Perfect Practice: Achieving Excellence in Business and Life with Harvey Mackay and Joe Polish - I Love Marketing Episode #465

So many people are just pitching people, they do no research, they have no background, and they're not thinking about the other person, they're thinking about themselves. So you've always focused on what's in it for them, and you've been teaching this process to people for many years. So what is the McKay 66?

Two words. First of all, you are spot on. That's right. People buy from other people because of likability, because of chemistry, because of people's skills. And this book, there's a reason, of course, why every book usually has one or two great concepts.

If you'd like to join world renowned entrepreneurs at the next Genius Network event, or want to learn more about Genius Network, go to www.gieniusnetwork.com. okay, so I'm here with my friend Harvey McKay. He's going to be 92 in a couple of months, which is wild. So here's laid out a bunch of your books. First one I ever read of Harvey's was Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive. What year was this?

35 years ago. Still selling 150,000 a year. Wow. 60 countries, 80 countries, and I think we're at 60 languages.

Okay, so you've got.

Very proud of that one. Of course. That's the first one.

Well, I've got five books. You've got. How many books have you written?

I've written eight.

Eight. Seven of them were New York Times bestsellers.

Right. Okay.

What is the. What advice would you have for authors and people that have ideas that have not yet created books? We're here today at the Genius Network headquarters. From your own heart, from your own knowledge base, what advice would you give to writers?

Well, almost everybody I've ever met wants to own a restaurant or they want to write a book. That's just a fact of life.

I'd rather write books than own a restaurant.

So. But when you write a book, as long as you know it's difficult, not easy, but once you've done it, it's a 450 foot home run, seventh inning, ninth game, World Series. I mean, you'll never, never regret it. As Nike says, just do it. And all you do is need one advisor. Go get someone that's written the book that'll help you or find, you know, a publishing house, whatever it is, you can be resourceful, all kinds of information, and then what you are teaching today here at your round table, or the exact name of it. I. I call mine my round Table. Yeah, what you're teaching right here is totally no exaggeration. Beyond comprehension. What you can do once you have that book. As far as distribution. Yeah, yeah. Publishing is hard. There's. In the last 75 years when I've been active, I can tell you it's real simple. Many, many great books never see the light of day because of poor promotion, but all the money in the world can't sell a bad book. True. So therefore, knowing what there is today, compared to what I had to do, every one of these books was 30 cities. Interviews every single day, podcasts. The AI that you're teaching today makes it 100 times easier. Yeah. So you can come into the 21st century and you can hit that home run if you want to.

Yeah, totally.

Well, okay.

I want to talk about one thing. So my. My latest book, what's in it for Them? I write about Harvey McKay. I write about the McKay 66. I'd love to have you speak to what that is because to today's way of utilizing it. And you've always been known as a relationship guy, and you have so many connections, and you have done and taught people. Do your freaking research on people. Know who it is you're talking about. Get to know the person so you're not only valuable to them, but you don't look like an idiot. You know, and so many people are just pitching people. They do no research, they have no background, and they're not thinking about the other person. They're thinking about themselves. So you've always focused on what's in it for them, and you've been teaching this process to people for many years. So what is in the case? 66, two words.

First of all, you are spot on. That's right. People buy me buy from other people because of likability, because of chemistry, because of people's skills. And this book, there's a reason, of course, why every book usually has one or two great concepts. There's a reason why this book is 35 years old, still selling extraordinarily fast. And it's called, as you just referred to the McKay 66. When I was 21 years old, I had 300 customers selling envelopes. You might laugh at envelopes, but you only use an envelope once, and then you have to come back and order more. And my company happens to sell 25 million every day. Every single day we sell around the world. So that's a few envelopes. But the case. 66, you have to humanize your selling strategy. I'll repeat that. Humanize your selling strategy. So if I'm trying to sell Joe, I can't talk about business every minute. I can't go in and have a 20 minute conversation, talk about envelopes. So I want to read the desk, I want to read the walls, I want to talk to the receptionist and find out how many children, if he's married, want to find out his lifestyle. I came up with 66 questions that all of our sales force, and we have about 15 of them now, still have my business. Okay, McKay, Mitchell Envelope Company and want to find out 66 things about them. And those are the questions, you know, Right. Where they go, where they go to school, you know, what turns them on, which is a. Is a key question. Where do they take their vacations? What's their. What's their political aspirations, Whatever it is, right? And once you get those 66 answers. And 30 are better than 20. 50 are better than 20.

Yes.

Once you get those answers, that's when you can find out. And of course, this book that you're talking about, I like to call it. And you call it the same thing, a different words. If I say, hey, hi, Joe just met you. Right, right, right. To my brain bank. What can I do for Joe Polish? How can I help him? How can I add value? And if you just do that for about 90 days. And here is the real cache. Expect nothing in return, right? You got too many people out there doing that. But they expect something in return. Expect nothing in return. You have a very, very happy life. So with all our sales force, we have on 3,000 accounts. You have 3,000 K66s. Now, McKay, Mitchell, 66s. And if someone loses, let's say General. The General Mills account.

Right.

Well, I'll call them in. And I still have my company going back to Minneapolis. We're in Phoenix here in 48 hours. But if they lose General Mills, I'll call them in and I'll say, why'd you lose it? And then I'll ask, what was the real reason? The given reason almost always in life is never the real reason. And so therefore they'll tell me, then I'll say, go get your 66 and bring it in, boy. Whoo. You catch some big fish at your own company.

Yeah, exactly.

They bring in the 66. They've been calling on the account for five years. They. There's two new buyers over there. They don't know anything. And the account is taken away in less than 60 seconds. Wow. That's all. And they know. They know because. Because agreements prevent disagreements. If you have an agreement with your salesperson and all the people and the people that report to you, you'll never have a disagreement. They know that the account will be taken away unless they work that 66. And if you don't love people, if you don't like doing this. Wow. And do you ever get surprised? I'll never forget at a ypo. That's from President's Organization party. I walked up to a woman, she was 6 foot 2, didn't know how to say hello. If you said hello to her, she couldn't handle it and all that. But I insisted. Well, I'm still going to find out about her. She's a professional basketball player from Iowa. Wow. But a real good one.

Yeah.

And. And whether it's your seat mate on an airplane, doesn't matter where you are, it's on an elevator. And you're going to be there for 20, 30 seconds. Just that extra 4, 5, 6 nanoseconds, whatever. Hello. Right. Smile. Right. Ask a question. I mean, I mean enthusiastic. I have a real good friend. The white PR sat on the last row of 747 and there was a woman sitting next to her. And you wound up marrying her. I mean it happens. So if you were to ask me what's the most important thing in selling and in getting results. And they don't pay off on effort, they pay off on results. But if you absolutely know what the word and how to do it and believe in it. Relationships. If you don't, as I say, if you don't like people, there's no sense being a salesperson. Right.

Right.

And if you don't get excited doing something for somebody else, there's no sense either.

Exactly.

So once you get those, I like to say, if you think education is expensive, try ignorance. And there's just too many people that don't do this. These are your mentors. Mentors. Ask a thousand businessmen and women, how did you make it mentors. And there's more mentors out there that will help then will not. Okay. As long as you want to ask. And then that gets into. Never say no for the other person. Right. People say I can't sell him, I can't sell her. Yeah. His, his brother in law is getting the business.

That's great advice too. Don't say no for the other person.

Myriad of reasons why. Let them say no, that's all. So if you can't, if you can't find a mentor, these are all mentors. Forget me, forget Joe. You got the whole world out there. Pick your subjects, pick your experts. Those become mentors. Even though you don't know them.

Yeah, no, and, and, and the thing, the thing with, I look at this as mining. So for instance, the gold is maybe there or let's say it is there when it comes to people and relationships. But if you don't go and put forth the effort. And when you say the thing about results. Yeah. You don't build a great reputation by talking about what you're going to do. You build a great reputation by actually doing it. And when you learn about someone, when you research them, when you find out what they're all about, and that has to come from, from a place of truly, like you're saying, caring about people, being conscientious, you can sort of learn the techniques, but if you don't integrate the techniques, it doesn't become real flattery. I would be foolish to say flattery doesn't work, but it's not the depth. Okay. You can develop relationships on a shallow level, but the deeper you go, the more you get to understand. So it's like what you were talking about. You lose an account. You go back to your mind that Rolodex that you have and you understand. Let's go and talk to the human again and let's reconnect that bond that we have. Because the number one thing to do, I think with customers and clients in business, and I would say, you know, humans in general is to bond with them. And if you can deepen that bond, and that's what Harvey teaches people how to do, he's been doing it for years. How to actually connect with people. And part of it is make sure that your give is equal to or greater than your want. Because everybody wants something, we all want something. But you have to show up with a give that's, that's equal to or greater than you want. Because people that don't, then those people, you perceive them as takers and they're annoying and, and so the key is to be valuable and useful and grateful and put that into play every day.

Boy, why wasn't I taking notes?

Good thing you've written books.

Can't say it any better. And to just piggyback on that a little tiny bit. My favorite. I have maybe I know thousands of slogans because I happen to write a business column too, as you know.

Yeah.

You have 100 newspapers, 10 million newspapers, 100 cities. I've been doing. Yeah, that's what I meant 35 years. So you have to have a lot of one liners. But my favorite. And my father taught me that. He was a national Syndicated columnist also, but still currently, once a week writing those 100 newspapers. Biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. And when you believe that again, then you can go forward and move to the next level. You don't go to school once for a lifetime. We know that you're in school all of your life. And then one thing lastly. It doesn't have to be lastly, but paramount importance. A salient point. Again, I live on aphorisms because I always end the chapter with an aphorism and my newspaper columns. But practice makes perfect. Not true. You have to have one word perfect. Practice makes perfect. Practice something time and time again. If you don't know what you're doing, what are you doing? Yeah, you put a ceiling on how good you can become. You know, we're talking right now. I don't want our audiences. Doesn't matter. High percentage of people out there have played golf. You can play golf eight days a week. You can practice golf eight days a week. And if you got a loop in your swing and you're playing every day, what are you doing? You're perfecting an error. You put a ceiling on how good you can become. So if you practice the right concepts over a long period of time, you can't miss. Yeah, that's it. Yeah.

Well, let me ask you this, and then we'll wrap up. So you've been doing this for 92 years old. In a couple months. What are you excited about in the next year? Like, what is it that drives you at this stage in your life?

Well, when I get up in the morning every single day. My father taught me this long, long time ago. I just graduated University of Minnesota one on one. Lost my mother to breast cancer at age 47. And he looked at me and he said he won every humanitarian award there was to win. And he said, you're going to spend 25% of your life in volunteerism and helping other people. And then he explained me his philosophy. I didn't want to have a job. Didn't know what he's going to do. He's telling me that 25% of your life. So what excites me when I get up in the morning is for a long period of time, many, many, many decades, I've been practicing again. You know, what I can do for someone else. And every day I get up. Yeah, I'm looking for people to help because, Well, I call 500 people a year on their birthdays. Yeah, yeah. Just. Just to say, I call you up. Yes, you do.

You're Extremely good at that.

And they look forward to 500 people. I don't expect our listeners right now to call 500 people, but maybe five or 10, maybe the top 20 accounts you have of the 20 people that are meaningful in your life. But as far as getting really excited, I'm looking at taking AI and I have 150 hours of learning on what I call the Harvey McKay Academy. And this is 28 or 30 videos of people like Ken Blanchard and on and on and on. Well, you've been at my roundtable too, and I videoed people and I have all my books on there and I have everything that's up there on the Harvey McKay Academy. 150 hours learned. I'm going to turn that over to an AI expert and get distribution all over the world. That's what I'm working on right now. Awesome.

Love it. Well, there you go. So I the takeaway here is always be learning, reading and also unlearning because I actually think there's a lot of stuff to learn. But I think unlearning because in my years in addiction recovery, I had to unlearn a lot of stuff that I thought to be true, that I thought was what I wanted in my life or was good for me, but it wasn't at all. So what advice would you have for the most effective ways that you have learned to learn and be more productive? You already mentioned mentors. You already mentioned books. Anything else? Because I know you exercise. How often do you work out?

Seven days a week? Yes. 30 years, 40 years.

There you go.

I have seven machines in my house. I've seen them and run a lot of marathons. Ten marathons. Stopped running those about six years ago. And now the the have to be in shape. But your target, your question is. Yeah. Is how to learn. Yeah. How to learn.

Be as mentally sharp as one can.

Sure. One thing is go around with successful people. Boy, there's nothing like studying successful people.

That's why I created Genius Network.

I like to surround myself with bright people. And that's why I've got my round table, which I've got 30 people, 19 men, 11 women, and we're coming and teaching them all the time. Still semi active in that something new that I've never said publicly ever. But it's have to kind of listen closely on this because it doesn't sound very good. People try their guts out on many, many things and they might even be a little bit passionate about it, but they're not successful and they keep working harder and Harder and harder. No, you got. I've got some good advice for you, all right? You can't solve a problem unless you first admit you have it. So you have to be a realist and understand that all these things you're doing and trying your guts out, they aren't working. So what do you do? Here's the two dull words. Try different. Try different. Yeah. Do totally different things. Off the charts.

Right.

And they might work. Yeah. And there's a myriad of things in order to, you know, be successful. Not just one thing or two things or three things. But once you believe in that continuous learning and you don't go to school once for a lot of time and you're doing the books and you're doing the menor and your mentor and you're also practicing the right concepts and you're surrounding yourself with winners. I won't go around with one negative person. As soon as I see a new friend or possible new friend, I like them. All of a sudden, these negative. Bye, bye, bye bye. I want to hear one negative person. So with that philosophy. And when you get up in the morning, you just say, it's a gift.

Yeah.

Larry King taught me that. Not the name drop, but he had somebody on from India. I said, what'd you learn from him, Harvey? He said, that's the way he talks. Every morning I get up, last 10 years, I look up at the ceiling, I say, it's a gift. And it kind of works a little bit. Remind yourself. And there, one of the all time great sayings, not mine, is there but for the grace of God go I. Everywhere you go, you see handicapped people, you see people that have been unfortunate, and you just thank the good Lord that you got this opportunity.

Totally. Yeah. And I guess I'll finish with saying this. There's that line, you know, he or she who has her health has a thousand dreams. He or she who does not has only one. And the reason we have dreams and goals and aspirations is we're not laid up in a hospital bed and we're able to walk. And we have our vision and we have our ability to talk, because some people don't. And there's. I know every day there's at least 3 billion people on the planet. Their dreams would come true if they could change places with like us and some of the opportunities that we have. So if you're in a place where life is difficult or life is struggling, but you got your vision and you've got your ability to talk and you've got your limbs and you're not laid up. You know, don't take at all for granted that there are many people that every day they just. They struggle and they do the, you know, the best they can. And some people don't. Some people, they just give up and they live lives of suffering. So I think one of the ways to increase joy in your life is to alleviate and reduce suffering for other people with the gifts and everything that you have, and to never take that for granted, because it's awesome, and it's all how you leverage it, and it's all how you utilize it. So wherever you're at in your life, you know, me and Harvey, we write books and we put stuff out there because we really genuinely like teaching people. We like, you know, helping others in the best way we can. And I'll tell you, it's counterintuitive, but whenever I feel like my life sucks, I go and find someone who is having difficulty in their life, and I. Sometimes it's just sitting with them. I mean, it's not even trying to fix them. It's just being present and having dialogue and having conversations and coming from a place of what's in it for them. And when you do that, I feel better, my life gets better, and things seem to work. And I have a lot of opportunities that come this way. So if you're looking for opportunities, if you're looking for progress, by all means. These are some of the books that we write. But there's a lot of smart people out there and seek it out and put it to work. So any other famous last words that.

You are, you are, you are the best little tiny. P.S. when I was 20, 1, 2, 3, 4, young. Started my business at 26. Had some problems, of course, starting the business. What would I do? I leave my office drive was called the Shriners Hospital in those days. They called it crippled kids 60 years ago. 65 years ago. And I walk the halls of the hospital and know how lucky I was. Then come back to my office. I've got problems. Are you kidding me? I lost this customer. This bank's giving me a problem. Are you kidding me? And I would do that first five years of developing my business. That is.

That. That is such good, awesome advice. Because I. I swear, if you think that your life is difficult, go volunteer at an animal shelter, a homeless shelter, children's hospital. We've been taking Genius Network members to the women's prison before the meetings, and they spend four hours talking to the people that are incarcerated, and you walk out. Not only are they so grateful to? You know, they're in the worst place and they're struggling, but you walk out of there not only knowing that you have helped encourage others, but what it does to encourage yourself, just to give you that perspective. So that is such great advice. And to know that early on, because some people just don't have that awareness, which. And now you have that awareness because you heard Harvey just say it. So don't just hear it, utilize it. Because an idea, a method, is useless if it's not utilized. And don't ever use other people utilize other people. No one wants to be used. They want to be utilized. So utilize what we have. Take all of your skills and capabilities and let others utilize them. And I think the world becomes a better place if we do. Thank you, sir.

It's in the can. That's a wrap. Yep.

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