Undercover Billionaire: What Defines Success?
Show Me the Money! …Grant Cardone’s Lessons in Entrepreneurship:
Undercover Billionaire is an American television series, in which billionaires travel to a small, relatively unknown town in the United States, to attempt to create a million-dollar business in just 90 days. I watched and analysed several episodes of the series, covering businessman Grant Cardone’s challenge. Read on to discover some useful advice and top entrepreneurial tips that I garnered from the coverage I appraised…
Grant Cardone is a highly successful entrepreneur from Louisiana, specialising in real estate and, as of 2022, he has a networth of USD 2.6 billion.
Cardone was unfortunately raised in poverty, his family struggling to generate enough money, even for food. Cardone’s father died when he was only ten years old; this caused his mother to struggle to feed the family even more than she did previously, which is what underpinned Cardone’s motivation to become a highly successful entrepreneur.
The challenge of Undercover Billionaire involves only having access to a single cell phone without any contacts stored, a dilapidated and worn-out truck, only 100 USD in cash, and use of a fake identity. (The fake identity is required because, naturally, there would otherwise be a risk of the well-known billionaire being recognised, which might well lead to unfair favours and biased results.)
Meeting Prospects & Acquiring Clients - How to Get Started with Market Research:
Cardone advises that entrepreneurs, and those launching a business, use every opportunity possible to build friendly but professional connections with people; prospects will be more likely to work with you if they trust you, and research has shown that people buy from people they like. (So another suggestion I looked into, off-the-back of this tip from Cardone, is to 'mirror' the person’s body language and tone, to whom you’re trying to sell; people are subconsciously drawn to others who mirror themselves.) Therefore, to increase sales and build a successful business, it’s crucial to build a positive rapport with people. This requires also thinking laterally about the overall image of both your company communications and materials, and yourself. Everything about you needs to sell, and work with the narratives of reputability and success.
It’s worth also keeping referrals and word-of-mouth in mind: could this person, who you’ve just met, possibly introduce you to other prospective clients or business partners, even if they don’t convert into a client of yours themself?
Continuing with this theme, it’s critical to prove yourself to others: if you don’t prove yourself and make a strong impression, you won’t make the sale. In essence, you’re selling added value, and demonstrating how you will solve a need or problem (be that an individual’s need, a community’s need, a company’s need etc.) One way in which this can be achieved is by creating and displaying an impressive portfolio of similar previous work, which will help communicate that you are legitimate and that you mean business. When selling, you must make people think you’re worth their time, or they’re not going to want to engage or ‘do business’ with you. Cardone advises that by trying to boost our enthusiasm and the confidence that we project onto other people, this will speak to them and impress them, and they will be more interested in hearing what we have to offer, as a result.
The Leap Of Faith & The Marketing Plan:
Once you have tested out the market, and have discovered that you’ll almost certainly be able to acquire paying clients, it’s time to get serious, and take focused action.
According to Cardone, it’s a good idea to start off by creating a marketing plan; this will steer you to start drawing in well-qualified, potential clients. As you progress with your marketing, Cardone reminds us to also try to take up any business-based opportunities that may spontaneously arise. Furthermore, when working to close a deal, Cardone suggests we should use a plethora of negotiation tactics, because we might well be able to secure a better deal, if we do so.
Cardone also suggests that another tactic is to be ‘bold’ about our business; in his opinion, the more a business-owner or sales person ‘hams it up’, the more clients will be interested and the more they’ll believe that you’re worth hiring. This said, it’s worth remembering that this series showcases an American entrepreneur for an American market, who’s used to operating primarily within the US. In addition, Undercover Billionaire is, of course, an entertainment broadcast first and foremost. With this in mind, a degree of sensationalism can be expected. From my experience and learning, I am not personally convinced that ‘hamming it up’, especially in European and British markets, tends to get the results we would like. The risk is that over-keenness can be interpreted as arrogance or might be seen as unsophisticated. As a result, my sense is that this tactic could lead to sales-resistance - the very opposite outcome that Cardone is advising on!
Business Development - Decisions = Outcomes:
Once your business is ramping up, you'll find that you need to be even more serious with the decisions you make, as of course what you decide impacts outcomes. With that in mind, Cardone suggests that we should always evaluate carefully, to decide whether or not an investment is business-worthy.
If there appears to be a higher-than-average chance of losing money and ROI (Return on Investment), then we should probably invest elsewhere, spending time, money and energy on other prospects or projects. Cardone also tells us to, ‘Chase the opportunity, not the money.’ We should consistently strive for higher results, rather than chasing a small job; with this in mind, it’s usually worth intentionally pursuing a larger opportunity that may take more time, but that will generate more profit in the long-run.
How To Handle Your Business - Effort = Reward:
Just like when playing sports and getting fit, along with almost every area in life, the more energy and hard work an entrepreneur puts into working on their business, the more they will likely profit from it. Cardone tells us to ‘put in the same as you want to take out’.
Once again, we are reminded that we should aim to contact a myriad of people, in order to build up a list of leads and prospects. According to Cardone, the more names and contacts we build up, the more potential clients we have.
Regarding successful marketing and sales approaches, Cardone tells us that whilst some prospects will seem really friendly, these prospects are usually the type who won’t ‘ask the scary questions’, and he explains that sometimes it will be down to the entrepreneur or business-owner to ask those questions on the prospect’s behalf, in order to ‘wake them up, and make them think’. For example, questioning and framing considerations along the lines of, ‘what will happen, or what will you lose out on, if you do NOT invest in this solution?’ is imperative. It’s only by presenting these kinds of questions and scenarios to the prospect, and by closely observing their response, that you will know who you are dealing with, so you can adjust your approach and negotiation style accordingly.
Cardone also advises that businesses can not function successfully without a clear leader at the helm. With this in mind, he states that if we are in a business partnership, we should make sure that either we or our partner has a minimum 51% ownership. This draws a clear line and final-say when it comes to inevitable conflict and disagreement.
The Dangers Of Bias:
As mentioned earlier, it’s always critical to be mindful of bias, when drawing conclusions from television shows such as Undercover Billionaire: in real-life situations, the variables, dynamics and outcomes are often not the same. For instance, the individuals that chose to work and cooperate with Cardone throughout the show’s business challenge, were more than certainly swayed to work with him because of the presence of the television crew and cameras. Would they have been so generous and willing if the cameras and television crew had not been present?
Bias and latent influence can be found throughout the business world; for example, all other things equal, we have a higher chance of people choosing to hire, buy from or work with us, if we work on our image, learning how to present ourselves effectively through clothing and style choices, how we talk and the words we choose to use, and even being aware of how our body language is interpreted. Just picture someone trying to sell to you, who’s wearing a stained and cheap-looking suit, with their arms crossed defensively whilst also hunched over and slouching, and you’ll be able to understand the potential impact of a negative image. If we work on our brand and our own personal ‘packaging’, we will more likely succeed than if we ignore those influences.
Finale:
In conclusion, many of the business tips that Grant Cardone presents will almost certainly help you generate a more successful business, if you employ them wisely and consistently. However, these are, of course, not the only requirements needed to succeed in business. If, as a business owner, you are strong-willed, determined and high in grit, you will find it considerably easier than someone who is far less committed. But equally, empathy, patience and integrity are fundamental ingredients for success, and Cardone did not delve into those requirements.
Running a business plays out on a competitive playing field; you need to be able to prove that you are better than your competition, and worth being hired. But this should not be at the cost of integrity and empathy; only by also listening deeply to your prospects, and by advising them with integrity, will you succeed in the long run.
Cardone’s poverty was what sparked his drive to succeed. Whatever motivates you to launch a business, it’s imperative that you’re prepared to put in the hours and effort, and throw almost everything you have at it, if you’re looking to succeed. But the most important ingredient of all? It’s to stop procrastinating, and just get started.
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