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Leave enough on the table for the next guy

By Reed Sawyer

Jimmy Napier, the real estate seminar guru, once said, "Whenever you are selling a house; leave enough on the table for the next guy. It will make it a lot easier to sell."

What exactly does that mean, and how do you apply it to all aspects of your business?

When you buy a house, always solve the problem of the seller, and give them a little bit more than you had negotiated. For example: The seller has a $200,000 house. They owe 175,000 on it. Negotiate just as hard as you can, and then give them back a little more than they had expected. It will make the deal go much more smoothly.

When you are selling a house, always ask yourself the WWIFM question. "What's in it for me?" from their perspective. Leave a little bit on the table so that they get a great deal. When you do that, it makes it that much easier to sell. Joe and I sell our properties on a lease option with a 2 year term. If a house is worth $200,000 we will sell it at a total of 8% appreciation for the two years, after rounding up to the highest $9,950, rather than selling it for 13% appreciation over two years. When we explain that to the buyer, they realize that they are locking in a price right now better than they could two years from now. They have all of the advantages of purchasing the home, and they save money too.

We have left a little bit on the table for the next guy.

Team:

When you are building your team, don't make them starve to make you rich. The best are always free, the value of their services more than pays for their fee. If you believe that, you will treat your team with respect, and allow them to feed their kids. If you try to negotiate their fees down to nothing, or to shop them, you will find that you don't have a relationship. They will treat you like a customer and give you the absolute minimum service necessary to keep a (disloyal) customer. Leave something on the table for them.

I want you to constantly be thinking of ways to enrich your team members, that don't necessarily take money out of your pocket. When you do that, you will find that they will appreciate it, and they will follow the law of reciprocity and attempt to make you wealthy as well.

Wholesaling:

The concept of leaving something on the table for the next guy applies when you are buying, selling, or wholesaling. If you are going to wholesale, decide how much profit you want to get, and how much profit your buyer will receive. Find a wholesaler that has those parameters, and flip the deal to them. If you try to squeeze every last dollar out of a deal, it will be impossible to flip.

In summary, leave enough on the table for the next guy, and you will find it much easier to flip deals, of any type.