Perseverance

From Andrew McWhirter:

Soccer superstar Pele once said:

‘Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.’

One person discovered the value of perseverance firsthand when they chased down a lead they really wanted to work with. 

He had connected with the two directors of a local business. These directors knew what he did and showed an interest in the services offered.

The problem was that they couldn’t agree.

One director said no and the other said yes.

For most business owners, this would be a sign the sale was not to be. After all, if one decision-maker says no, that means you've lost the chance to make the deal, right?

He didn't give up.

Instead, they scheduled a 30-minute video call that allowed him to talk to both directors at once.

That 30-minute call ended up lasting an hour. As the conversation went on, more and more problems were brought up.

There’s a reason for this. The naysaying director had started to trust my client during the call. It had showed them they were an authority in that niche. As a result, they felt comfortable confiding in him.

That conversation came about as a result of perseverance. And when he scheduled it, he knocked 4 competitors out of the running to land the contract.

Here’s the most important metric.

He measured the time they invested against the value of the deal.

It came out to $1,645 per hour!

Everyone I know would feel happy about making that kind of return.

There’s a lesson here. All is not lost if a key decision-maker says no. If you persevere, you may be able to find another angle of approach.

A prospect who says no is just somebody who doesn’t trust you yet. If you persevere, work through the NO’s and prove that you’re the authority in your niche, they may just come around.

There is a secret to getting your foot in any door and keeping it there!

Mistakes can be valuable!

"The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake - you can't learn anything [much] from being perfect." - Adam Osborne -  www.PropertyTaxBenefits.com

    

Warren Buffett and Business Savings

"The great personal fortunes in this country weren't built on a portfolio of fifty companies. They were built by someone who identified one wonderful business." - Warren Buffett 

GMG Savings 

Many non-profits are missing out on specialized tax incentives.

If you are a non-profit with many credit card transactions, you should know that many non-profits may be on special pricing tiers due to their non profit status. 

This means that they have the potential to have their Credit Card rates on special pricing, their Waste & Recycling may be on special layout, etc.

We can only determine this in seconds at  BusinessRefundEstimate.com

Counter-Productive Things You Shouldn't Do Every Day

1. DO NOT answer repetitive questions

2. DO NOT cram your to-do list. 

3. DO NOT make lots of piles. 

 *Create a systematic filing system and eliminate any pieces of paper you no longer need. 

4.DO NOT schedule open-ended meetings.

5. DO NOT eat lunch at your desk.

 

 *A short break from your desk will lead to better ideas and decisions.

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination." - Tommy Lasorda

    Time to play ball!! 

Will I Qualify for a Commercial Real Estate Loan?

Due to the huge losses suffered by commercial lenders during the Great Recession, banks are much tougher when they underwrite commercial loans these days.  Will you qualify?  It all depends on the three C's of underwriting - credit, capacity to repay, and collateral.  Let's look at credit first.

Commercial banks are the lenders who are making most of the commercial loans today, and banks require good credit.  You will usually need a credit score of at least 680, and a credit score of over 700 is greatly preferred.  Now if your credit score is lower than 680, please don't panic.  We recently convinced a bank to approve a commercial loan for a veterinarian with a foreclosure on his record (due to a divorce) and a credit score of just 630.  And even if a bank won't do your particular deal, there are still scores of Wall Street non-prime lenders and hard money commercial mortgage companies willing to make subprime commercial loans.

When a bank underwrites a commercial borrower's capacity to repay, the bank looks primarily to the cash flow of the property.  The commercial property's net operating income (NOI) must exceed the proposed commercial mortgage payment by at least 25% to 45%.  In the parlance of the commercial financing industry, the debt service coverage ratio must exceed 1.25 to 1.45.  Conduit lenders also require that the debt yield ratio (a brand new underwriting ratio) exceed 9.0% to 10.0%.

Commercial lenders are also demanding more collateral today.  In 2006 and early 2007, commercial lenders would regularly approve commercial loans of 75% loan-to-value.  Many commercial lenders even made commercial loans up to 80% loan-to-value!  Then commercial real estate plummeted by 45%, and commercial lenders got hammered.  They took enormous losses.  As a result, immediately after the Great Recession most commercial lenders cut their loan-to-values back from 75% all the way down to 58% to 65%.

Fortunately banks have finally started to loosen up a little again.  This means that it is usually possible to get a conventional commercial loan from a bank up to 70% loan-to-value.  Sometimes banks will even consider a commercial loan of up to 75% LTV again, but the deal will have to be very, very strong.  You are more likely to qualify for a commercial loan at higher than 70% loan-to-value if the deal is a purchase money deal (in other words, you're buying the property).  Another way to get high LTV deals approved is if the borrower has lots of liquid assets, like cash in the bank and marketable securities.

One last important point about qualifying for a commercial real estate loan from a bank.  There are more than 5,000 banks in America, and all of them are extremely fickle.  One day a bank will refuse to even consider a commercial loan in excess of 65% LTV, and yet a month later that same bank will close a commercial loan of 75% LTV.  What happened?  The bank suddenly loosened up because it had found itself too liquid, and it was feeling the pressure to put some money back out on the street.  The way to handle this is to approach lots of different banks with your commercial loan request.