6 Moves to Help Close More Deals

Who you associate with, what deals you negotiate and close, the investments you make, and the partners you attract will determine what your business and life will look like in the future.? Here are 6 things that we are re-focusing on more this year to shape?our future.

1 - Remove Risk/Friction: We try to find ways to de-risk a relationship for the other party. We ask ourselves: how can we provide them with a client, a next-gen intro, exposure, a deal that we don't make money on but helps them, and make it a negative risk to engage with us?

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We often help ultra-wealthy families set up their family offices for free and we make friends with them while doing so, and end up doing business together. One billionaire worked with us this way, and now we have closed 19 transactions together.

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Think about how you can remove all friction from starting a platform, relationship, or joint venture project with a potential investor or partner. That way it is in their best interest to say yes to you.

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2 - Excitement Only:

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I cancel meetings that make no sense. I leave partnerships that are not working. And I do not look to work on anything linear.

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By focusing on passionate exponential projects, I'm able to put more effort into my ventures, and it keeps life interesting and challenging in a good way. Successful entrepreneurs get that and can relate to it.

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3 - Decade-Long Commitments:

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When we go into a niche or area, we try to make sure it is so valuable that even if it takes us a decade to be a top 3 or #1 player in that area, it will be worth it.

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Ironically, by doing this and doing things that only make sense if you are trying to be very helpful and hyper-connected in an area over a decade, investors will see this. They will see you are committed and are more likely to work with you because of this long-term thinking that they use as well.

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They are not worried about the next paycheck, or next month; they want to do very well over the macro long-term, through cycles, and across 10-20 years or even across a few lifetimes.

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4 - Focus:

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We do not try to do everything; we focus our energy on what we know we can do. We can help someone set up a family office, upgrade their service providers, design their direct investment strike zone, etc.?If someone wants help with buying a car, planning a vacation, wants us to be their cap intro person, or work outside of our sphere, we say no.

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In the operating business niche, we just focus on profitable medical/dental practices. For example: we can keep someone's mandate in mind for any niche, but we aren't holding ourselves out as experts in biotech, manufacturing, crypto, cannabis, real estate, and medical practices.?

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The more energy is diffused, typically the less progress you make in any one area compared to what you could make if you focused on it.

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5 - Listen & Follow Up Politely:

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As simple as it sounds, listening very closely, taking notes, and then having those notes pop up as reminders to me to help a family once every 8-12 weeks has been very helpful over a number of years.

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I only follow up when I have something of great value, not to pitch random ideas or make introductions they didn't ask for. Many deals we close only come to fruition after 100+ emails of follow-up over periods of 18 months to 12 years.

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This dedication shows them we are not going anywhere. When we connect, it is for something of value, and we care enough to listen and add value.

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6 - Time:

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The more I value my time, the more I can interact with the ultra-wealthy in the same way. Amateur hour is someone asking to meet to "pick your brain" or to "connect." Or someone who wants to talk about any given topic without providing any detail, background, or agenda.

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Respecting someone's time means knowing something about them, and explaining your intent, your goal, and the agenda items. After providing value first or sharing how this will provide value to them (whether you work together or not) you can then see if the investor can be engaged via email, WhatsApp, text, or in person.

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All the pros know how to complete phone calls in 7-12 minutes, sometimes less, and between that, an email or text gets a lot done. Amateurs take 30-60 minutes and get nothing done, telling you where they grew up, about the weather, and where they went to school, etc.

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The other day someone got me on a call for 23 minutes to tell me about 2 more phone calls coming up,?total waste of time. That type of stuff burns my soul - I would rather be talking to someone with something to say, be with my kids, my wife, and my friends, working out, or writing an email for our investor club.

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The ultra-wealthy are typically as busy - if not MUCH more busy - than I am. They have dozens of companies, dozens of K-1s, and many times dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of employees. If you don't respect their time, they will go dark on you.

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I hope at least one of these strategies helps you make more progress in your daily work with private investors or JV partners.