Doing Business One-on-One “No typewriter is as warm as the human voice, and no phone call can take the place of eyeball-to-eyeball contact.” —J. B. Fuqua J. B. Fuqua is one of the most successful businessmen in America. If you listen to him talk enough, he will tell you that part of his success is the result of doing business one-on-one. When he started in business, J. B. went to Augusta, Georgia, with a plan for a radio station. Without knowing a soul, he found several people interested in the idea and talked them into providing the funding. Once, when J. B. was attempting to buy some theaters from two brothers in Georgia, he heard that one sibling would be leaving town and would not be back soon. J. B. immediately took an airplane to see the brothers, and that evening the three men drew up a contract on a yellow writing tablet. It was a $20 million deal, and J. B. later said that if he had not met with the brothers that night, it might have never been done. When he heard about a bottler that wanted to sell but had tax problems, J. B. showed up at the man’s office at eight o’clock the next morning and worked out a deal to buy the business using the other man’s money. Dealing directly with people means that J. B. Fuqua often answers his own phone. “It might be Santa Claus,” he says. Being so accessible means that Fuqua seldom misses an opportunity. An idea that a secretary might think is nonsense could be worth a million dollars to a person who knows what to do with such an idea. After reaching his goal of becoming a millionaire in the 1950s, Fuqua continued making deals “for sport.” He successfully led Fuqua Industries for over forty years and eventually “retired” to spend much of his time serving on the boards of various philanthropic organizations. Consider This: If you want information, go to the source. If you want a deal, talk directly to the owner.
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 17:03:31 +0000
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