While it is certain we are going through a difficult economic time it is also certain that we will get through this. This is not the first time this country’s economy or its people have been challenged.

Look what has happened over the past 40 years:
Average home prices:
1970- $23,000 Recession
1980- $62,000 Severe Recession
1990- $97,300 Savings and Loan Bust
2000- $147,300 Internet Bust
2006- $221,900 Housing Correction

The US is still the largest economy in the World with Japan in second place between the same years. North America (moderate growth) was 33% in 1970 and still 33%
in 2007.

Even after all the challenges over the past forty years your home’s value still went up in value and the US economy continued to maintain its position in the world. Is this a different time? Sure it is. You are older, hopefully smarter and more experienced. Yes, jobs are being lost, banks have gone out of business, companies are losing money, the stock market is crazy and your home has probably gone down in value, but you are still alive and you will survive.

The question is not whether you will make it through this time or not, the question is how will you act while you are going through it and how you will survive it.

There is no shortage of people that spend all their time assigning blame, crying, stressing, freaking, and complaining. None of which has any positive effect on the outcome. Now is the time to focus on what you can do about the current situation. Quit spending time on what you cannot do about it and put all your energies, resources and actions on doing something constructive.

While the world loses its mind about how “bad” things are, you and your family need to come together and create a constructive plan for surviving this time. When I want to really focus I always go to my wife first and say, “hey, I really need your support right now. I have to put my head down and really hit it at another level.”

We sit down and talk about how we are going to do that. How can she help me create more products and get more products sold? We also talk about where we can tighten up any spending that is unnecessary.

Then I will create a list of things I can do about it and schedule myself doing those things.

It is said, “You are either part of the problem or part of the solution”. Spend your time on the solution because that is the only way to resolve the problem.

The best investment you’ll ever make.

Government bailout without a business plan of how to dispose of the troubled housing stock will fail as housing inventories continue to decline without a buyer. This will further decay housing values, increase the cost of the bailout and make for a deeper economic pullback. Any solution that does not include getting products off the books of the government and the tax payers and into the hands of investors or buyers that are willing and qualified to bear the risk of ownership will fail.

The exact solution to shoring up real estate values immediately is laid out in this article:

1) Create a Business Plan to Immediately Dispose of Housing Inventory Create a simple and executable business plan that would involve experienced real estate investors and entrepreneurs who can manage and acquire the risk of the current real estate inventory. This should result in relieving the government of the existing problem, shore up real estate prices, stimulate the economy and use the experience of Americans across the country that handle real estate for a living.

2) Evaluate
Put together regional real estate teams to immediately access every troubled real estate asset on the books. Just the assets from Fannie and Freddie alone would relieve the system. These evaluation teams are very easy to put together and are available for work. Their job would be to evaluate today’s property values based on rental income returns with set asides for vacancy and expenses allowing for positive and attractive cash flow to investors. This would make these properties appealing for immediate purchase by qualified investors (see 2 below). This is critical, otherwise the tax payers will have to wait on the housing market to return before these properties are purchased causing homes to sit vacant in neighborhoods for years.

3) Make Assets Available to Qualified Investors
Once values are assigned make these assets available to qualified investors in each regions. These qualified buyers and investors would have to be experienced with real estate. This will allow them to quickly evaluate property values and act. They must have a proven history of managing this type of real estate asset and (very important) have a history of perfect loan repayment with these types of assets. It is critical that we don’t wait for just individual home buyers to purchase these properties as they will not move fast enough to dispose of the product and shore up pricing. Bringing investors into the market will stimulate qualified home buyers and they should be allowed to bid on these properties along with the qualified real estate investors. This will stimulate real estate immediately and shore up housing prices.

4) Make Financing and Incentives Available
Provide the market financing and tax incentives below to qualified buyers and experienced investors in each region, which reward the risk they are taking on. These groups or individuals would have to have the following in order to qualify for financing and incentives:
a) A perfect repay history on all debts they have ever incurred involving real estate transactions.
b) Use of their own cash in order to obtain favorable financing terms (cash down is a must as no money down transactions is part of what created this mess).
c) Investors must have a net worth significant enough to support the properties in transition so that these properties do not come back into the market. Government incentives whereby depreciation schedules are advanced to further enhance investors’ risk (like the GoZone Tax Incentives used after Katrina), must be put in place.

These simple steps will open up the use of money again, shore up real estate prices immediately, get action into the market that has stagnated, ensure that the government (taxpayers) is paid back quickly, and stimulate the economy by putting people back to work at titles companies; escrow companies; bank lending; mortgage brokerage firms and real estate firms. They will also alleviate any continuing decline in real estate values.

There are financially qualified investors sitting on the sidelines today waiting for the bottom in real estate before they become active again. This is a problem and they must be encouraged into the market.

My plan will take time out of the current situation and provide a true solution for a successful bailout and ensure that the tax payers are handled while jump starting the economy. While Government is saying it is vital they sign this 700b bail out bill immediately, the signing of the bill will not dispose of the problems.

Government cannot successfully manage the expedient disposition of these properties without the cooperation of real estate experts in each region. The RTC took years to get rid of product in the late eighties and real estate prices suffered longer than necessary as a result.

Without investors and entrepreneurs brought in to the solution, real estate will lag for 3-5 years or longer just in disposing of the properties. Our economy cannot afford this.

Please forward this plan to anyone you know in Congress as I would be happy to assist in the implementation of this solution. It is critical to each of us that our real estate values are shored up immediately, that homes don’t stay vacant, hurting the entire neighborhood, and that our economy gets a stimulation of production and hope.

Grant Cardone,
Author and Real Estate Expert

When did America become the place where a person or a group gets rewarded for failing? Take heed, the rewards for failure appear to be reserved just to that group of “preferred cronies” of the Treasury, Congress and others in power. It is worth nothing that Paulson came from Goldman Sachs and notice who is getting saved? Can you imagine the government rewarding you or I for the same failures. We could start a business, violate every basic and logical business principle that exists, take every possible risk outside of the area of expertise and then when it fails we would go to the government and ask them to bail us out. This is so outrageous it is impossible to think with and then leaves you with only some sense of the gravity of the amount of incompetence that is writing the rules for how our country’s financial systems work or don’t work.

I am unable to even think with the current actions of Wall Street and Congress over the last six months. In July of this year I wrote “Neither the Fed Nor Popular Financial Advice Provide Economic Solution.” The problems being confronted today started much earlier and we all have some responsibility in creating this situation by our allowing these kinds of actions to continue on without the people involved in them being penalized. The politicians on both sides get to stay in office and the CEO’s running these companies into the ground walk away with big paychecks!

I have spent my entire adult life building businesses on the Main Streets of America and anytime I failed I never considered that I would ask someone else to bail me out. My businesses are not intricately tied to the workings of the dollar and can not negatively impact our money supplies and that is the point! They are separate and should be kept separate. I succeed I am rewarded, I fail and I am penalized! These companies being bailed out today are too tied to government and that was approved by our current congress. The most you or I will get for our failures is some advice, a pat on the back and maybe a motivational pitch that we can bounce back but neither of us will get bailed out.

If you wreck your car do you expect the government to fix it? If you end up with a drug or alcohol problem should the government send you to treatment and then hang in there with you until you are all cleaned up? If you are an actor and can’t get work should the government find a movie part for you? If you lose your job because the company you worked for no longer finds your position valuable to the company should the taxpayers (the government) pay you not to work? This reward of unemployment to individuals is another form of rewarding people for not being of value. Incompetent CEO’s that are allowed to make multi-million dollar contracts to run a company into the ground is criminal and should be treated so.

If I take too many risks, mismanage money, become unable to sell my products, miscalculate the market, and then mismanage my company I am going to get worked out of the system. But that is not what is happening today. Most of these CEO’s that mismanaged their companies will be allowed to come back and do this again. The politicians that approved laws allowing brokerage firms to become lenders should been removed from office due to their actions.

You and I are paying for the mistakes of others and then for not standing up as a group and saying enough incompetence! If you are incompetent and make poor decisions, then you should not be allowed to serve in any capacity and should be labeled as incompetent. I understand that the current actions with AIG and GS may be necessary to not further a meltdown but the same people that got us here should not be left at the helm of the ship. How dare any of us stand by and entrust those proven to be incompetent with 1 trillion-plus dollars. Does anyone think that they will change their behavior and not screw that up by rewarding their buddies with how that money is allocated?

The guys that ran these companies parachute out with millions and will throw back martinis at the country club while the rest of us pay for their mistakes. These guys shouldn’t even be allowed to work on the street again. They should be labeled, much like a sex offender is, in order to save the rest of us from them repeating their actions. And those in Washington on both sides that have approved any laws that contributed to this disaster should be removed from office immediately and also labeled incompetent. There is no downside for these guys making poor decisions and because so they have no real cost.

When did we become so soft, so forgiving and so reasonable as a nation with those we elected to leadership. If a doctor kills too many patients he loses his license. If a teacher is unable to get her classes passed they lose their job and won’t be able to get another one. Where is the accountability with our leadership?

The problem here isn’t the Republicans or the Democrats but the idea that the American population sits back in apathy and does nothing and there is no cost to those that elect to lead for actions and decisions that later prove incompetent.

Grant Cardone is an Author and CEO.

Nothing will get you through these economic unusual times more than getting back to effectively selling your products, your services and your company. It is more critical at this time than ever that you learn everything there is about selling, negotiating and closing.

Those that are able to effectively sell will survive and those that can not will suffer. At no time in my life will the mistakes a company and its people make with regards to selling be more expensive than right now. Even the smallest mistakes in selling will be greatly expensive, running off customers and opportunities. SELL SELL SELL-nothing else matters. The management team that spends less than 95% of its time on selling will find itself going backwards. “The only reason a business or an individual will fail is the inability to sell their products and services at prices high enough and in quantities great enough!”

95% of all the energy and efforts of the company, management and its people has to be on selling. Advertising and marketing are important but if they don’t result in sales the company will abandon those efforts due to its lack of sales.

Management’s daily attention must be on:
1) ensuring people’s attitudes are positive,
2) effective 21st Century selling skills (not just old school tactics),
3) effective negotiations in order to maintain gross profits,
4) how to close the deal so that your efforts actually hit your books

While much of management is looking for ways to figure out how to reduce expenses nothing will get a company through these times more than increasing the gross sales line of its income statement. Nothing else matters at this time more than selling. ONLY THOSE TRAINED DAILY ON HOW TO SELL WILL SURVIVE!

Grant Cardone
Author of Selling Is the Secret to Success

Hello everyone,
This week we’re going to focus on a “Power Schedule” that gets you to increase your efficiency and effectiveness. Every successful person has a schedule and more than likely they have a handle on their time. Everybody has the same 24 hours to work with each day, but why do some consistently meet their goals and deadlines while others do not. The answer is in the individuals ability to manage their activity through scheduling.

This is something I usually discuss with management, CEO’s, COO’s, etc. But it is important for EVERYONE! When you look at your life, you often function as your own manager, right? You dictate what is or isn’t a priority, what does or doesn’t get done.

With this in mind, it can only benefit you to have a handle on your time. So lets go over a few steps you can take to be a better manager of yourself and/or your team.

1) Delegate all non-sales related activities.

2) Understand your day starts the night before.

3) Work like you are going on vacation tomorrow.

4) Buy time for yourself

5) Work everyday to eliminate time as an excuse

6) Spend 75% of your time generating business and 25% of your time servicing it.

With these steps as guiding principles make a list of how you can improve your use of the time you have. Write back with your lists and I’ll personally help you adjust them to make sure you are maximizing your opportunities each day.

Create a great day,

Grant Cardone, CEO

Neither of the candidates running for the 2008 US Presidency can save you, your family, or your business during these current economic waters. Only YOU and YOUR TEAM can get you to “success” side of this economic contraction. The recent pullback in the market and any pain you may be experiencing is only an indication that you underestimated what it takes to create success for yourself and your company. If you think the outcome of the 2008 election is going to resolve your situation you will be sadly disappointed regardless of which party wins.

I have been telling business owners for years, do not rest on your laurels just because things are good. Any problems you are experiencing today was because you didn’t properly prepare yourself yesterday. The reality is the problem existed years ago, but because the economic wind was at your back you didn’t know it, until now.

Now it is back to basics; hard work, daily training, everyone pulling together and a relentless persistence t0 get the job done. Your daily efforts need to be a laser focus on moving you toward your destination, everyone KNOWING the destination you strive for, and the entire team pulling together! You have to knock off all foolishness, playtime, negative talk/think and pull together like it is a life or death matter!

1) Know where you want to go.
2) Know what it takes to get there.
3) Know how to do what it takes to get there.
4) Know through inspection that you are doing what it takes each day.

Neither a Democrat, a Republican, or anyone else can help you more than your daily effort to KNOW more and DO more. The more you know, the more you can do. The more you can do the more you will do! And more is critical during times where there appears to be less.

Grant Cardone, Author of Selling: The Secret to Success and Business Coach

Author Grant Cardone asked Nik to write what he had learned in his first two months working for me:

The value of doing. The most important part of any project or plan is that you do it. It sounds obvious but we often leave things half done or not even started. Maybe we don’t particularly like what we need to do or we think it’s difficult and then don’t even approach it. That only leaves you with the same problem or situation to face another day. Do it, whatever it is, no matter what your thoughts, feelings or what anyone tells you– DO IT. And when you are done doing “it”, then find something else to do and do that. The more you do, the more you do and get done.

Only when you learn to discipline yourself to do will you experience success. It is impossible to have one without the the other.

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TO BE SUCCESSFUL YOU HAVE TO BE TRAINED TO SELL PRODUCTS IN QUANTITIES LARGE ENOUGH AND AT PRICES HIGH ENOUGH.

Price and volume are critical to reaching high levels of success. You can not be good at just one or the other but need both!

This article is about the myths regarding price and later articles will be about increasing volume.

If you were to survey all of the salespeople in the world, you’d find that most of them believe that the number one reason they lose a sale is due to price. This is absolutely not the case and in fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

Price is not only not the buyer’s biggest concern but is at the bottom of the list of reasons why people don’t buy your product. Most sales are loss because you are not on a product that the buyer truly loves or because the buyer lacks confidence in the product solving his/her problems.

Mistakes:
1) Most sales people are not even on the right product.
2) Don’t know what would motivate the buyer to value the product more than the money required to purchase the product.
3) What problem the customer is trying to solve.

It is the unspoken objections, not the obvious and apparent price, payments, terms or budgets objections that stop the sale. 90% of sale is getting the product right not getting the price right. This requires you to know what iit is that the buyer truly values from a point of passion (love) and logic (solving a problem).

Getting the sale is first about getting the buyer to a place where he/she has confidence in you, your company and the product you are presenting. If there is a price difference between you and others, (and their should be), then you have to build value in your product by increasing the confidence the buyer has in making a decision with you.

Reasons People Buy:
1) Love the product to the point that I have to have it now.
2) Need this product now to solve a problem.
3) Confidence that this product will meet their needs
4) Confidence in the representative and choose to buy the product in order to help the person they like and are willing to pay more in order to do so.

To learn more about how to get a higher price for your products you should consider my book, “Selling: The Secret to Success“, and my audio programs Maximizing Every Opportunity and Rules of Success.

Thanks for reading, see you next week

Grant Cardone
800-368-5771