35. Usually the difference in winning and losing is a matter of timing. All slot machines eventually have a jackpot. When I was in the Army, my best friend and I would go to the NCO club on Friday and Saturday nights, and sit and have a few martinis and then a great steak dinner and sit and relax and the whole time keep our eyes on the rows of slot machines. We were watching for the guys (no gals then) who would sit at a machine and just keep feeding a steady stream of dimes into the machine until they ran out of money. Their problem was that they weren't losers . . .they just didn't have enough capital to wait for the jackpot. We'd finish out a nice dinner and watch them walk off sad and head hung down, and then we'd get up and go over and put perhaps a roll (or less of dimes) in the same machine and collect the first jackpot that came up. And then we'd leave the machine rather than let it take back from us our winnings. It was always enough to cover the cost of the roll we put in, plus our dinner and drinks and we'd usually leave with enough to get a ride to the movie and then lunch the next day. We weren't any luckier than the losers. Just smarter. We were rewarded for our patience and observation and intelligence. It was all a matter of timing.
36. Using your competition to your advantage. I heard a great story one time from the Real Estate vice president of Wendy's. He talked about what a huge real estate department McDonalds had and how many millions and millions of dollars they poured into salaries and research to find exactly the right . . .and best . . .locations to place a new McDonalds. Wendy's on the other hand had a very small real estate department and very low overhead. But they still cared about good location. So they used McDonalds real estate department for their locations. Quite simply . . . they just waited for McDonalds to select a site and then they tried to get a location as close to them as possible.
37. Just because an idea failed the first time you tried it, doesn't mean it was a bad idea. Sometimes the firecracker just needs a longer fuse to keep it from blowing up in your hand.
Sometimes the oil was in the right spot, but you just didn't drill deep enough? Or maybe you drilled too deep?38. Hotels are a great place to sell roses. And a lot of other things too. If you have a shoe store and someone buys a pair of shoes, why not also carry a line of belts and sell them a belt at the same time?
39. If you want a bigger piece of the pie, it's easier to make a bigger pie and get the same % of it, than it is to fight off others for part of their piece. What do you care if everyone else gets more too. If your goal was just to have more for yourself and your goal was met, then be happy if you gave everyone else a blessing too.
40. Do you have a rate for library card holders? I never liked the idea of discounting my hotels rooms just because a guest wanted to stand at the front desk and try to negotiate the room charge lower. I felt like it cheapened my product. On the other hand, I didn't want them walking off without getting them to stay with me. I figured it was better to get something for a vacant room than nothing if it was 11 at night and we were not sold out. So as a last resort, we'd ask them if they had a Sear's card or an Exxon card and offer them the discount. We were both happy. I got something from them and sold an empty room. But I left them with the impression that our rates were not negotiable. They got a place to sleep and felt like they'd gotten a surprise benefit and discount. We both won. That's the best business transaction you can have.
41. Circles of Influence. Years ago, the small town I had a hotel in built a by-pass around town and my sales dropped 20% in one day. I had to do something. One idea was that I went to see every funeral director in town, and made them a reservation agent for my hotel. When they would go to see the family the first time after a death, they would make a simple reminder to the family and ask if there would be members coming in from out of town so they (the funeral director) could call my hotel and reserve a small block or rooms at "his/her" special bereavement rate. It made the funeral director look like a hero because they provided a good service to the family, and it got the family directed toward my hotel for placing their family members during the funeral, rather than just leaving it up to them to decide for themselves. The added benefit to the family was that it got all of their out of town family members staying at one place . . . my hotel. It was a Win/Win/Win situation. But the super-duper benefit to me was that when they came we always tried to be friendly and accommodating and . . . as is often the case . . .the funeral gathering would turn into a small family reunion. And we'd give them coffee at night and allow them to all meet in our lobby and gathering room and spend time with each other. The first winter we did this, we ended up booking about 10 family reunions for the following summer. Circles of influence. Find a way to make everyone your personal sales representative.
42. Measurable advertising. Unless you have a swollen ego and just want to see your name in lights, don't spend money on advertising that you can't measure the results of.
43. Reciprocating Business. Pressure your suppliers to use your product. Or stay in your hotel. You give them business, and tell them you expect them to give you business. If they give you the line, that they need to pass their business around, just tell them that you probably need to do the same. It's amazing how many will forgo their other clients who don't put it so "forcefully" and give you all their business.
44. Unintended results can sometimes be a wonderful benefit. I used to stop at a gas station to get gas and a canned Diet Coke. One day I stopped and Coca Cola had put in a new "talking vending machine". This was a few years ago when their theme song was the melody from "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony". Anyway, when you walked up and put your money in, it would play that little melody and then a digital voice would come out and say "please make your selection Now". One day as I was walking up to the machine a lady was in front of me. She . . .quite obviously . . .had never seen (or heard) a talking vending machine. (Note: for those of you under the age of 30, digital stuff like that has only been around since about 1985 very much). When she put her money in, it played the melody and the lady sort of stepped back in amazement. But then when the voice came on and said "please make your selection Now", she about leaped off the ground. If you can imagine the look on her face when she jumped back from the machine and looked at me and then back at the machine . . . it was as though there was a man in the machine. She very slowed stepped up toward the machine . . .and looked back at me . . .and leaned way over and said "I'd like a Coca Cola please!". Of course . . nothing happened. (and I had to restrain myself a tiny bit in amusement). She then leaned back over and more forcefully and much louder (as though it didn't hear her the first time) said "I SAID . . I'D LIKE A COCA COLA PLEASE!!!!!" Again . . . . (obviously) . . .nothing happened. She looked back at me with a very very puzzled look on her face. I guess she assumed I could help her. So I just said, "I think you have to press the button for your selection". She smiled BIG . . .as though a light had just come on in her head . . . and she leaned back over and pressed the Coke button and . . . .at the same time YELLED . . . "I'D LIKE A COCA COLA PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". Of course, then the drink fell out, and she picked it up and opened it and was so happy with herself because she (with my help) had mastered this marvelous new piece of technology. But then . . . she just stood there. She had mastered it, and now she was going to watch . . . in amazement . . .as I mastered it too. Soooooooooooo. . . me being the kind and gentle person I am, who could not hurt her feelings . . . .I leaned over and pressed the Diet Coke button and YELLED "I'D LIKE A DIET COKE PLEASE". Then we both stood there and enjoyed our drinks together and discussed how very rapidly the world was progressing. She was very happy with herself. So why should I have taken that away from her? After all, we'd both gotten our drinks. I do wonder though if she ever wondered when a new person came and got inside the machine to dispense the drinks?????
45. Bait and Switch is not necessarily bad. Sometimes I don't mind be allured into something with one price only to then discover that something bigger or better is also available at a good price too. (Story of the Lemonade sales boy and girl to come later)
46. Give people choices. We have three kinds of rooms in my hotel. Standard, Deluxe and Executive. As I said before, if someone only has half the money you want for your product, then try to sell them half a product. If they don't have the money for an Executive Room, then have a Standard room that is half that price. If they came in the first place to try and give you some of their money, well . . .then . . .don't let them leave without taking it.
47. Never make someone stand in line when they are trying to give you their money.
48. Give back. Give more of yourself to others than you think others give to you. The Law of Returns, says that it will come back to you.
49. Native Wisdom. There are two bears living inside of you.
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life."A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two bears.
One is evil - he is anger, envy,sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which bear will win?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
50. Something is not deception if it is the truth. There is no harm in framing the truth in a manner that will be most appealing to your customers. If your business is built on top of a former landfill, then just promote your site as being located in one of the most notable ecological collections in the world. And then spread some wildflowers around. People will draw their own conclusions and if they assume the wildflowers are the "eco beauty" then sobeit.
51. Bribery is not necessarily a bad thing. What is the harm in introducing your product to a new prospect by giving them a sample to try it out. That is bribery in it's purest form. If you make a repeat customer out of them and they come back 100 times, your advertising budget was only 1% per customer. That is a good return!
52. Don't let someone else gamble with your Ranch. I was in a partnership one time and we were operating on my capital. I came into the office one Monday morning and my partner had taken a very, very, very large risk over the weekend . . on a hunch!. He told me that he "felt" sure it was a good risk and that we needed to "bet the ranch" on the deal. I told him that I hoped he was right (and fortunately he was) but that it was easy to bet the ranch . . .if it wasn't your ranch. The opposite of this rule is also true. It's always best to gamble with someone elses money "if" they let you. You have a much greater moral responsibility but you have nothing to lose. Tread with caution when doing so.
52. Be forward thinking. Think outside the box.
To see how your baby sees things, spend a few hours a week crawling around the house on your knees to get things from the baby's perspective. If you have a hotel, stay in one of your own rooms once in a while to see what your guests think. Ask your customers lots of questions. Get the point of view of your customers rather than trying to give them your point of view. Also, this is really number 53. Just checking54. People will pay you to make them look like a hero. (story of my Florist idea for men)
55. The best investment you can make is to invest in yourself to make more money.
(Joe Girard and his birthday cards)
56. You can in fact . . if you are pursuasive enough . . sell Ice Cream to an Eskimo. But do you really want to go to the north pole? Is the result worth the effort? Or are you just trying to puff yourself up and inflate your own ego. Is the world really going to be any better off if Eskimos are eating Ice Cream?
57. Dress the part.
Wear a suite to buy. And jeans to sell. When I was in the real estate development business years ago, and wanting to buy something, I wore a suit. I wanted the seller to feel like I was succesful and prosperous and he/she was getting the absolute highest dollar for their property. When I was going to try and sell something, 
I wore jeans and wanted the buyer to feel like I needed money more than anyone in the world. I also wanted to appear the least intellectual between the two of us.
58. Adopt your product to a niche. Make the same product "specifically" for many different niches and make each niche feel like it was made just for them. For instance, if I were selling insurance I'd have a policy that I said was good for "over 40 auto assembly line workers with high school aged children". I think I'd get em all. And the policy would in fact be good for them. And then I'd take the same policy and sell it to "under 50 clerical workers with no children at home".
59. You can't catch any fish if you don't first get the hook in their mouth. Related to this one is: You can't possibly win if you don't enter.
60. Sometimes if you don't have anything to feel good about just have someone hit you on the head with a hard book and then you can at least feel good about how good it feels to not be hit anymore.
61. Keep pads handy and write things down. (Just like I did with all these things years ago)
62. Sometimes others "don't" want to do something more than you "don't" want to do it. You can make a lot money from this. (IBM training manual story)
63. Related to the funeral director story above, give others an incentive to sell for you. Duplicate and clone yourself. Have an unpaid sales force of hundreds or thousands.
64. Your customers will have a hard time getting in to buy something from you if your door is locked. (consider this) What are the obstacles you have placed in front of your own customers. Do you make it easy for them to give you your money or difficult?
65. Find your best points and make sure they are magnified to your customers. If your ice cream bar doesn't have chocolate coating then advertise how pure your vanilla is.
66. Just because you don't like what you see in the mirror, doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. Maybe the mirror needs to be replaced? Or maybe you just need to look at yourself from a more attractive angle?
67. Feelings are not right or wrong. They are just feelings. And you are entitled to them.
68. Objectives and Goals. You have to have objective to reach your goal. I can make a goal on January 1 to spend more time with my kids. But if I don't have objectives to reach that will determine the goal was met, then I have no idea at the end of the year whether I did it or didn't.
69. If you can't stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen . . . or get an air conditioner brought in and get rid of the heat?
70. Don't offer to put out my fire if you don't have any water. And if I have a fire going on, all I want at the moment is for you to help me put it out. I will not be in the mood for hearing from you about all the other fires you have witnessed in your life, or heard about.
71. Jesus just managed 12. Amazon.com does not have any meeting that can't be fed by two large pizzas. Who do you think you are if you're trying to directly supervise more than 12 folks. I've found that about 6 is my limit. That's half of what God was able to do after all.
72. Begin each task with the idea that ALL things are possible. Then work backwards to eliminate the things that keep it from becoming reality. Sometimes it takes team work and the only thing holding you back is a partner to balance you out.
I wore jeans and wanted the buyer to feel like I needed money more than anyone in the world. I also wanted to appear the least intellectual between the two of us.58. Adopt your product to a niche. Make the same product "specifically" for many different niches and make each niche feel like it was made just for them. For instance, if I were selling insurance I'd have a policy that I said was good for "over 40 auto assembly line workers with high school aged children". I think I'd get em all. And the policy would in fact be good for them. And then I'd take the same policy and sell it to "under 50 clerical workers with no children at home".
59. You can't catch any fish if you don't first get the hook in their mouth. Related to this one is: You can't possibly win if you don't enter.
60. Sometimes if you don't have anything to feel good about just have someone hit you on the head with a hard book and then you can at least feel good about how good it feels to not be hit anymore.
61. Keep pads handy and write things down. (Just like I did with all these things years ago)
62. Sometimes others "don't" want to do something more than you "don't" want to do it. You can make a lot money from this. (IBM training manual story)
63. Related to the funeral director story above, give others an incentive to sell for you. Duplicate and clone yourself. Have an unpaid sales force of hundreds or thousands.
64. Your customers will have a hard time getting in to buy something from you if your door is locked. (consider this) What are the obstacles you have placed in front of your own customers. Do you make it easy for them to give you your money or difficult?
65. Find your best points and make sure they are magnified to your customers. If your ice cream bar doesn't have chocolate coating then advertise how pure your vanilla is.
66. Just because you don't like what you see in the mirror, doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. Maybe the mirror needs to be replaced? Or maybe you just need to look at yourself from a more attractive angle?
67. Feelings are not right or wrong. They are just feelings. And you are entitled to them.
68. Objectives and Goals. You have to have objective to reach your goal. I can make a goal on January 1 to spend more time with my kids. But if I don't have objectives to reach that will determine the goal was met, then I have no idea at the end of the year whether I did it or didn't.
69. If you can't stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen . . . or get an air conditioner brought in and get rid of the heat?
70. Don't offer to put out my fire if you don't have any water. And if I have a fire going on, all I want at the moment is for you to help me put it out. I will not be in the mood for hearing from you about all the other fires you have witnessed in your life, or heard about.
71. Jesus just managed 12. Amazon.com does not have any meeting that can't be fed by two large pizzas. Who do you think you are if you're trying to directly supervise more than 12 folks. I've found that about 6 is my limit. That's half of what God was able to do after all.
72. Begin each task with the idea that ALL things are possible. Then work backwards to eliminate the things that keep it from becoming reality. Sometimes it takes team work and the only thing holding you back is a partner to balance you out.
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