Do you have degrees, certificates, and qualifications? Step aside, because without grit and persistence, those mean nothing to you in your business! In this episode, Mills Menser is going to show us that grit and persistence is what matters when it comes to the perfect sales presentation!
Mills Menser is a third generation jeweler, owner of Brdiamonds.com and is the founder of Diamond Banc. He founded Diamond Banc to loan against & purchase diamonds and high-end jewelry from the public. Mills saw a tremendous void in the marketplace for a luxury brand that offered an innovative financial solution to those who wish to access the liquidity of their jewelry possesses.
Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:
- Michelle introduces Mills Menser.
- Mills explains the concept of Diamond Banc, a service that purchases diamonds and luxury items from consumers.
- When he was 24, Mills wanted to buy out his father’s business, and had secured financing. He later convinced his father to let him purchase the business, and then, three days from closing, the financing fell through.
- Loss of financing led Mills to some creative planning: ultimately, he crafted the perfect sales presentation to his father that ended up being far more profitable for his father.
- “If you can get traditional financing from a large bank, honestly that’s always the ideal situation because you’re giving up NO ownership and you’re paying one of the lowest rates you can get.” ~ Mills Menser
- Looking back on that crushing NO, Mills would do it all again, exactly the same!
- Remember: it’s not a deal until the money has changed hands, and has been in your account at least 3 days.
- “So many things can change, and self-preservation is every business person’s number one agenda.” ~ Mills Menser
- “Just know, it’s not done until it’s done.” ~ Mills Menser
- With the perfect sales demonstration that Mills proposed, he had NO power and NO leverage. It was either going to happen, or it wasn’t!
- “If you look at any successful person there’s always a helping hand or an opportunity.” ~ Mills Menser
- “Everything cost ten times as much and takes ten times as much effort as you may believe.” ~ Mills Menser
- The way Mills structured the deal meant that instead of paying the bank interest, the money would go to his family instead!
- Getting Diamond Banc off the ground took a lot of work! Mills created a special campaign, and shipped video recordings describing how Diamond Banc would change the high-end jewelry liquidation industry.
- Mills targeted stores with $10 million+ in sales, but found himself having to spend excessive amounts of time following up, seeing if they had even gotten the package from FedEx, and if they had a chance to view the video.
- He had to follow up endlessly before he even got to his pitch! Almost every day, he spent two hours just doing follow up!
- Mills finally found a partner through all of his time spent planting seeds.
- There is so much work that goes into pitching, that most people fail simply because they were not prepared to have the persistence to do all of the work.
- You have to push on all fronts, because the people that you are pitching are already hearing countless other pitches.
- “Your pitch is like a plant in a garden: you have to keep watering it for it to eventually grow!” ~ Mills Menser
- Don’t track your hours, track your results.
- Know what your values are, and be prepared to pay the price for that specific value. You pay the tuition for the lessons that you learn!
- Focus on what moves the needle: we spend 80% of our time on that which yields 20% of the results. Refocus your time to see results.
- Mills shares what he would tell his younger self.
Connect with Mills Menser:
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