10X Your Selling Power w/ Grant Cardone

Ezra: A lot of people, nine thousand. I have never seen…

Grant: Four days.

Ezra: …anything like this in my life. I’ve been in a lot of conferences. I’ve spoken at conferences that was 5,000 people, all flat. You got a stadium going? That stadium really adds to the energy experience of it. It’s like a basketball game or something. It’s crazy.

Narrator: Ezra Firestone.

Grant: I mean, you know stuff that I don’t know anything about. You know, I know it’s there, but I don’t… and I know my…

Ezra: And you don’t have to, which is the beauty of it. You come out and you create good content, you motivate people, you inspire them, you innovate and then you let other people syndicate your message, which, I think, is actually smarter. 

Grant: So how do you… how do I do that?

Ezra: Okay, so let’s say you’re a business owner, and you have a story to tell. And you’re talking to a group of people about a problem they’re having. You capture that story on video. So I have a system where I optimize, syndicate, amplify. So optimize means create the video, then you turn it into an article. You make it… you screenshot, you get an image. You make it so that it’s ready for social media in all these different formats. You stick it out everywhere, that’s the syndicate part. Put in on Instagram, put it on YouTube, put it on Pinterest. Put it everywhere. 

Grant: And I’m doing that.

Ezra: And you do that. 

Grant: Yeah, yeah.

Ezra: My best e-commerce business right now is a business called Boom by Cindy Joseph. It’s a $20 million a year cosmetics and skin care brand. Now in America, and in Western society, men are valued for production in the eyes of society. So in the eyes of society, as I produce more, as I make more money, I get more power. 

Grant: What do you mean I would give it to you and you would amplify the message for me?

Ezra: No, I’m saying…

Grant: I need help. That’s what I’m saying.

Ezra: That’s what you’re saying?

Grant: Yeah.

Ezra: Yeah. Well I could have my team come in and say… I was talking to Jared, I don’t know where he is, about a couple of things you guys are doing on your Shopify store that I could help you with. Just… I feel like a lot of people like you have really great offers. Like you have great offers, and you have great messaging. And then it’s the marketing process and the optimization of the marketing process that just needs a few tweaks, you know.

Grant: Yeah. Most of the people that you’re talking to, where do you see they’re missing?

Ezra: Most people are missing what you have, which is…

Grant: Content.

Ezra: Yeah. Content. A good offer and a way to talk about that offer. Like one of the things that you’ve figured out, to an extent, is you’re able to talk to your community in a way that they can hear you. See, a lot of people think, “I said something. That means I communicated it.” But your communication fell right there. They didn’t hear it. They got to hear it. That’s when you said something. And you say stuff, people hear it. And that’s the difference. It’s like…

Grant: Well, because I say it enough.

Ezra: Yeah, maybe that’s what it is. Maybe you repeat. Or maybe, you’ve figured out a way to frame your communication in a way that people could hear it. Our brand, which is geared towards women over 50, has a pro-age message. We believe that live just keeps getting better, and our cosmetics are here. And you can celebrate… they celebrate you as you are now.

And so this messaging, yeah, it’s… you know, listen. It’s a heavy duty thing to be told that your power, which, by the way, this is a bullshit point of view. It’s not one that I subscribe to, but it is the conditioning that women receive, that their value is declining over time, that’s pretty heavy duty, you know? Which, I think, is what most people are missing when it comes to their offers. They’re not talking in a way that… they’re talking at people, not to people. They’re just saying a bunch of stuff. They’re not like “Where is this person?” So it’s like, where is this… put yourself in my position.

Grant: See, by the way, this is why I got this. He’s here because I wanted… This is a way for me to get the data. This is a way for me to connect. That’s why I do this conference, so I can literally… Jared comes to me and says, “Who do you want?” I said, “We need these people. This is what we need to learn in our business. Get me the best people.” Ezra comes in, and now I get access to him.

Ezra: Going down. 

Grant: Huh?

Ezra: I think that’s good though. I think it’s like… I think people in… You’re in a position of power, right? There are power dynamics where you’re like running this whole show. And it would be very easy for you to say, “I know everything. I don’t need any support.” But you’re smart enough to say, “Me too. I’m a student. I want to learn the game. I want to know what Russell’s doing. I want to know what Grant’s doing. I want to know what Jared’s doing.” Like you’re paying attention to what’s going on, and that is one of the reasons why you’re as successful as you are. What I was saying, getting back to the point before, which is, I think that putting yourself in your customers’ shoes, who are these people? What is their life experience? How do they feel? What problems are they facing?

You have something people actually want, or you wouldn’t be selling it. You believe in the thing that you’re selling. You got that part handled. Next, brands usually have one visibility source that is consistent. If you just look at the stats, in general, people who have multimillion dollar brands online selling, doesn’t matter what they’re selling, coaching or e-commerce or whatever, have a visibility source that is consistent, meaning they have a way of getting that product in front of people.

Talking… Not just talking to them like “I’m trying to sell you something. You need the solution.” it’s… no. It’s… He or she who can explain the problem the best sells the most, because then people identify with the experience they’re having, like “That person gets me. That person knows where I’m at. I’m going to go to them.” So it’s like…

Grant: And dude, when I see… I mean, I know guys that are… I said the thing that kills me is when I watch a guy sell a pillow on TV, or the vitamin guy that’s doing a million dollars a month or a million dollars a week, and I’m like “These are garbage products.”

Ezra: Totally. Here’s what it is. The person who makes the best promise wins. People with crappy products…

Grant: Win all the time.

Ezra: …win in the market all the time, because they made a better promise than the next person. Right? So it’s like about the promise. Now the product’s job is to deliver on the promises you made. If you don’t…

Grant: Yeah, well, you won’t stay in business.

Ezra: Right. That’s the thing. It’s like, you can make a great promise, and then you deliver a crappy product, and you’re gone. So the products got to live up to that promise, but it’s your job to make a good promise. And the way to make a good promise is by understanding who you’re communicating with. I think that it all comes down to communication. I think that if you’re in… You know, sorry.

Grant: No, that’s good. We’re in the VIP premium section, okay? You know, if you were coming to a conference like this, what’s the value of getting in this part of the conference?

Ezra: Here’s what it is. When you are… There’s a lot of people here. Right? You want to get…

Grant: There is a lot of people here.

Ezra: A lot of people. Nine thousand… I have never seen…

Grant: Four days.

Ezra: Anything like this in my life. I’ve been in a lot of conferences. I’ve spoken to conferences that was 5,000 people, all flat. You got a stadium going? That stadium really adds to the energy experience of it. It’s like a basketball game or something. It’s crazy. It’s like… anyways, the point is that…

Grant: You should go to some of those suites up there. 

Ezra: Go check out the boxes? Yeah, I should check those out. 

Grant: Awesome. Yeah. 

Ezra: When I look at my business, I can trace every leap. I started from the bottom, man. I didn’t have any money, I was working 80 hours a week, I was broke as a kid… The whole thing. I don’t tell that story, because, like that’s an old story. People heard that like a thousand times. 

Grant: Old for you.

Ezra: Yeah. Meaning like… I have different value propositions in my storytelling that I think are more unique than, “I started broke and now I’m not,” kind of thing. But point is, I can trace back every significant income gain or significant deal that I made or relationship to a live event where I met someone who I did a deal with, who I learned something with. And you know where I meet those people? The people who invest the most? You get out what you put in, man. The people in the VIP lounge are investing. They’re saying, “I’m going to put in. I’m going to invest in this snowball.” And they end up extracting the most, because they put the most in. So I think if you’re going to come all the way here, you’re going to set your life aside, you’re going to fly to Vegas, you’re going to rent a room, you’re going to buy a ticket… At that point, what is the extra… whatever it is to get a VIP ticket? You might as well, because you’re going to…

Grant: So you’re saying your connections have not been made on Facebook.

Ezra: No. Who do you meet on…?

Grant: That’s where you drive your business at.

Ezra: I drive… Look, I generate customers and prospects on Facebook, but my business connections happen in person. Who are you going to do business with? Some random person who DMed you on Facebook?

Grant: I get people… People believe in Instant Messenger. Because I get like 900 a day. “I want to meet you. I got this great business idea.” I’m like, “That sounds brilliant.” And then I go through 2 of them, and then I don’t look at the other 898.

Ezra: But the connection that is made in person… We will remember this conversation. There is a connection that happens between human beings that we are disconnected from. People are lonely and isolated, and they’re behind their screen and they’re looking at lives that are not really what people’s lives are like, and they feel… they’re comparing themselves to that. And it’s like you get out, you meet people. You’re like “Oh, these are human beings. These people are going through what I’m going through.” Like yes, you may… It’s a great place to generate prospects and sales. I wouldn’t recommend it for business practices. 

100 million hours of video per day is watched on Facebook. Video has 1200% more shares, text and image… more shares, like people sharing video, than text and image combined. Anyone here watch Grant Cardone’s videos? I watch them. I’m on his Instagram. I see the Instagram, you know, behind the scenes. 

Grant: What have you learnt?

Ezra: Well, I’ll tell you what I did learn since I’ve been here. 

Grant: You notice how many speakers were out there watching the entire time?

Ezra: I watched the whole conference. And I’ll tell you what I’m going to take away from this. I will probably be more aggressive in my pitching. Because I’m a soft sell. Like I’m a content, value… you know, and I’m like, “Hey, man, if you want this thing, here it is,” kind of thing. I come from e-commerce. It’s like, by the time they get to the sales pitch, they either want the product or not. I’m not… Like when I looked at you on stage…

Grant: Yeah, well, because this… I’ve set it up… I’ve given… I’ve set up the environment and the culture to where the hard sell is not disapproved of. 

Ezra: Not disapproved of. And also, I will say, there is value in saying, “Hey, person. This thing is what you need.” And I believe that, and so I’m going to tell you that. And I’m not going to sugar-coat it. And I think that. So I sell… you know, I have courses in coaching and masterminds and things like that. Those offers, I will be more aggressive on how I pitch them. 

Grant: Aggressive is an option.

Ezra: And maybe aggressive is not the right word. 

Grant: It is your responsibility.

Ezra: I agree, 100%.

Grant: Because what you can do to help my business is worth 1,000 times what I’m going to pay for it. So you need to make everybody… Who bought Ezra’s offer?

Ezra: Who’s got my money?

Grant: All of you should have got it, okay? I’m telling you. I’m telling you, you should have got it, because he gives you something you don’t know. Otherwise you would already be doing it. You’d be sitting here saying, “I already have it.” So shame on him for not like punching you in the face. What would you tell somebody else about coming here?

Ezra: Here’s what I’d say. I said it on stage. You get what you want from people who have it. You want to learn how to close deals? You want to learn how to sell? You know who knows how to do that? Grant Cardone. You know who else knows how to do that? Grant Cardone’s community. Find someone who knows what you want and learn it from them. It’s like… This has gotten confused with higher edu- higher education, the hustle of higher education, it’s like…

Grant: Screwed up the whole deal, dude.

Ezra: It’s like, look. Back in the day, you wanted to learn blacksmithing, you went and found someone. You wanted to be a carpenter…

Grant: Talk about a communication pitch. Talk about a promise. Higher education. 

Ezra: Oh my God. Such a hustle, college, I think. No offense to anyone who disagrees, but like, man…

Grant: You’re telling me four years in an average college where nobody… Like I don’t… There’s nobody famous there. There’s nobody connected there. Four years, I go into debt, and that’s higher education than what we did here last night?

Ezra: This is higher education. 

Grant: Totally. 

Ezra: Yeah. The name is all wrong. You know, I got lucky. 

Grant: But it’s a good promise. 

Ezra: Yeah, it is a great promise.

Ezra: And also, here’s what happened is, the authority figures in these kids’ lives have been conditioned to believe, “You must go to college.” That was their generation. They were going to get a 401(k) and a pension. We don’t have that luxury. But the authority figure in your life is telling you this is what you need to do from the time you’re a kid, it’s in there, you know? It’s hard to shake it out. Now kids are starting to see… I was just a terrible student. I got kicked out of high school, it’s a long story, I never made it to college…

I became an incredible advertiser by doing it all the time. It’s not going to be easy at first, but if you are willing to put your attention in the direction of amplifying your business through paid media, that is, in my opinion, the best thing you could possibly do today. Point is, high school was rough, college was rough for me, I never made it. In the traditional education system, I was thought of as a dumb kid. A mess-up. Never going to make it. So I didn’t go college. Nobody would let me in. I ended up starting an e-commerce business. Four years later, all my buddies came out of school a hundred grand in debt. I had a six-figure business.

So I kind of got lucky. It wasn’t like deliberately not going to college, I just was- nobody was accepting me. So that was that, you know? You don’t have any money, and there was nowhere to go. Kids today have choice. There’s more… you know, the digital medium has allowed people to say… You know, the Internet was not around when I… I would have graduated college in ’08. So I would have gone into college in ’04. So at that time, that group of people didn’t have Grant Cardone U, right on their iPhone. You know what I mean? Now, I mean, what is…

Grant: I got into college in 1991. 

Ezra: ’81? When you got out?

Grant: Yeah, when I got out, man. 

Ezra: It’s a… I mean, look. But my question is, Cardone U, what does that cost?

Grant: It was really developed as a corporate program. It’s about $36,000. 

Ezra: Okay. 

Grant: For companies. 

Ezra: What about some young kid who’s coming up in the game?

Grant: 10 grand.

Ezra: Okay. What does a normal college education cost you?

Grant: Yeah.

Ezra: 50 grand a year?

Grant: 50, 60 grand a year.

Ezra: A year, right? Or no, is it 20 grand a semester? 

Grant: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ezra: Whatever it is, I have no idea. The point is, gosh, is that ever a better inv-

Grant: Costs you four years it would have cost you. 

Ezra: Yeah, four years of your life. 

Grant: Costs you four years.

Ezra: Is that ever a better investment to spend 10 grand? Consume it. It’s on your phone, learn about it, learn how to make calls, learn how to sell stuff… It’s like it’s not even… you know, being in college is…

Grant: Appreciate you being here, man. 

Ezra: Thank you. Appreciate it, man. 

Grant: Thank you, okay? 

Ezra: Thank you. 

Grant: Give this man a big hand, huh?