difference. A little tip here; "the more unacceptable the answers the more successful the results will be".

Quit looking for just 'best practices' start searching for 'Game Changing Practices' that will separate you completely from others. Don't think with what 'others are doing' or what you 'should do', or even 'how to compete'. I want you thinking with 'what they won't do' so you don't compete with them you conquer them! Those that don't take this simple advice will not be in the market next year to complain. THE SURVIVORS AND WINNERS WILL BE THOSE THAT HAVE THE BEST ATTITUDES, THE BEST APPROACHES, THAT TAKE THE MOST ACTION AND ARE WILLING TO GO WHERE YOUR COMPETITORS WON'T GO.

Have myself or my team come to your store or do a tele conference with your management team to deliver your "Game Changer" meeting. In two hours we will create GAME CHANGING action plan for your store and then stay with your company until they are executed and become a habit. Call 800-368-5771 to arrange your meeting or tele conference.

Posted by Grant Cardone at 9:33 AM | Permalink