How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett: Lessons from the World's Greatest Dealmaker

by Henry DeVries, Tom Searcy

Overview

Silver Winner—Tops Sales World's Best Sales and Marketing Book

Revealed: the winning blueprint for making deals like The Oracle of Omaha

Warren Buffett didn't become the world's third wealthiest individual on his investing instincts alone. Buffett is a master dealmaker. In fact, one of his greatest single successes came when he closed multiple deals to own 100 percent of the Government Employees Insurance Company—also known as GEICO.

Highly successful dealmakers themselves, Tom Searcy and Henry DeVries have been studying Buffett's unique approach for many years. Now, they reveal the secrets of the Oracle of Omaha. How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett gives you the 101 top deal-making maxims of a legend in his own time. Here's just a small sampling of what'sinside:

Warren Way #22: Choose quality.
"It's better to own a portion of the Hope diamond than 100 percent of a rhinestone."

Warren Way #41: Deal making is a no-called-strikegame.
"You don't have to swing at everything—you can wait for your pitch."

Warren Way #75. Think long term.
"Our favorite holding period is forever."

Warren Way #92. Don't do deals just to do deals.
"We don't get paid for activity, just for being right."

Warren Way #98. Think for yourself.
"My idea of a group decision is to look in the mirror."

Warren Way #99. Be honest in your deal making.
"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it."

Searcy and DeVries round it all out with an abundance of their own expertise—approaches that, added up, have generated billions of dollars in new sales.

Take the advice in this hands-on guide and learn How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett.

How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett reveals the method behind Buffett's near-mythic deal-making prowess. Guaranteed to help you come out on the right side of every deal!

"Tom Searcy and Henry DeVries have done a masterful job of distilling Buffett's wisdom into a highly readable book you’ll want to refer to again and again. A must-havefor dealmakers!" — Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and Leading at a Higher Level

"Almost anybody interested in deal making will find something of interest here. Simply the most important new book on deal making and big account sales strategy." — Marshall Goldsmith, author of the New York Times bestsellers MOJO and What Got You Here Won't Get You There

"Read this inspiring, advice-filled book to discover how you can leverage Warren Buffett's deal-making strategies to negotiate and win big contracts." — Jill Konrath, author of SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies

"This book is Dale Carnegie reconfigured for the business world." — Thomas Barnett, contributing editor at Esquire and author of Great Powers: America and the World After Bush

"This is the first book we've read that truly explains how Buffett thinks and how his lessons can be applied to your business." — Neil Senturia and Barbara Bry, serial entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship columnists for U-T San Diego

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780071801652
Publisher:	McGraw Hill LLC
Publication date:	11/06/2012
Edition description:	List
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Tom Searcy is the founder of Hunt Big Sales, a fast-growth consultancy and thought leadership organization. Tom is the author of RFPs Suck! and coauthor of Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company.

Henry J. DeVries is assistant dean of continuingeducation at the University of California, San Diego. Each year he teaches thousands of business owners and executives how to grow their businesses and advance theircareers. Henry is coauthor of Self-Marketing Secrets, Pain Killer Marketing, and ClosingAmerica's Job Gap.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

Lesson 1 The Quest to Make Deals Like Warren 1

Lesson 2 Go Big 9

Lesson 3 Consider Many, Like Some, Love Few 15

Lesson 4 Bad Deals at Good Prices Are Still Bad Deals 25

Lesson 5 Deal Only with Dealmakers 31

Lesson 6 The Language of Big Deals 37

Lesson 7 Clear the Deal Path 47

Lesson 8 Getting to Dealmakers 55

Lesson 9 When You Are Going to Eat an Elephant, Don't Nibble 67

Lesson 10 A Little Help Goes a Long Way 81

Lesson 11 Victory Favors the Ready 89

Lesson 12 The Why Matters 99

Lesson 13 Expect the Unexpected 111

Lesson 14 Don't Fight, But When You Do... 127

Lesson 15 If You Want to Marry, Don't Tarry 131

Lesson 16 The Final Hour 139

Lesson 17 The Last Step Is Always Slippery 153

Lesson 18 After You Make Your First Warren Buffett Deal 161

Appendix A 101 Warren Ways 169

Appendix B Chronology of Buffett Deal Highlights 185

Appendix C The Making of a Dealmaker 191

Appendix D Further Reading 205

Notes 209

Index 211