Communications Management, Sales Marketing

Rich dad would say, “The better at communicating you are, and the more people you communicate to, the better your cash flow will be.” This is why communications management is the next level up on the B-I Triangle.

He would also say, “To be good at communications, you first need to be good at human psychology. You never know what motivates people. Just because something makes you excited does not mean it makes others excited. To be good at communications, you need to know what buttons to push. Different people have different buttons.” He also said, “Many people are talking, but only a few are listening.” He also said, “The world is filled with fabulous products, but the money goes to the best communicators. ”

I am always amazed at how little time businesspeople put into improving their overall communication skills. When I first balked in 1974 at the idea of learning to sell Xerox machines door to door , all rich dad said was, “Poor people are poor communicators.” I repeat this negative statement with the intent of inspiring further study and practice of this vast subject.

Rich dad also said, “Cash flowing into your business is in direct proportion to communication flowing out. ” Whenever I find a business that is struggling, it is often a reflection of poor communications going out, not enough communications going out, or both. In general, I find a six week cycle between communication and cash flow. Stop communicating today and in six weeks you will see an impact on your cash flow .

However, external communications are not the only communications. Internal communications are also vital. By looking at the financial statements of a company, you can easily see which areas of a business are communicating and which are not.

A public company has increased communications problems . It is like two companies in one: one for the public and one for the shareholders . Communication to both groups is vitally important. When I hear people say, “I wish I had not taken my company public,” it usually means that they are having shareholder communication problems.

As a general policy, rich dad attended one communications seminar a year. I continue in that tradition. I have always noticed that soon after I attend the seminar, my income increases . Over the years, I have attended courses on:

Of all of these topics, raising capital interests budding entrepreneurs the most.

When people ask me how to learn to raise capital, I refer them to numbers 1 through 7 above, explaining that raising capital requires each of them in one way or the other. Most businesses do not get off the ground because the entrepreneur does not know how to raise capital, and as rich dad said, “Raising capital is the entrepreneur's most important job. ” He did not mean that the entrepreneur was constantly asking for money from investors. What he meant was that an entrepreneur was always ensuring that capital was flowing in, either through sales, direct marketing, private sales, institutional sales, investors, etc. Rich dad would say, “Until the business system is built, the entrepreneur is the system to keep the money flowing in. At the start of any business, keeping the cash flowing in is the entrepreneur's most important job.”

The other day, a young man came to me and asked, “I want to start my own business. What would you recommend I do before I start?” I answered with my usual response: “Get a job with a company that will train you in sales.” He replied, “I hate sales. I don't like selling and I don't like salespeople. I just want to be the president and hire salespeople.” Once he said that, I simply shook his hand and wished him luck. A priceless lesson that rich dad taught me was, “Don't argue with people who ask for advice but don't want the advice you're giving them. End the discussion immediately and go on minding your own business .”

Being able to communicate effectively with as many people as possible is a very important life skill. It is a skill worthy of annual updating, which I do by attending seminars. As rich dad had already told me, “If you want to be a B quadrant person, your first skill is being able to communicate and speak the language of the other three quadrants. People in the other three quadrants can get away with speaking the language of only their quadrant, but those in the B quadrant cannot. Simply put, the primary—and possibly only—job of those in the B quadrant is to communicate with people in the other quadrants.”

I have recommended that people join a network marketing company to gain sales experience. Some network marketing organizations have excellent communications and sales training programs. I have seen shy introverted individuals come out as powerful and effective communicators who are no longer afraid of rejection or ridicule. That thick-skin mind-set is vital for anyone in the B quadrant, especially when your personal communication skills are not yet polished.

I still remember my first sales call on the street along Waikiki Beach. After spending about an hour working up the nerve to knock on the door, I finally got in to see the owner of a small tourist trinket store. He was an older gentleman who had seen new salespeople like me for years. After stammering and sweating through my memorized sales pitch on the benefits of a Xerox copier, all he did was laugh. After he was through laughing, he said, “Son, you're the worst I have ever seen. But keep going because if you can get over your fears, your world will be very bright. If you quit, you may wind up like me sitting behind this counter fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year waiting for tourists to come in. I wait here because I am too afraid to go out and do what you're doing. Get through your fears and the world will open up. Give in to your fears and your world will get smaller every year .” To this day, I give thanks to that wise, older man.

After I began to overcome my fear of selling, rich dad had me join the Toastmasters organization to learn to overcome my fear of speaking in front of large groups. When I complained to rich dad, he would say, “All great leaders are great public speakers. Leaders of great businesses need to be great speakers. If you want to be a leader, you must be a speaker. ” Today, I can speak comfortably to tens of thousands of people in convention halls because of my training in sales and my early training from the Toastmasters organization.

If you are thinking about starting your own B quadrant business, I recommend those same two skills. First, develop the skill to overcome your fears, to overcome rejection, and to communicate the value of your product or service. Second, develop the skill of speaking to large groups of people and keeping them interested in what you have to say. As rich dad said to me, “There are speakers that no one listens to, there are salespeople that cannot sell, there are advertisers that no one watches, there are entrepreneurs that cannot raise capital, and there are business leaders that no one follows . If you want to be successful in the ‘B' quadrant, don't be any of those people.”

My first book in the Rich Dad series, Rich Dad Poor Dad, has been on the prestigious Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) best-selling booklist for well over two years. In the United States, it has been on The Wall Street Journals' bestseller list for nearly nine months, and it made The New York Times bestseller list in September 1999. When other authors ask me what my secret to getting on those lists is, I simply repeat a sentence from Rich Dad Poor Dad: “I am not a best-writing author. I am a best-selling author. ” I add that I flunked out of high school twice because I could not write and that I never even kissed a girl in high school because I was too shy. I end by saying the same thing my rich dad said to me: “Unsuccessful people find their strengths and spend their lives making their strengths stronger, often ignoring their weaknesses, until one day their weaknesses cannot be ignored any more. Successful people find their weaknesses and make them strengths.”

A person's physical appearance often communicates far more than their words. Often, people who come to me with a business plan or to ask for money look like mice that have been chewed on by a cat. No matter how good their plan, their physical appearance is a limiting factor. In public speaking, it is said that body language accounts for approximately 55% of communication, voice tone 35%, and words 10%. If you remember President Keennedy, JFK , he had 100% working for him and it made him a very powerful communicator. While not all of us can be as physically attractive as he was , we can all do our best to dress and groom appropriately to make our points stronger.

An investigative TV program recently sent in very attractive job applicants and unattractive job applicants with exactly the same qualifications on their resumes to interview for the same jobs. It was interesting to note that the attractive applicants got more job offers than the unattractive ones.

A friend of mine sits on the board of a bank and shared with me that the president they had just hired was brought on board because of his appearance; he looks like a president. When I asked about his qualifications, all he said was, “His appearance was his qualification. He looks like a bank president should look and speaks in the way a bank president should speak. The board will run the business. We just want him to attract new customers.” I use this example for anyone who says, “Oh, my appearance does not matter. ” In the world of business , appearance is a powerful communicator. Repeating an old clich?, “You have only one chance to make a first impression.”

While still on the subject of communications, rich dad insisted that Mike and I know the difference between sales and marketing. He would say, “The big mistake that most people make when it comes to communication is that they say ‘sales and marketing. ' That is why they suffer with low sales or poor communications with staff and investors. ” Rich dad would go on to explain that the real statement looked like this:

He would add, “The real trick to communication is knowing that it is really ‘sales over marketing,' not ‘sales and marketing.'” He added, “If a business has strong and convincing marketing, the sales will come easily. If the business has weak marketing, the company must spend a lot of time and money and work very hard at gathering sales.”

He also said to Mike and me, “Once you learn to sell, you need to learn how to market. An S quadrant business owner is often good at sales, but to be a successful B quadrant business owner, you must be good at marketing as well as sales.”

He then drew the following diagram:He said, “Sales is what you do in person, one on one. Marketing is sales done via a system. ” Most S quadrant businesspeople are very good at one-on-one sales. For them to make the transition to the B quadrant, they need to learn how to sell through a system, which is called marketing.

In conclusion, communications is a subject worthy of lifelong study because there is more to communication than just speaking, writing, dressing, or demonstrating. As rich dad said to me, “Just because you're speaking doesn't mean anyone is listening.” When people ask where to start to build a strong communications foundation, I encourage them to begin with the two basic skills of selling one-on-one and public speaking to a group. I also advise them to carefully watch their results and listen for feedback. As you go through the process of transforming from a poor communicator to an excellent communicator with these two skills, you will find your fundamental everyday communication skills will also improve. When all three improve, you will see your cash flow increase as a result.

Good first impressions are vital. Your marketing and sales efforts will often be the first impression your business makes on your potential customer. Whenever you are speaking, both your passion for your business and your appearance will have a lasting impact on your audience. Any published or printed material you produce or distribute is also important. It is a public representation of your business.

As Robert mentions, marketing is selling through a system. Always make sure you know your audience and that your marketing tool has been designed for that audience. In every marketing or sales effort, include these three key ingredients: identify a need, provide a solution, and answer your customers' question “What's in it for me?” with a special offer . It also helps if you can create a sense of urgency for your customers to respond to.

Most communication is directed towards external communication, but a business's internal communication is also vitally important. Some examples of each are:

Sharing of wins and successes with your entire team Regular meetings with employees

One of the most powerful forms of communication that affects a business is one over which you have little control: the communication from your existing customers to your potential customers. At CASHFLOW Technologies, Inc., we attribute a large part of our success to our customers telling other people about us. The power of this word-of-mouth advertising is immeasurable. This form of advertising can drive a company to success or failure very quickly. For this reason, customer service is a very vital communications function for any company.

When you buy a franchise or join a network marketing company, the communication systems are often provided for you. In addition, their communication materials have already been proven successful by other franchisees or members of your organization. You therefore have a tremendous head start over people trying to develop their own materials. These people won't know if their materials are successful until they use them and measure the results. As Robert mentions, the ability to speak is vital to building a successful business. The personal development and mentoring programs offered by select franchises and network marketing organization provide wonderful opportunities for personal growth.