388 - Your #1 Asset (Most People Waste It)

0:00Today I want to talk about something that sounds really simple, but it's the foundation of every deal you will ever do. And that is your word, not your spreadsheet, not your business card, not your LinkedIn profile, but your word. Because in acquisitions, the fastest way to kill momentum is to break promises to yourself and then act like it does not matter. Here is what I see all the time. A mentee writes down an execution commitment. Send 20 letters, call 10 sellers, follow up with 15 prospects, reach out to 10 chair candidates. Then the week ends, and they do not do it. And instead of treating that as like a serious problem, they shrug it off.

0:51And they say things like, well, it was a busy week, or I had a lot going on, I did a lot of internal work. I was waiting on people.

0:59Bruce Whipple:Let me tell you what is really happening. Every time you break a commitment to yourself, you train your brain that your promises are optional. You are not just missing a task. You're weakening your identity. And if you cannot trust yourself, you will not be consistent. And if you're not consistent, you will not have enough outreach. And if you do not have enough outreach, you will not have enough conversations. And without conversations, nothing closes. No deals get done. So this is not a productivity issue. It's a trust issue. And it shows up everywhere because the people who are trying to do deals can feel it.

1:46Bruce Whipple:Sellers can feel when you are vague, hesitant, or flaky. Lenders can feel when you are unprepared or inconsistent. Professionals can feel when you are not decisive. And the deal world absolutely rewards reliability. That is why execution commitments are so important and why they matter so much. They are not goals. They are not wishes. They are not outcomes. They are controllable actions that prove you are becoming reliable. Now here is the key distinction that will make this easier. Outcome goals depend on other people. Get a yes from a chairman. Have two meetings. Secure financials from seller.

2:37Bruce Whipple:Close the deal. Those are outcomes. Those have to have someone else do those things. Attend the meeting, say yes, send the financials, etc. Execution commitments are what you do regardless of whether anyone responds. Like, send 20 messages, make 10 follow-up calls, mail 10 letters, send 5 calendar invites with 2 time options. That is why we measure actions, not answers. because if you're only measuring outcomes, you will consistently feel stuck. But when you're measuring your actions, you will almost always know what to do next. Now let's make this practical. I want you to adopt one rule that will change your results.

3:31If you make an execution commitment and you honor it barring death or coma, that is the standard. If it is a week where life is heavy, then you can reduce the number you commit to. But once you commit, you do it. And maybe that's only one call. I hope it's not, but maybe it is. Because every honored commitment builds self-trust, and self-trust compounds. A person with self-trust does not need motivation. They execute because they are reliable, because they said they were going to do something. They do not negotiate with themselves every week. So here's your assignment. For the next seven days, write one, just one, execution commitment.

4:18That is external, meaning it touches someone, numeric, you know what that means, and 100 % in your control, barring coma or death. Something a camera could see you do if it was photographing you. Examples.

4:35Bruce Whipple:Send 10 emails to sellers. make 10 follow-up calls, send 20 LinkedIn messages to chair candidates, and then do it. Not because it's a lot, but because it is you proving to yourself that your word matters. Your word is the asset. You will trade on your word in this acquisition business. And when you build that asset, you build the foundation for deals that close faster. That's the lesson. Now, a lot of people are scared of objections. So I actually did a video course on the top 10 objections you'll face. And I list each objection and then I give the answer that I would give for that objection and overcoming it.

5:22Bruce Whipple:So if you'd like to go through that, it's pretty quick, pretty easy. Go over to BruceWhipple.com, take the free class, and you'll just have to enter your name and your email address, and then you'll be able to see that video course. Ten objections and ten suggested answers. So I hope that this helps. I hope that you realize how important it is not to lie to yourself and how important it is when you make a commitment, barring coma and death, you follow through on that. Thank you.