Probably one of the best passages of Grant Muller’s new book, and an effective encapsulation of both the book’s core concepts and fun, irreverent style is the christened ‘Heart-based Business.’ “It’s been quite a journey for me from homelessness to $1.2 million in sales commission last year. I will never forget the first time that number danced on my laptop screen. I looked over my shoulder and then back again at the screen.
‘You wanna dance with ME?!’ I love this party and you’re invited. Ditch the cheap cologne and tacky pickup lines. Hunting and tracking ‘prospects’ or ‘leads’ or ‘targets’ before dumping them into a ‘funnel’ is no longer serving anyone,” writes Muller, within the pages of Top of Heart: How a New Approach to Business Saved My Life, and Could Save Yours Too. “That early attempt at building a business based on relationships was a colossal failure, but it held key lessons. As a real estate agent for about 14 years now, my drive to succeed has led me down just about every conceivable path toward real estate enlightenment. It’s been a long and expensive tour through many different sales, lead-generation, marketing, and coaching programs.
I’ve learned a lot and share the credit for my success with many cherished teachers. The strategies I learned from them helped me move out of the storage unit I was living in at the beginning of my real estate career and into my own home. Somehow, though, there was always something missing. I couldn’t quite break free of the sales roller coaster. There would be a good month or two and then right back to barely paying the bills.”
The trajectory Muller’s life took on a personal and professional set of levels reminds me of Ray Kroc, the McDonalds chain founder. In many ways, minus some of the darker aspects of Muller’s experience, Kroc started as a blue-collar salesman – reinventing himself in later age into one of the most successful fast food magnates of all time. The kind of triumph similar to a story like Muller’s and Kroc’s is helped by the book’s more holistic, altruistic tone – in spite of Muller not being shy about highlighting his present day success. One would certainly hope so, especially given Muller is a South African national. Muller however does attribute his present day success to mind over matter. The implementation of the titular Top of Heart mentality is something Muller swears by, not just in terms of solid argumentation qualities but because he personally attributes it to saving his life.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Top-Heart-approach-business-saved/dp/1788604369
“If you’re an entrepreneur, a small business owner, a leader, or a salesperson, you are likely getting hammered with calls and emails and online promotions, all promising to lead you to a magical land of golden leads and platinum appointments. Instead of selling more, we buy more – of other people’s stuff. The balance is broken,” Muller writes. “Some individuals in business, particularly in industries that seem to be set in their ways (such as real estate), might not be aware of this. They slog away, on the grind, to hit sales metrics. They choke down sales tactics to win games that, for most of them, are counter to their very nature. They put on their sales hat and suddenly their humanity slips away. They put on their sales hat and suddenly their empathy slips away. They put on their sales hat and, bit by bit, they adopt a completely different personality.”
Garth Thomas