All Nighters in Barcelona, Shady Characters & How to Pre-Game a Business Meeting

We should go to our first caller that is coming from Barcelona, Spain.

Alex, can you hear me?

Alex, can you hear me?

Alex? Yes, how are you?

What time is it in Barcelona.

Now?

It's eleven in the night.

Oh, nice. Are you gonna pull an all nighter or are you gonna go to bed? No, let's stay up all night. Come on.

You know, when I was in Barcelona, I actually stayed up all night there once to catch my flight in the morning. It was easier just to stay up so I could sleep on the way home. But what a beautiful city.

Yeah, it's so beautiful, man. So chill.

So tell me, tell me about your business. What is your question?

You know, Chris, my question is like when you have clients that have bad energy or you feel tense with them and tired all the day after being with them, is it worth the money working, working with them?

Tell me a little bit about what you do, because there's more to that question. Right, because we have to monetize and you have to make money at the same time. So tell me a little bit about what you do and how long you've been doing it.

About, about this part. The question is like the tradition traduce part, like the consulting.

Oh, you do consulting for, for business.

Okay. And how long have you been doing it?

Like three years.

Three years. So yes, there's a couple things that I learned early on, consulting. One is that if they don't pay you a lot of money up front, they won't do what you tell them to do. So if they're not vested. Do you understand the word vested?

No.

If, if they don't have, if they don't have skin in the game, if they don't have anything in, like, if they don't pay something up front.

Then they, they don't have to take action. They're not committed.

I understand.

So when I was younger consulting, I needed business so bad I wouldn't charge a sign up fee. I would just take them on as clients without a sign up fee.

And I never fixed one of those businesses because they, they didn't want to take action. They, they didn't have any investment into the end outcome.

And then the second thing is, is there were a lot of clients that I didn't like in the beginning, but I found that the stronger my systems got and the better I got at fixing businesses, the less that they could affect me. So I like to approach the clients that I didn't really like as.

An opportunity for me to fix my systems.

Does that resonate with you at all?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There were, there were a lot of clients that I didn't really. They weren't people that I would want to go out to dinner with, you know, especially because a lot of the consulting that I did and still do is in the automotive industry. And here in the United States in the automotive industry there's some shady characters. And so not all of my clients were the most, most ethical or, you know, just people that you, you would want to hang out with. But then there were clients that were really ethical and people I'm still friends with this, to, to this day and I, I do hang out with. So it just, you know, depends. But my systems and the outcome for them. I was always trying to figure out how to create a system where we got results quick, where they, they kind of just followed a process and I backed them into a corner where they, you know, they made the right decision and they got an outcome.

I understand.

So give me an example of a client that, that you don't enjoy.

Oh, like this, like these people I have today, like, they were like going in circles and circles talking me again and asking me like if, like these nonsense questions, you know.

But.

Like.

How do I explain you.

Like getting in circle in circle, complaining, complaining. And I'm asking and I'm answering again and again these questions and they ask me again.

Yeah. So there's, there's, there's ideas there that you could prevent that a little bit. Right. So let's just brainstorm. There's no right or wrong answers. But how could you prevent that before a meeting if that's hap. Has that happened to you more than once?

Yeah.

So what could you do before the meeting that would avoid those questions?

Like giving him them information to avoid the question.

Yeah, like, so in, in my business, in some of my consulting divisions, we would have them watch a series of videos and then take a little test after that. They know what we're going to be talking about and they kind of understand it. And so there's a pre game, there's, there's a meeting before the meeting that they watch some videos and then we can tell in my office whether they watched them or not. And if they haven't, then my salespeople call them and keep bugging them and bugging them so they watch them and then we know by the, just the simple questions at the end that they retained it. But we can answer a lot of their questions and they're speaking the same language as me from those videos because they understand what the process is, how it's going to work. I overcome a lot of their objections before I even get in the room.

Now, you could do that with, you know, 10 simple facts on a sheet of. Here's the most common asked questions.

You could do it with videos, but I would look at those, those sort of things as an opportunity for you to get better, not for you to find different clients.

Yeah, I think it's. I know it's my problem, my. But I just want to, I have this question on my mind like all this time. But I know it's my fault. It's not his fault. Of course.

Yeah. Like, I think every situation like that that you get into as a consultant, because, you know, for me, consulting is alchemy. You're coming in and you're creating something that is almost impossible in a lot of ways. You're turning lead into gold. So you're turning a broken culture. Most of the time in the business, the reason why they are where they are where they are is because they've been doing things the wrong way. But as soon as you get them results, they revert back to their old way of thinking. It's kind of like, have you seen anybody who goes on a diet and then they end up fatter than they were when they went on the diet?

Yeah, that's kind of what it is when you're a consultant. You go in, you get them some quick results and then they end up thinking that, you know, they end up. It's just human nature that they end up taking credit for it. And they're like, well, that was, that was me. And you know, oftentimes they are doing a lot of the work, but we gave them the guidance. Right.

And then they end up getting self assured and they revert back to their old patterns of thinking and that's. Then they end up being fatter and worst off than they, they were before. So like, I would try to build that into how do I keep them 90 days after from going back.

And so same thing with commonly asked questions. If they're doubting you in that, in that meeting, what is your process for getting the customers. Do you do some sort of needs analysis in the beginning?

No, from all the other contexts, like mouth to mouth and all this thing.

So maybe in the beginning you should have some sort of needs analysis and ask them a lot of questions so you understand their business, you understand their feelings and their goals. But a lot of times it's more of an asset for you to ask feeling questions and understand how they feel about things, not facts. Because Usually feelings are what's driving them in the wrong direction.

I understand.

Does that help you?

Yeah.

Okay. I would. I would just think like going, you know, all the way to the extreme, where everything. They understand everything about what's going to happen in the process to them not understanding anything and asking a lot of questions. And then try to develop systems as you go that give them peace of mind and comfort by the actions that, that you take in a book. I don't know if it's been translated, but if you can read English, there's an amazing book that would give you an insight into this. It's called Winning through Intimidation.

I hear you talking in other podcasts.

Yeah, it's a great book because this guy starts selling and buying commercial real estate. So he goes in and buys big apartment buildings. And then he figures out in the process there's like, things that he figures out in the process that cost him the deal. So he figures out in the process that one of the things that will cause him to lose a deal is he'll have an offer, the owner will agree, and then it will go to the lawyers, and the lawyers will change everything, and then the deal will get stalled. So then he starts showing up with a lawyer and he has his own lawyer. And then he realizes that the conversations that the lawyers have behind closed doors is different than what they're telling you, their clients. And so he manages the lawyer thing, brings a lawyer with him, so there's no delay. He has secretaries walk in with him. He flies in on a private jet, so he looks important. He does a lot of framing. You know, how he, how he shows up, how he flies in on a private jet. He would have a secretary there that would type up the contract right there so there wouldn't be mail going back and forth. This is before he had email, when he wrote this book. It's in the 50s, 1950s, but every little edge, he would figure out a way to get an advantage. And so transactions, it would take forever. And if you thought you had a deal and then you didn't have a deal in an unwound, he figured out ways not to waste his time. So he would show up, he would make an offer, they would do the deal, he would close the deal right there on the spot. But how, what his appearance was, how he showed up, if he had secretaries with him, if he had a lawyer with him, everything added value and importance. And then people didn't question him. And so you want to think about how you walk in the room, how you frame yourself how you're dressed. Like, I'll give you an example for me of how I dress. Like for years, because I was younger, literally I was 24 years old when I started going into businesses to fix them. And I would wear three piece suits and I would show up and, and they would ask me like, did you come from, did you go to Stanford or did you go to Harvard College? Like, people, because of the way I carried myself and the way I dressed, people thought I was highly educated and I, you know, had a business degree. And then later on as, as I kind of went through, I started to notice that me showing up in a three piece suit was hurting me because people were intimidated by me. And so then people wouldn't tell me the truth in meetings because they were intimidated and scared of me. So when they were intimidated, they just wanted to get out of the room and they wouldn't open up and they wouldn't, they wouldn't tell me the truth. And so I couldn't help them. I couldn't do the deal, whatever it was. And so then I started dressing more casual and not being. Because I'm naturally intimidating. I have a beard, I'm very masculine and I'm tall too. So you're. I'm tall, I'm very masculine. I'm devilishly handsome. I don't know if you've seen, but I walk in the, I walk in the room and it can, you know, it can be my, my presence. Like that's another thing is like you learn your presence when you walk in a room. You can feel the room when you walk in, if you pay attention. And so your presence when you walk in the room, you can pull it back if you're paying attention or you can push it forward if you need to. So if there's a meeting with lawyers and it's about a lawsuit, I want my presence forward and I want to be intimidating. But if I'm going into a situation where I'm trying to help a company and I want to learn and I want them to open up and tell me their feelings and their problems, I'm going to dress more casual and I'm not going to overdress. I'm going to, I'm going to be more in a polo shirt and a jacket, not a tie and a suit. And so all of those things matter because for me, like if they don't open up and they're not telling me the truth about their business and they don't feel comfortable and they don't trust me, then I, it Takes me forever to get to the truth. And I just want to get to the truth, because one thing that. That I say a lot, and it's a Warren Buffett quote, really, is business problems are easy. It's people that make it complicated. And so when you're in those meetings, it's the people that make it complicated. Business is pretty easy. It's pretty simple. And so how you look, how. How you walk in the room, how you carry yourself, who's with you? Like, another thing is, if you have a team with you and you walk in a conference room, you want to make sure that your team sits around the table. So when they come in the room, they're sitting in between your team, and it's not your team on one side of the table and their team on the other side of the table.

Yeah, you want them mixed up because it's. It's more. You know, it's more approachable, it's more friendly. And that's. That's how I want to run a meeting, is I want my people around the table. I don't want my team on one side and their team on the other. It just. There's little subtle things that keep people from opening up and telling you the truth. And it makes them. When they don't trust you, then they ask weird questions. And what they're saying by asking all those weird questions over and over again is really. What they're saying is we don't believe. And so you have to really pay attention to what it is it's making them not believe. And it could be how you're dressed, it could be your pregame and what you do before you get there, but you really want to pay attention to their body language, like, really slow down in your mind. Do you meditate?

Yes, a little bit.

So really, like, before you go to these meetings, really meditate and really be in that zone where time is slowing down, and you can pay attention to body language and breathing and posture. And you. You want to come in the room and you want their posture to be open, and you want their breathing to match with your breathing, and you want them to be comfortable. If they're crossed up and they're. They're sitting back and they're not paying attention and they seem uncomfortable, then you walked in the room wrong, and you need to. You need to figure out some sort of pattern interrupt to get them up out of their chairs and back down or something, but you need to really pay attention to that because what you're doing is alchemy.

Yeah, it's good stuff, right?

Yeah, it's really good stuff.

What were you gonna ask me, Chris?

Like when, when you, when you give a handshake, you know, it's like straight handshake, like up and down. How do you do the handshake? Like normal or depending.

So the handshake, you want medium, firm. But what I do is I touch their shoulder with the other hand.

It's way friendlier if you touch their shoulder when you shake their hand.

So it's good to do. Yeah.

What.

It'S good to do, like clients or friends or.

Yeah, like treat them like friends. Like shake their hand, but with your left hand grab their shoulder like at the same time.

That's how I do it.

All right.

I mean, I don't too kind of want to because I'm a little, well, a little more well known now, I think. A lot of times people hug me.

Which is okay too. It's fine. It's better than a handshake, actually.

But sometimes that, that happens to me.

Please, can I make you a quick question?

You bet.

Like, I'm. I'm kind of young now, but I have in my mind, like, I want to make like money first. I don't know if it happens to you when you were younger. Like, like, like big money. Big. How do you say this? Not constantly. Like all time big. You know, I have this issue, like always. I think it breaks my game. It happens to you.

Say that last part again. I understand that you want to make big money, but what's the second part?

Not this money. Like, like, I know.

To build money, it's like, have be constant. Like small here, small here, small here. But I have this problem. I want everything now. You know, I don't know if it happens to you, maybe when you were younger.

Yeah. The thing that I've realized with that is if you focus on getting people results, okay. Focus on the results, make the results unbelievable, and then start going after clients with more zeros. Because at the end of the day, if you can get results, it's just more zeros. I can fix a grocery store, a little tiny convenience store, and I can fix a half a million dollar a year car dealership there. It's the same thing. It's just on a bigger scale. But what I perfected was my system going in.

So worry about your system and the results and then worry about the money. And the money will come. Just start doing clients with more zeros at that point. But it's just more zeros. Once you figure out the alchemy in the system.

So you want to make money and bid your money, right? And try to hustle. But if I look back on my early years, I was probably a little too focused on money and not enough focused on my systems.

Does that make sense?

Yes.

Awesome. Well, thank you, Alex. That was fun.

Thank you so much.

I hope you have a great night's sleep. We still got more time here in the this part of the world. We're going to be up for a while, but I hope you have beautiful dreams.

Thank you.

Okay, bye.