Million Dollar Business Deal Breakers & Makers

By MaryEllen Tribby How many times in your career have you heard the term "Deal Breaker"? Probably about a million, right? Well the problem with that term is it only gives you half the information, hence leaving you wide open for a 50% failure rate. That's right if you want to make the big deals, multi six- and seven-figure deals you need to understand BOTH the deal breakers and the deal makers. So today I want to share some of my very favorite deal breakers and deal makers. These seven strategies are so profound yet so simple - you can start implementing them today. Seven Musts for Million Dollar Deals # 1) Due Diligence: To make big money deals you have to associate with the right people. You can be working with really smart folks, but if they do not have similar qualities and value systems, the money will not come. Takers, Blamers and Whiners - Oh My! That is why I want to steer you clear of a certain group of folks I call The "TBW's". Let's break it down: * Takers: You know who these people are. They are the ones always calling, emailing or texting always asking for a favor. The person who constantly asks you to mail for them and after doing so several times, you ask if they will mail for you, and they tell you "Oh, that's not our business model." Or they are constantly asking for introductions to high-level folks. Or one (or ten) of any kind of favor, yet they will never offer to help you out. * Blamers: These are the folks who NEVER take responsibility for their failures. They will blame it on their team, their mentors, their colleges, and their coaches. Heck they will even blame a failed business deal or project on their mother. It is more important for the "Blamer" to blame than it is to examine the project and find out why it failed and learned from it. * Whiners: These are the folks who always find an excuse for not taking action. They whine about how difficult it is to start a business, or produce a product or write a promotion. They whine that the outcome will not be worth the work. They find 1,000 different reasons for why something won't work. These are the folks that make any toddler look grown-up! Look, sometimes we get so excited about the potential outcome from the deal that we overlook the step of doing our due diligence about the partners involved. But I am stressing this point until the cows come home. The money WILL NOT follow when you are working with the wrong kind of person. #2) Define Roles: When it comes to business deals of any kind, very often there are many assumptions made. One of the largest is "who is doing what". You may think that the other person is hiring the web designer; meanwhile, your partner assumes you are. The best way to handle this is to simply write our what each party is responsible for and discuss it. Once it is agreed on, you can move and move fast. #3) Set Expectations: Make sure both you and your business partner are on the same page about everything. For example, your partner may be a night owl and think it appropriate to call you at midnight. And you may be an early riser, up at 5:00 in the morning, where a midnight call would ruin your entire next day. So what do you do? You make sure you define your work times and your meeting times; times that work for both of you. #4) Have a Plan: It does not matter how simple or complicated this deal is - you need to have a plan. This needs to outline how you get to your desired outcome. The more detailed the plan, the easier it will be to execute and the better chance of success. #5) Schedule Regular Updates: When you start your new deal, you may have more frequent updates to see where you are according to your plan. As time moves on and if everyone is doing there agreed upon roles, your updates may be less frequent. However, NEVER go more than a month without an update. My personal preference regardless of how smooth a deal/project is progressing is to have an update once a week. #6) Have Make or/and Break Points: Within your plan you should always define success and success by a certain date. You should also define a point where "if" you do not meet your goal, you dissolve the deal. #7) Define Terms: Always be very clear on all terms including but not limited to:

• Revenue splits
• Payments for services
• Length of deal
• Liability of customers
• Asset ownership

Many deals fail or simply do not get off the ground because the parties do not know what to discuss. So if you are not dealing with a big company that has standard Letters of Agreement (LOAs) or even if they do, essentially before you enter into that deal take a blank piece of paper and fill in numbers 2 through 7 of this document. If you have done that, you have a great chance of success with your next deal. To get even more success tips, sign up for MaryEllen's special report, The Success Indicator Acceleration Report at this link.