Roy Exum
I need to take you through the back door on this one because it is a story that my friend Sandy Pohfal just sent me from Texas. Sandy happens to know Dr. John C. Dealey, a business-consultant wizard in Dallas whose advisory councils have made folks a lot of money. In turn, Dr. Dealey knows a guy he’ll only refer to as “Raymond.”
Of all the guys I just mentioned, you need to focus on “Raymond” because he learned long ago about value-added friendships. Quite obviously, it has paid off so well for him he doesn’t want people to know who he really is.
But his story is one I think ought to be required reading in colleges across the country and if he’s willing to share it, we ought to pay attention:
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A few years back my friend, Tom and I were chatting about a company my firm had just acquired. He mentioned that he knew of a similar California-based company that might also be for sale.
He asked if we'd be interested in meeting the owners which he could facilitate. I was very interested. Tom made a phone call and arranged the meeting.
Five months later we acquired the company for $15 million. In one sense Tom had done "very little." He shared the idea and make one phone call, less than say, "six minutes" of work.
However, I believed this one phone call was going to be of great value to me over the years ahead. Also in another sense he had invested "huge things" to be able to make that suggestion. Things like decades of experience, wisdom, ideas, contacts, and relationships to conceive the idea and know it might be a possible fit.
When the deal was about to close, I called him and asked for his bank wiring instructions. He said "Why?"
I replied: "Christmas in August. I'm going to wire you $100,000."
"What?!" he said.
I told him I planned to wire him $100,000 for the introduction and for "the value added" that he had brought related to the company we were about to purchase. He strongly protested that there was no need for me to send him the money.
He didn't know or fully appreciate that I am a big believer in and have found to be a very valuable principle of the "unexpected." Of saying thanks with more than words.
The next day I wired him the "unexpected" $100,000 as an advisory fee for the "value and benefit."
For many this is a difficult, maybe even unbelievable, attitude to conceptualize or at first to understand. Why wire $100,000 when no invoice was due?
In my opinion, you make more money and have more success in the future if you compensate for ideas. Of course this isn't only doing the "right thing." It's smart business. The next time he has a great idea, he'll think of me.
Even more importantly for me, he had powerfully supported me, my efforts, my goals, my livelihood. It was my way that I could directly say to him:
"Thank you. I appreciate your help and I appreciate you."
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Now you know how winners keep winning. “Thank you. I appreciate your help and I appreciate you.”
royexum@aol.com