Have you ever been shafted out of a fee or commission?
Or been involved in a deal where the other party reneged on a promise?
Or unilaterally changed the terms of the deal without your approval?
If so, read on …
The Dealmaking Adventures
of a Super-Nerd
Many people think of Bill Gates as a computer geek who achieved super success because of his awesome hi-tech skills. But Gates is much more than a computer maven. The real roots of his success lie in his incredible dealmaking skills.
Gates did not invent the DOS operating system that launched Microsoft into the stratosphere. But what he did do was make the deal of the century when he negotiated the purchase of DOS (referred to it at that time as “86-DOS”) for what turned out to be pocket change — $50,000.
Funny how life works. I’ll bet you don’t even know the name of the guy who actually wrote the DOS program (for a now-defunct company called Seattle Computer Products). It was a twenty-two-year-old programmer by the name of Tim Paterson, and he accomplished the feat in — get this — four months!
Paterson earned a pittance for his efforts, while Gates, the great dealmaker, parlayed the acquisition of Paterson’s creation into becoming the wealthiest person in America.
But Gates was just getting started. He then turned right around and set up a meeting with top executives at IBM. At that now-historic session, the IBM corporate types wore pin-striped business suits, while Gates showed up in a stained T-shirt. According to one observer who was at the meeting, he looked like a seventeen-year-old kid negotiating with grown men.
Underneath that nerdy-kid persona, however, was a master dealmaker. Gates managed to negotiate yet another deal of the century when he got the guys in the pin-striped suits to agree to install DOS on all of IBM’s PCs.
But perhaps an even more remarkable dealmaking accomplishment was that Gates reserved the right for Microsoft to license DOS to other companies (which, in dealmaking parlance, I like to refer to as a “throwaway bonus” — something the other side doesn’t see as a particularly big item to agree to when negotiating). This single dealmaking coup laid the foundation for Microsoft’s worldwide dominance of the software industry — and, to use a fitting cliché, the rest is history.
The World’s Highest-Paying Profession
When I was a young real estate broker, a wealthy builder (“Al”) once said to me, “Though it goes against conventional wisdom, I can tell you with certainty that having the best product or service in your industry doesn’t guarantee success. The twin keys to making money are dealmaking and marketing. And it’s important to understand that dealmaking is what makes marketing possible.”
I was fascinated by Al’s comments, and anxiously began to pursue the subject with him. When I asked him which businesses lent themselves best to dealmaking, his answer not only surprised me, it had a major impact on my approach to business.
“The nature of the business is irrelevant,” Al said. “I like to think of dealmaking as a profession unto itself — the world’s highest-paying profession. Things don’t just fall into place by accident. A good dealmaker understands that it’s his job to finesse things into place, and that’s true in any kind of business.”
His words were nothing short of life-changing for me, and they’ve been indelibly stamped on my forebrain for three decades. They have paid huge dividends for me — in the real estate business … in the cellular-telephone business … in the publishing business … and in scores of other businesses and one-off deals I’ve been involved in over the years.
Again, good marketing is crucial to success, but good dealmaking procedures precede marketing. That’s because if you don’t make the deal, there’s nothing to market!
Bill Gates is the poster nerd for this. He’s proven to be both a great businessman and savvy marketer, but he never would have been in a position to market DOS had he not first negotiated it away from Seattle Computer Products.
It’s easy to see this same principle at work in virtually every other kind of business. For example, anyone who’s had any experience at all buying and selling real estate knows that the money is made at the time a property is purchased. Meaning that if you’re able to negotiate the right price for the property, your profit is locked in before you even try to sell it.
Al’s insights into dealmaking proved to be the spark that catapulted me to a seven-figure income as a commercial real estate broker while still in my twenties. The secret to my success was my ability to locate makeable deals, persuade owners to sign my listing agreements, and, finally, close the deal once I had a serious buyer lined up.
Every success I’ve had — in such diverse businesses as publishing, cellular telephone, and health products — has been a direct result of my dealmaking strategies and techniques.
These strategies and techniques have worked spectacularly well for me through both good times and bad, in both strong and weak economies. They include methods that have not only earned me millions of dollars, but have made it possible for countless others worldwide to enjoy incredible success as well.
Baptism by Fire
On more than one occasion, I’ve been asked if dealmaking is an art or a science. It’s an interesting question. While it’s true that some of the basics are scientific, dealmaking, on the whole, is an art form. And the only way to excel at an art is to learn the right techniques, then practice those techniques over and over again.
In other words, the quickest way to become a highly successful dealmaker is to jump in and “do deals.” There’s no spring training, no preseason, no practice sessions.
You can do a certain amount of preparation for each deal — which you should — but you cannot practice the art of dealmaking sitting in an easy chair at home. When it comes to dealmaking, it’s strictly baptism by fire.
Which means being willing to jump in and enter the fray. And that, in turn, translates into rejection, embarrassment, and, yes, a lot of failure.
The willingness to fail is important because no matter how good you become at the nuances of dealmaking, your bottom-line results are tied to the law of averages. Which is to say that the more you work at dealmaking, the better you get at it and the more deals you close.
Thinking about all this is what motivated me to put together a three-hour audio series titled Fast Track to Dealmaking Fortunes. It’s a program in which I discuss, in depth, the dealmaking strategies and techniques I’ve personally used to earn millions of dollars over the years.
These strategies and techniques have worked for me through both good times and bad, in both strong and weak economies. Best of all, I’ve been able to share my ideas with others and help them become highly successful dealmakers as well.
“I have followed Robert Ringer since first discovering his original book early in my business life. … He has exceptional clarity about what is actually required to be successful and prosperous, and independent and autonomous even in an anti-success, anti-prosperity, anti-liberty, anti-autonomy climate. There is no ambiguity or timidity with Ringer. His courage can be contagious. He can straighten your spine and stiffen your will.”
Dan Kennedy
Author of the No B.S. book series
Publisher, No B.S. Marketing Letter
Stuff that Works
A small sampling of what I’ll be sharing with you in Fast Track to Dealmaking Fortunes includes:
- How to consistently locate deals with the greatest profit potential.
- How to determine if a deal is makeable so you don’t waste time working on deals that have little or no chance of closing.
- How to negotiate deals in such a way that you end up with serious money in your pocket.
- How I maneuvered behind the scenes to motivate the editor-and-chief of a major paperback publishing house to contact me (even though she had absolutely no idea who I was at the time, nor had I ever tried to contact her), then negotiated a deal that ultimately led to my making millions of dollars in royalties and advances. (Yes, this strategy can be used in any kind of business.)
- How I gained controlling interest in a public company that had $3 million cash on hand — and virtually no liabilities — without putting up any of my own money, without having enough credit to borrow the money needed, and without any experience in the company’s business.
- How I negotiated a deal that brought me a cash flow of $25,000 to $50,000 a month — requiring only about two hours of my time per week.
- How I was able to take over a company that produced a cash flow of $300,000 a month, again without putting up a dime of my own money.
- How I convinced a 150-year-old company to put up millions of dollars to back me in a venture that was so successful that it resulted in Fortune magazine’s publishing a three-page article about my accomplishments. (All this happened during the severe economic recession of the early 1980s.)
- How I made more than $800,000 on a $15,000 investment by publishing an unknown author’s book and marketing it into a New York Times #1 bestseller — a book that no other publisher was interested in publishing.
- And much, much more.
Are You Ready to Double, Triple, or Even Quadruple Your Income?
It’s important to understand that dealmaking is not about trickery, cunning, or cleverness. Nor is it about playing hardball with people or trying to grab all the chips off the table and leaving the other guy empty-handed.
It’s about maneuvering your way through the minefields of the dealmaking world and finding the most makeable and profitable deals, laying the groundwork for projecting a strong posture, negotiating favorable terms, and making sure that you don’t walk away empty-handed.
Today, I am absolutely convinced that dealmaking is the highest-paying profession in the world — by far. And further convinced that there is no such thing as a successful, non-dealmaking entrepreneur.
Which is why I urge you to take advantage of this special offer to protect yourself against inevitable downturns in the economy. In fact, as resourceful entrepreneurs have discovered over the years, a turbulent economy actually offers unique opportunities for master dealmakers.
Robert Ringer
Here’s what you get …
-
Downloadable MP3 Audio Files: Three full hours …
Three full hours of Robert Ringer’s best dealmaking ideas, techniques, and strategies — insights that have produced millions of dollars in income for him and others. Via special links, you will be able to listen to these audio files over and over again — and even download them onto your own computer or mobile device.
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Free transcript: All three sessions …
You will also receive PDF transcripts of all three sessions, immediately downloadable to your computer, which will make it possible for you to read and reread, at your convenience, the invaluable dealmaking insights and strategies that Robert Ringer will be sharing with you. And, of course, you can also print them out if you prefer to read from a hard copy.
PLUS: Special bonus if you act today …
The Art of Recasting
What’s the one thing Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Walmart, and Starbucks have in common? What did founders Stephen Riggio, Jeff Bezos, Sam Walton, and Howard Schultz see that others did not?
Great success stories are always motivating, but in this eye-opening audio session, Robert Ringer takes things a step beyond motivation and zeroes in on one of the most overlooked strategies used by some of the most super-successful dealmakers on the planet. And, in addition, he explains how you can utilize it to build a large company of your own.
If you’re ready for a treasure chest of proven ideas, strategies, and techniques that are guaranteed to dramatically improve your dealmaking skills — and explode your income in the process — you won’t want to miss out on Robert Ringer’s landmark audio series, Fast Track to Dealmaking Fortunes.
By acting today, you can lock in the special price of just $109 — a savings of $120 off the regular price of $229 — which gets you the three-part audio series, three typewritten transcripts covering all three recordings, PLUS Robert Ringer’s bonus audio session, The Art of Recasting.
Or cut and paste this link below into your browser:
http://robertringer.com/ftdf-deal
A small sampling of comments from the millions of action-oriented individuals worldwide who have profited from Robert Ringer’s life-changing wisdom ...
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Dennis Antoine
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Jill Garber
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Mark Adamson, M.A.
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Kerry LePage
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Charles Boyer
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Pitch Pitchford
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Kevin Mercandante
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Reality Seeker
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Nick Lucko
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Dorothy Hughes
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Mark Nolan
“Your teachings have strengthened me for decades, putting me in the driver’s seat many times, much to the surprise of [my] negotiating counterparts!”
Patricia Wulfson
“Many years ago Robert Ringer gave me the insight, and, it must be said, the courage, to live my life on my terms. Thanks Mr. Ringer.”
Greg Dail
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Terry Monroe
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Hugh J. Perlman
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Kathy Fox Walker
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Gary Waltrip
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Harry Gish
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Veronica Marco
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Reginald Thatcher
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Dr. Daniel Berry
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Laurie Baldarelli
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Mark L. James
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Jim Alexander
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Janet May Roberts
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Rik Carswell, China
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Ian Brendish
“In short, you helped me put my head on straight from an early age, and that has helped me avoid many of the pitfalls that beset people. … Thank you again for helping to make this world a better place for your readers!”
Doug Dougherty
“When I was 30, you saved my life, allowing me to gain perspective on life and use intellect rather than emotion as a basis for action. Thanks, Robert, for helping preserve my sanity.”
Anonymous
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Pete DiOrio
“On the whole, all of the speakers at the boot camp were great. … but Mr. Ringer stood out like no other. … Ringer may be the only motivational speaker I have ever heard who I actually thought gave me something I could use. … [He] did not try to pump us up, though his talk certainly had that effect. Rather, he tried to leave us with an understanding of what it was going to take for us to find motivation and stay motivated.”
James Sadler
Attorney at Law
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Terry L. Brock
“You are a brilliant speaker — an entertaining, enlightening, sensible man who has a very vital message (or two or three!) for each of us in the audience.”
Bobby R. Moss
“Your writings have inspired and energized several generations now, and your life’s work has benefitted mankind.”
O’Loughlin, John Michael
“I enjoyed your San Francisco seminar immensely! … What a pleasant surprise to find you sparkling with the joy of life, and, if anything, MORE positive and enthusiastic than ever!”
Russell Robinson
“[Robert Ringer] … has an uncanny knack for taking complicated issues and describing them in a way that you can understand and benefit from … Even though I have been a successful entrepreneur for many years, I still appreciate the wisdom of Robert Ringer. He has made a positive influence in my life as I’m sure he has for his millions of fans.”
Albers
“Just a quick note to let you know how much I enjoyed your seminar last week. … When I got home I used my notes to give your seminar to my wife. Now we are both properly focused, and feeling much more positive about our situation.”
Jac Ttanna
“Robert Ringer … is what I call a “real world” philosopher. He is truly one of the best out there to guide and show you how to live a successful, happy life. He also has integrity and he’s honest. … Thank you, Mr. Ringer, not only for being a good teacher, but living first in order to teach.”
Mr. Super Star
“Everyone pays lip service to action, but Robert Ringer makes you see action in ways that are new and powerful. What I thought was especially remarkable though is how he explained the relationship between action and so many basic principles and problems we experience in our day-to-day lives … things like truth, creating value for others, virtues, self-discipline, and more. … It made me realize that I have to stop thinking in terms of “problems” and start focusing on taking the kind of action that will assure that things will come out right.”
John Allister
“Mr. Ringer, I truly respect your perspective on life. You have gotten me through some pretty tough times in my life, and I thank you so very much.”
Terry L. Perry
Please, friend, keep on speaking up for us, saying the things we know are true but have not yet articulated in connected prose. Your voice is a witness to the prayers of our faithful Founders.
Stevan Horning
“Mr. Ringer, you are a gem. Thank you for getting me to the starting line.”
Rais Keyes
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Suzanne South
“It was nice meeting you again at N.C.M.R. I only wish other speakers were as motivating as you are.”
Eric Dotson
“Please count me as a ‘fellow traveler’ or friend, as I do you. Your powerful ideas have been a help in my finding answers and direction.”
Thomas Rumburg
“Thank you Mr. Ringer! I owe a great deal to you … for what I’ve learned over the years.”
Frank R. Nelson
“Thank you for having such a positive influence on my life. … Your philosophy of reality has been helpful in my business and personal life.”
Jeff Rosner
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Blair Hornbuckle
“I thoroughly enjoyed your seminar in Houston. It was very well presented and gave food for thought. … You did an excellent job.”
Claudia Redden
“Thank you for being a beacon and a voice of sanity to me.”
Steve Katz
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Roy Jones
“I just wanted to tell you how truly thankful I am for your stuff.”
Edward Dwight
“Just wanted to drop you a note to tell you that I just signed my first million-dollar deal from a single client. It would not have been possible without applying what you taught me in Fast Track to Dealmaking Fortunes and Looking Out for #1.”
Robert Smith
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Peter Goodman
“You are certainly a gifted writer, and I always enjoy your articles. I find that they normally challenge me to think in ways I haven’t before, as well reinforce how much personal responsibility we need to take for our actions.”
Edward Papp