I’m popping in quickly from Tampa, Florida and Dan Stojadinovic’s 4th Hype-Free “Internet Marketing and Joint Ventures Bootcamp.”
Dan is President of the Tampa Bay real estate investors’ association, and I’m blessed to know him and have the opportunity to speak regularly at his events.
Teaching real estate investors how to add a profit stream through internet marketing has become Dan’s passion. And in an economy where seminar-holders are SERIOUSLY struggling to fill rooms, Dan has again pulled off a tremendously successful seminar.
I consider this an extreme testiment to the credo that:
Your biggest asset is your list (.. of prospects, buyers, etc) and the real opportunity is in your relationship with that list.
Honestly, I find Dan’s email marketing to be nearly unintelligible on most occasions!
Difficult to follow… big clunky paragraphs… spelling errors galore…
English is his 2nd language, so it’s understandable, but it’s the polar opposite of what’s generally considered good email copyrighting.
BUT if you know the guy, which countless people do through his years of travel and speaking engagements at REIAs across the country, you know he’s trustworthy and he’s an incredible value creator.
In fact, with him it’s always apparent that adding value to others’ lives is far more important than the money that comes with it.
His success is an example of a point I made during my 60-minute presentation today:
The ultimate success of any relationship, be it business or marriage or otherwise, depends solely on value creation.
This means mutual value exchange.
I believe most people don’t get what they want out of a business or marriage relationship because they’re too concerned with getting what THEY want.
An amazing thing happens when you take the emphasis off yourself and, instead, focus on adding more life to the other person.
I believe you can break this down into 3 easy steps:
- Make a strong personal connection with someone
- Find out what’s important to that person
- Help the person get it
There’s TREMENDOUS opportunity (not to mention money to be made) in this simple dynamic.
If you’re a real estate investor, take your buyers list as an example. You’re exponentially more likely to sell a property to that list if you’ve taken the initiative to:
- Make a strong personal connection. Which can be automated through the power of the Internet with autoresponders (Aweber, iContact), video (Youtube, Viddler), and other means.
- Find out what’s important to them. Be aware of the exact specs on the types of properties they’re looking to buy (again, this can be automated through your website and a simple database)
- Help them get it.
No matter what industry you’re in, I guarantee these simple steps can be applied.
In his classic book, Influence, Robert Cialdini provides the example of the “Jujitsu Master.”
He explains that success in the art of jujisu has very little to do with one’s own strength.
Rather, success depends upon one’s ability to leverage the natural gravity, momentum, and inertia of the other person. Winning the short-lived relationship on the jujitsu mat actually requires little exertion of physical force.
I believe those who find it a struggle to create successful business and marriage relationships are the ones who are using too much of their own force. They’re working too hard to get what they want instead of recognizing the natural needs and tendencies of the other people involved.
I can trace one of my most profitable business relationships today all the way back to a surfboard.
About a year ago, I wanted to thank an individual who took hours of his time to provide me with some life-changing insights for my business.
Through a few short moments of personal connection with this guy, I recognized that a brand new, custom surfboard would be a valuable gift of appreciation to this individual. So I bought one and sent it to him.
He was tremendously grateful and reciprocated in kind by sharing additional wisdom with me.
Through our conversations, I recognized an opportunity where I could utilize my staff to add unique value to his business… and the result is a joint venture partnership to this day that promises to be extremely financially profitable.
See the flow of value exchange?
When navigating the waters of any future relationship - be it business, marriage, or otherwise - we need to be continuously aware of the unique value we can create for the other person.
Success will follow in the form of financial gain, long term partnerships, seminar rooms filled to capacity, and a happy home.
The Dan Stojadinovics of the world are perfect testaments to this principle.
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Posted in Business, Life, Real Estate | Comments (5)
Posted on February 22nd, 2009
Andy,
Thanks so much for such an insightful blog post. What you say here is absolutely true, and I definitely agree that good things come to those who give. I think it does us all good to be reminded of that from time to time, especially with real life examples.
Thanks again.
Shane.
Posted on February 23rd, 2009
Andy,
I’m very blessed to have you share at my events! I’m inspired by the type of man you are and how you treat others and your selfishness! You have changed so many peoples lives by giving and and sharing and not glorying yourself, but inspiring other to believe in themselves! On the side note, you are in this video (for a second next to the other speakers):
http://www.viddler.com/explore/chriskrimitsos/videos/390/
Sincerely,
Dan Stojadinovic
Founder of Hype Free Events
Posted on February 23rd, 2009
ok this is a terrific post/article packed with gobs of info. Thanks again for all the insight.
Posted on July 23rd, 2009
nice! i’m gonna make my own journal
Posted on November 30th, 2009
I love this and I am applying it to my life and journey right now!!!!