Why Sales Skills Are the Most Important Skill for Entrepreneurs

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Why Sales Skills Are the Most Important Skill for Entrepreneurs"

Rich Dad Radio Show – March 11, 2026
Hosted by Robert Kiyosaki with special guest Blair (Sales Expert & Author)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Robert Kiyosaki teams up with long-time friend and sales expert Blair to dissect why sales skills are essential for entrepreneurs, not just for earning income but for building and leading organizations. The discussion weaves through personal anecdotes, lessons from military and early sales careers, and frameworks from Kiyosaki's Rich Dad books. Together, they unravel how sales, communication, and mindset empower individuals to transition from self-employment to true entrepreneurship and investment.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Cash Flow Quadrant & Mindsets (00:58–07:40)

• Kiyosaki explains the Cash Flow Quadrant (E: Employee, S: Self-employed/Small Business, B: Big Business, I: Investor).
• Main difference: Mindset and skillset, not just what you do but how you think about opportunity and growth.
• "Can you build a brand? Can you be the inside investor, the one putting the deal together?" (02:26)
• The challenge: Making the leap from working in your business (S) to building an organization/brand (B/I).

2. The BI Triangle & The Role of Communications (06:28–08:44)

• The BI Triangle from "Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing" highlights the pillars: Mission, Team, Leadership, Product, Legal, Systems, Communications, Cashflow.
• In both military and business, mission comes first, followed by building/leading a team.
• Communication sits directly above cash flow: "If you’re really good with communications, your cash flow goes up. If you suck, cash flow goes down." (07:04)
• The inability to communicate is often at the heart of financial struggles.

3. Sales Skills & the S to B Transition (11:15–22:24)

• Personal history: Both Robert and Blair recount their tough early days in sales, overcoming rejection at Xerox and Burroughs (Robert) and selling calculators door-to-door (Blair).
• Lesson: The hardest sale is to yourself: managing your inner dialogue and fear of rejection.
• Blair: “The toughest sale of all was me selling me to me that day to keep going.” (16:39)
• Kiyosaki’s “fail faster” mantra—embracing rejection as the only path to mastery and financial success.
• Robert: “The reason you’re failing is you’re not failing fast enough. You have got to find a way to fail faster.” (18:35)

4. Mastering Inner Dialogue: "Little Voice" (12:44–21:20)

• Blair’s book "Little Voice Mastery" focuses on controlling self-talk—the critical inner communication that determines grit or surrender.
• Blair: “The most important communication of all is what you’re saying to yourself.” (12:44)
• Practicing and repeating sales activities helps silence fear and anxiety over time.

5. The 5 Sales Dogs: Understanding Authentic Sales Styles (20:47–24:38)

• Blair presents the five sales “dog” personalities, stressing there isn’t just one path to sales success:
  • Pit Bull: Aggressive, persistent, loves handling objections.
  • Poodle: Charming, social, savvy networkers.
  • Chihuahua: Analytical, data-driven, tech-oriented.
  • Golden Retriever: Service-oriented, values reciprocity, builds loyalty through giving.
  • Basset Hound: Empathetic, rapport-building, great coaches or consultants.
  • Big Dog: Chases only the biggest deals, takes big risks and brags about stories.
• “You don’t have to be an attack dog to sell—your own authentic personality can work just as well.” (21:18–21:59)

6. Sales Equals Income — And Teaching Others to Sell (26:14–28:54)

• Moving from self-employment (S) to Big Business (B) requires teaching others how to sell.
• A business isn’t scalable if sales only depend on a founder; the leader’s job is to train the team.
• This is especially true in network marketing—everyone needs sales skills.
  • “If your organization is not selling, what do you have?” (27:57)
  • Blair: “You’re broke.” (27:57)

7. Internal Communication: Avoiding Organizational Dysfunction (29:02–30:32)

• Selling outside (to customers) is just as important as selling inside (to your own team and between departments).
• Organizational silos, poor communication, and unchecked egos lead to dysfunction and loss of revenue.
• Blair: “The biggest liabilities in every organization is these guys [departments] can’t communicate or sell to each other.” (30:02)

8. Sales Skills as the Bedrock of Leadership (31:22–35:43)

• At every level of business, sales equals income—from generating revenue to inspiring teams.
• Leadership IS sales: "To be a good leader, you have to be a good salesperson." (32:29)
• The richest, most successful entrepreneurs are those who master both outward sales and inward leadership.
• Blair: “The people that do this best are the leaders. The people that do this make the most money. These are the people that build the organizations.” (35:30)

9. Practice, Practice, Practice (33:51–36:20)

• Handling rejection, teaching others, and leading teams are all sales—and require constant repetition.
• Kiyosaki recommends network marketing, team projects, and leadership opportunities to hone sales and communication skills.
• "When the cash flow is low, it’s because communications suck. When cash flow is high, it’s because communications are strong." (33:55)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Robert Kiyosaki: “The reason you’re failing is you’re not failing fast enough. You have got to find a way to fail faster.” (18:35)
• Blair: “The most important communication of all is what you’re saying to yourself.” (12:44)
• Blair: “Sales equals income, pure and simple. If you can’t sell, there’s no income.” (20:58)
• Blair: “You don’t have to be an attack dog to sell—your authentic personality can work just as well.” (21:18)
• Robert Kiyosaki: “Leadership, sales and leadership, are very much the same–it’s getting people to do things that maybe they weren’t inclined to do to begin with.” (30:32)
• Blair: “The people that do this best are the leaders. The people that do this make the most money. These are the people that build the organizations.” (35:30)
• Robert Kiyosaki: “When the cash flow is low, it’s because communications suck. And when cash flow is high, it’s because communications are strong.” (33:55)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Cash Flow Quadrant explained: 00:58–07:40
• BI Triangle & why communication sits atop cash flow: 06:28–08:44
• Sales and the journey from self-employed to entrepreneur: 11:15–22:24
• Controlling your ‘little voice’/self-talk: 12:44–21:20
• The Five Sales Dogs framework: 20:47–24:38
• Why you must teach others to sell: 26:14–28:54
• Communication in business, internal & external: 29:02–30:32
• Sales as leadership, and practicing daily: 31:22–36:20

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Practical Takeaways

• Sales isn’t just about getting customers—it’s about influencing, teaching, and leadership.
• Controlling your inner dialogue is the foundation for resilience in sales; practice, failure, and rejection are prerequisites.
• Organizations succeed when everyone learns the language of sales, not just the founder.
• There’s no single “right” sales personality; play to your strengths.
• Communication drives cash flow—period.

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If you want to escape the rat race or level up your business, mastering sales—externally and internally—is non-negotiable. As Robert and Blair repeat throughout: Sales equals income. The courage to fail, communicate with yourself, and lead others are the transformative skills for every entrepreneur.

Transcript

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[Robert Kiyosaki]

Hello, this is Robert Kiyosaki. And this lesson comes, you know, basically level one, it's the basics. I mean, why are you playing the cash flow game? What are you studying to do? And this, this is the cash flow quadrant. It's book number two in the rich dad series. And E stands for employee. S stands for self employed small business entrepreneur or a specialist, like a doctor, a lawyer, computer programmer and things like this. And B stands for big business, 500 employees or more. And I stands for inside investor. There's a very big difference. Insiders are different than these guys here. So most E's and S's, they have pension plans and when they invest, they invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs. They're outside investments. An inside investor is the guy putting the deal together. So those are the major differences in the big picture. But also there's a mindset and a skill set difference. So what I'm going to be talking about today is, you know, basically my poor dad. This is what you go to school for. Poor dad, go to school, get a job. And my mom says, go to school, get, become a doctor. And I was flunking out of school most of the time. So she says, I said, mom, you got to be smart to be a doctor. She says, you're right, you better stay over here, you know. And then my rich dad said, become a big business owner. Now there's a quantum leap here. Not only big businesses, but can you build a brand and then can you be inside the deal? Can you be the guy that puts the stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, REITs together? So the mindset, the skill set completely opposite. And, and as you're playing this cash flow game, keep this in mind here. Cause you're playing the cash flow game because you have to play the cash flow game on this side. These guys don't. It's not right or wrong. You can still be rich, you can still be happy. But the challenge is to get over to this side. So as you're playing the game, the question is, do you wanna stay here or do you want to move here? Those are the differences, you know? And one more thing. B stands for brand. And so when I was starting off on this side, I had in my mind, how do I build the brand? You know, I mean, that's a question, and it's not an easy. There's not a right, wrong answer. It's not a true, false answer to this thing. It's a process, and it takes a while. So I'm happy to announce that Rich dad is a brand. We're all over the world. When I invest today, I invest the inside. So I don't have stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or ETFs, because I don't need them. And those are the differences. These guys do, these guys don't. So another concept I could bring up is on this here. This came from book number three, and it's called Rich Dad's Guide to Investing. And what this is called here is the bi triangle. In other words, this is what big business and eyes need to know. And so it starts here. You have mission, team leadership. Most important is mission. Another way of looking at this, this is military school. I went to military school. And so the first word we're taught at military school is the mission. When I went to my MBA program, I never heard this word here. It was just about making MBA programs, how to make money. That was it. And then team. So at military school, we're taught how to be members of a team, but more important, how to lead. And so the first day at the. I went to the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York. First day, that's what they teach us. They're yelling at us. What's the mission of the United States Merchant Marine Academy? Sorry, mission. That's how we start. Mission is, everything is spiritual. Why are you in the military? And then we're taught to be leaders. On the first day. The first day, they line up all these. We're just goofy kids. They shave our heads and all this. They line us up like this. And then we're 17, 18 years old, and you go, section, 10, hut. And you know, most guys can't do that. They can't go, section, 10, hut. And they're teaching us how to lead from day to day one. Then section Right face. That's how we're taught. And then you have to be part of this, you know, and if this guy doesn't, you know, if I say right face and this guy goes left face, I got to go jump in his shit. You know, that's not easy to do, you know, here you're 17, 18 years old, and here's your friend and the guy is screwing off over here, I gotta jump in his shit. That's day one. Mission team leadership. I'm going, holy moly, what have I got myself into now? So this is the BI context. This is military school, this is business school. So I went to the MBA program while I was still in the Marine Corps. And you learn product, you have legal systems, communications, cash flow. So what happens for most people is they go to school here and what they learn to be is a product designer. They learn to be an attorney, they learn to be an engineer and systems and all this. They learn to be a marketing manager, sales and marketing. And then you learn to be an accountant. So this is what's called the bi triangle. What makes it hard for most people to transition from here to here is they're trained to be one of these. They're not trained to be the whole thing here. So what? And one of the reasons for playing the cash flow game is this here you've got to be able to manage cash flow on this side, you must have cash. You must understand that. You must, you see, because over here it's a team doing all of this. Over here you can do it on your own. So if I'm a doctor, let's say I can control my cash flow, it's just me working with probably an assistant. So the controls are not strong. You don't need much controls to be a doctor financially. The moment you start going to be an international brand, your controls have to come up. So as you're playing the cash flow game, keep these pictures in mind here. So a lot of people come to play the game. They're from here, here, here, here, here. Very few come from here. So the next thing is this. What we're going to be talking today about is this here, it's called communications, you know, and look at this. How. Why is this right above this here is if you're really good with communications, your cash flow goes up. And if you really suck at communications, cash flow goes down. So when I find somebody who's struggling financially, it's because they suck communication wise. And it's okay, as long as you're over here, you don't have to be that good a communicator, but over here you've got to be. And that's the difference between this side, this side and this again is the bi triangle. So when you're playing the cash flow game and you're learning and all this, keep these pictures in your mind because that's what you're playing for. You're learning to maintain this here. You have got to control your cash flow. You've got to. And then second is communications. So what we're talking today is communications.

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[Robert Kiyosaki]

so I'm bringing one of my dearest friends up. He's not the old. He's an old friend, but he's not old. But we've been friends for so many years. I mean, it's like he's like my little brother most of the time. So we're going to be talking about this here because interestingly enough, all of this is communications, really. But to do this, this, this, you. You must be a great communicator. Like I said, When I was 18 years old, I stood in front of 20 other guys my age and I said, Saxon, 10 hut. Right face forward Harch. That sounds easy. Try doing it in real life. Try doing it today in business. You get sued. You're politically incorrect. You hurt my feelings. It's a trigger event. Do you know what I mean? So communications becomes more important today than it was when I was in school in the dark ages. So with that, my best friend here, Blair, please come up here. Big hand. And how many years have we been together now?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

I lost track after about 38. So we've been together a long time. Long time.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

I know Blair from before. Kim bk. And Blair is the author of this book here, Sales Dogs. And his other book, probably the most important one, is Little voice Mastery. Can you control the little. What you're saying to yourself? Right, right. It's not what you're saying. It's what you're saying to yourself.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right. Which is one of the most important communications of all.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Correct. And that's why many people don't make it on the B and the I side is because they can't control the little voice because you got so many idiots running around in front of you.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right. That's right. You know, and anywhere you go, all anywhere. And when anybody's complaining about cash flow, they're complaining about they don't have a lifestyle. They have the income. It could always be traced back to this right here. Always be traced back. Either they can't sell or they can't market or they can't get past their own. Get past their own little voice. And that's the issue.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

And they can't get their employees to do what they want to do. So they said, I hate employees.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

That's Right.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Because to try to get the reason people stay in the S quadrant because it's easier. There's nobody.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

You do it by yourself.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Yeah, you do it by yourself. Nobody to be accountable to. Once you get past two or three people, then, oh, my God, I got to communicate, get everybody in line. That's why what you guys learned in the military is priceless. Priceless.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Well, in some situations, not today, but anyway, so Blair and I left with Kim. The three of us left Hawaii at the same time, 1984. And we stopped being entrepreneurs. In. I was in rock and roll, and you were in. What was your business at that time?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Well, we had the surf shop.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

That's right.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

We were selling Prindle catamarans, which are kind of like Hobie Cats and T shirts and surfboards.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

That's where we met, in the surf shop.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's where we met. That's where we met. Yeah. You came in, you were selling wallets and your 98 Rock T shirts.

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Right.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

So that's how we met.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

And then Blair and I became good friends. And your background, you got your sales training at what company?

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

Burroughs.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

What did Burroughs do at those days?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Well, Burroughs was. In those days, the top three computer manufacturers were IBM, a company called NCR, and Burroughs. They were the top three. Now two of them are gone, but Burroughs was number three.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Huh? Who's left?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

IBM.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

IBM. Oh, okay.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Yeah, IBM's still around.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

So wait a minute. I was with Xerox.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

You didn't count. Oh, you were office machines. No, but seriously. And he was working with Xerox. I went to Burroughs. And the reason is because they had really good sales training. I mean, they had the most formalized, most rigorous, disciplined systems. And we knew that that was going to be vital if we were ever going to go down this route.

[Quince Advertiser]

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[Robert Kiyosaki]

And then once you learn how to sell, then for a lot of sales guys, they want to start their own businesses, but it cannot make the transition from here to here. Right. That's harder.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

So when I was at Xerox, they sent me from Hawaii to Leesburg, Virginia. And they put you in this room for three weeks, and they teach closed circuit TV and they teach you to formally sell. It's great training. What did Borough's do with you guys?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Ours wasn't so formalized. So what happened is you came in, they go, okay, they gave you a business directory and a desktop calculator. And they go, okay, you've got six weeks to sell $10,000 worth of these things. And if you can do that. Then we'll send you to Pasadena, which was where our training was. And I go, man, don't I get the training first? They go, nope, because if you can't get through this, we're not going to waste our time and money on you. And so that's how we started. So they had to put us out on the street. Because the toughest sale is not selling the calculator. The toughest sale is after they keep telling you, get out of my office. You have no idea what you're talking about. And we had this thing and. And the sign in the office says, salesmanship begins when the customer says no. So my first day, I'm going in there, Okay, I got that. Gotta handle objections. I got battered the first day. Come back in. Same sign. Salesmanship begins when the customer says, no. Okay, I'll try it again. Next day, worse. You know, being from the mainland, we're called Holly boys and all that stuff.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

In Hawaii.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

In Hawaii, right. And they're making fun of you. And I went to the Flamingo Restaurant Cafe, drinking coffee the rest of the day, going, this is ridiculous. I'm not cut out for this. I'll never be an entrepreneur. I'm not in sales. I can't do anything. And I walk back to the branch, and I look at the sign again. It says, salesmanship begins when the customer says, no. And then I got it. That sign was not talking about the customer. The toughest sale of all was me selling me to me that day to keep going. Which is one of the reasons why guys don't go from S to B. Because it's hard. And what happens is your little voice starts playing games with you. And if you don't know how to manage that communication, you're out. And so that's how we started.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

And the way I started was I go to Xerox, they send me to Leesburg, Virginia, Three weeks, the best training in the world. You come back, they give you a little handy dandy little briefcase, and you go, hit the streets. Cold calling. I said, wait, I thought I was an account manager. Yeah, you do. You have to manage accounts that you create. I said, what? You mean there was no existing customer? And so the sales training began with this knocking on doors. And you had Flamingo, I had Arthur's Coffee Shop. And I would sit there drinking coffee, just miserable, terrified of going out there to knock on the door. And then I met my real best friend, Larry Clark, who was there, and he was like, number one. And by the way, Larry Clark just sold his business for $2 billion in 2020, that boy could sell. And I said, how'd you learn to sell, Larry? He says, I was a Mormon missionary. I said, what does that mean? He says, I was in Northern Ireland selling Mormonism to Catholics. And I said, if you can sell God, you can sell anything. So he understood rejection. And then Larry. And then. So I was going to get fired. So they sent me back to Leesburg for the final training. It's about a year's process. You spend a lot of money on training us. I still couldn't sell. I come back from the extra week training, and then they say. And then I said, what's happening? So I go to my rich dad and I said, what's happening? And he says, how many sales calls do you make a day? And I said, on a good day, three. He says, what are you doing? The rest of the time I'm at Arthur's coffee shop drinking coffee, trying to dull the pain, you know, the fear. The fear is intense. I don't like rejection. So finally my rich dad said to me, the reason you're failing is you're not failing fast enough. You have got to find a way to fail faster. And that's why most of these people don't make it, because they went to school. This is what schools teach you. This is poor dad on this side. Don't fail, don't make mistakes. And rich dad is saying, you have to fail faster. So that's when Blair and I, we've been to. We lived in the same town, Hilo, Hawaii. We kind of grew up on the streets of Honolulu. Waikiki.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Right.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

And then I'd go up the street and I'd. So I said, how can I fail faster? So I got a job with a non profit, dialing for dollars. And so my goal was sit on that phone and make 30 cold calls a night so I could fail faster. I didn't care if I sold anything. I just had to go through the fear of dialing that. You know, you get a card and say, call Joe Schmoe. And I call him and say, hi. Hi. And if I got 30 rejections, I was done. I didn't care if I sold the damn thing. I had to handle rejection. And that's why this book here, Little Voice mastery. That's what you have to master.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right. Because the goodness.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

Yeah.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

The good news is, like Robert says, you just repeat, keep going through it again and again and again. Just like anything you're trying to master, you can get past the Fear, after a while, it's no big deal. It's like, you know, give me your best shot as opposed to being afraid and being paralyzed by it.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Yeah. So that's why Sales Dogs is based upon this here. So tell them. What are sales dogs about?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Well, sales dogs, what I found is working with entrepreneurs all over the world for the last 15, 20 years is that sales is your number one skill. Okay.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

As an entrepreneur.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

As an entrepreneur, if you can't sell, there's no income. Sales equals income, pure and simple. If you can't sell, there's no income. So people complain, Well, I don't have enough income. Every excuse in the world. I can't sell little voices in their head. I can't sell the economy's bad products.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Bad.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

I'm not that type of a person.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

I don't like to be pushy.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Yeah, right, Exactly.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

I'm not interested in money.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

All that garbage that goes on that plays with your head. So the reason wrote sales dogs is that this whole image that you got to be some sort of an attack dog or you got to be some kind of an aggressive goon in order to sell is not true that you have a personality. You have your own unique, authentic personality. And when you understand what that is, there are five different personalities that all can sell equally well. So what we did is we created the book Sales dogs to take the fear out of it, to take the little voice out of it, to say, maybe you are a pit bull, which

[Robert Kiyosaki]

is the aggressive, like one of the five types of dogs, Sales dogs.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Well, stereotype is the pit bull.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Tack.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Never take no for an answer. Love handling objects.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

And people hate those guys. They bite you on the leg and they don't let go. Right?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Right.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Then there's the poodle. Charming. They look good. They wear nice clothes. You know, maybe they can't afford them, but they always look good. And these are the people that are schmoozers. They're connectors. You find them at every social event.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

The poodle.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

The poodle. Yeah, the poodle.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Right.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

And so those are poodles. So that's a strength. Great networkers. The other is the Chihuahua. Chihuahua. These are the. The data freaks, right? These are the guys. If you like social media marketing and you want to chat by bot and all this other garbage that people do, I mean, that's for them. It's like all the bits and bytes and all that stuff. And that's very good, too.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

And they're called. They're called wonks, you know, is that what they're called? Wonk. Well, you know, they're just really smart people and they go down the rabbit hole. They know everything.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right. But they're good because they can provide irrefutable evidence, data. And then there's the golden retriever. You know, if you don't understand a golden retriever, that's the dog at the park where you throw the stick and they just leaping across the flowers, drool flowing to pick that thing up, bring it back and drop it at your foot and go do it again. Right. Why? Because they love to serve. And in this economy, in any economy, that's called law of reciprocity. If you can get, if you give, you receive. And as you know, if you do any kind of marketing online, you know that that's the primary way that you build a community and build a network. You give first, receive later. And so that's also a very powerful personality.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

That's the golden retriever.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

The golden retriever, right. And then finally there's the slumpy basset hound, you know, the hush puppies. You know, they have those big eyes.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

They look you in the eye.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

They love you no matter what. These people aren't flashy, but they're great one on one because they build rapport, they build trust. And you with them for two minutes and you feel like you're best friends, you know, so that's. These people make great coaches, by the way, because they're really able to build and establish rapport.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

They're nice people, very kind. What about the big dog?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Well, then of course, there's not a breed of dog, but then there's the big dog. You know, the big dog only does big deals, and they only talk to big people. And they wouldn't be bothered by doing little deals with little people because there's no glory in that. And they fail big and they win big. And so even when they fail, it makes for a great story later to tell to everybody else. And they brag about that. So if bragging were an Olympic sport, they'd win gold medals all day long.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

So I kind of fit the big dog. That's right.

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[Robert Kiyosaki]

I don't like small deals. You know, the way I wanted Xerox was, you know, I'd go out there, I'd say, make my 30 fail calls. I fail 30 times a night. Come back in, and I had to sell this one machine called the Xerox 660. It was two points, you know. And then they had this. I forgot the name of it. Now, another Xerox machine, I got 60 points. So most sales guys, you know, they're kind of the little chihuahuas. They're after the little two points. And I said, I've got to sell 10 of those a month to make 20. So why am I wasting my time selling small, small machines? So once I understood rejection and all this stuff, I went after only the biggest deals. I became number one in sales for Xerox. But I got in trouble because I didn't sell small machines, right? And finally they said they're going to fire me unless I sell small machines

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

because they got to clear the inventory, man.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Yeah. So I'm sitting there, I'm going to get fired. I'm number one in sales. I'm 600% of my budget, and they're going to fire me. And I said, I'm in the wrong business. I'm in corporate America. I hate it. Time to move on. At the same time, my best friend, Larry Clark, he's number one in another division. And he and I decided to move on. And we became entrepreneurs in the nylon and Velcro surface wallet business. And we failed miserably.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

But we're big dogs. Anyway, so that's what this book is here for, and this book is here for. Now the question is, why do you need to know these books? And I'll tell you why you need to know it so you can train other people to sell. Because if your organization is not selling, what do you have?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Well, you're broke, okay? So what happens is, not only do you have to sell, but you have to learn to teach other people on your team how to sell. Teach the team how to sell. Because where else?

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Well, that's this here, you see?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Yeah, because they're not going to learn it any other place. And by the way, for people that are in the network marketing business, this is the key to their success.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

If you're in network marketing, you've got to have this book and this book for yourself and for your team.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right, because you guys know that you teach your team how to sell, and they teach the next team member how to sell. Now, you build depth in an organization, and you're churning money in our organization. Organization I work with. One of the rules is everybody on the team must sell, whether you're a bookkeeper, whether you're in customer service, whether you're in sales, whether you're. Whatever you're doing. So everybody at some level has got to learn the skills and practice the skills. You don't have to be great at it, but you got to do it. And that's how it works.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

And that's why when you look at this bi triangle, all of these people have to sell. They speak different languages, but they have to sell.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Like an attorney speaks a different language than your accountant. Sales and marketing people just don't get along with these guys or these guys, you know, the system guys at the engineers. They don't get along with any of these guys here. And then you have the product design guys, and they're going, hey, you got to sell my product. No, no, I don't want to sell your product. You know, and so that's why this bi triangle is essential here. So as you're playing the cash flow board game, keep this picture in mind. And keep this picture in mind. Okay, let me say it again. If you're on this side, this is my poor dad's side. It's the rich dad's side. You really don't need to sell. I mean, most of these people, you know, they can sell for themselves and all this, but to grow, you have to teach others to sell. That's the difference. And so these guys, a lot of times, small business people don't grow because they can't teach other people to sell for them. Right?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right. That's right.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Anything you want to say about that?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Well, yeah, because what you were saying before, if we go back to the bi triangle right here, is that sales, outward sales or outward communication in sales and marketing is critical. But if this is dysfunctional, one of the biggest liabilities in every organization is these guys can't communicate or sell to each other. And so what happens, they're stuck in silos and the egos get in the way and it becomes dysfunctional. And people don't show up for calls, they miss meetings mysteriously and they just

[Robert Kiyosaki]

get sick all the time, all that stuff.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

So that's why in order to drive to sell, a mission to sell people, to recruit people to be on your team, you got to be able to sell. And leadership, Sales and leadership are very much the same. It's getting people to do things that maybe they weren't inclined to do to begin with.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

So as you're playing the cash flow game and you're watching and you're learning, just remember, these guys here don't really need the cash flow game, and these guys here really don't need this here. But if you're going to make the transition to here, you've really got to understand these two here. Because as Blair says, this is the financial statement. So as you're playing your cash flow game, this is what you're looking at. So when I look at somebody without money and they have a sucky salary, sales equals what?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Income.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

And when their assets aren't performing, sales equals income. And that's why if you're going to be in network marketing or practice being a big business guy or person woman, you have to learn how to sell. You don't just do it once, you do it all the time. Practice, practice, practice. So as you're playing the cash flow game, you see, we go all the way back to this year. You know, the biggest sales job is you've got to be a great leader. I mean, to be a good leader, you have to be a good salesperson. Can you get people to show up on time, leave on time, clean up their desk and all this stuff? Can you do that? So if you really want to practice this, practice leadership, practice being a team member who's supportive and get everybody aligned to the mission. I meet a lot of these guys here, you know, S's, they play the cash flow game online by themselves. You know, you know what people do by Themselves. Anyway, if you're going to become a bni, you've got to have this skill here. Those are sales skills. And that's how I started this whole thing. I went to military school and I had to lead. I had to sell the mission. I had to drive a team. So when we flew into Vietnam, we. We were a team, you know. And then when I came back from Vietnam, I went into the MBA program and I found these guys here all fighting amongst themselves. I entered the business world. They're all fighting amongst themselves. You don't need an enemy, you know, you just need a company.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Employees.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

You got enough problems on your side of the net, that's for sure.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

Meet employees who don't want to work, don't want to sell. Yeah, I don't have to sell. Why are you here?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Or so. And so wasn't nice to me. And so. And so didn't. But you know all that stuff, right?

[Robert Kiyosaki]

If you have, you have a team that's not selling, you have no income. And so that's why it shows up. It all shows up here, right? And if you want to, if you don't, don't. If you're on the. On this side, if you're on the E, and if you're on this side here, E's and S's, you pay the highest taxes, so you're screwed. So it's best to learn how to sell. That's right. And so do anything you possibly can. Join a network marketing company, you know, lead a forum. But lead, teach, take rejection, take criticism, right?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's right. And the more you take, the more you learn. That's all there is to it.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

When the cash flow is low, it's because communications suck. And when cash flow is high, it's because communications are strong. If you understand that, that's why sales equals income. And if you don't have enough income, it's probably because you can't sell or you're working for a leader who can't sell, or you have an organization that's trying to kill each other. They're dysfunctional inside the company. Am I correct?

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

That's it. That's totally right. So it's those three areas of communication. It's being able to sell within your team, being able to sell out to the public. And again, remember, the most important one is you selling you to you. So say, well, it's not worth it. I don't want to do this. These people are dysfunctional. No, that's your lesson to be learned to Learn how to become a better communicator.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

If you can't control this, you cannot transition from here to here. There's nothing right or wrong with it. But just keep that in mind, because as Blair says, the only difference here is what's between this ear and this ear, what's inside your head. Right. What are you saying to yourself? And that's really why this whole bi triangle is the real world of business. Again, as you get stronger, take more opportunities to be a leader. Because when you're leading, leading a network marketing company or leading, you know, a charity, you're practicing this here. But what you're really practicing is communications and sales. Final word.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Well, the final word is the people that do this the best are the leaders. The people that do this do make the most money. And these are the people that build the organizations. So it's a requirement of the skill.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

You don't have to do this if you're a doctor or a lawyer. You communicate differently. You're omnipotent. But if you look at what I do in the Rich Dad Company, I do my communications through a product. It's called a book or a game or seminars. And you and I have been in all those businesses, right? Right. So basically, I'm in the communications business. I have Tom Weil right here for cash flow, Garrett Sutton for legal, and I have other people running systems for me. But I still have to be the leader and responsible for them. That's the difference.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

And to help manage that communication inside.

[Robert Kiyosaki]

So remember, as you're playing the cash flow game, remember you're playing this. But keep this in mind here. So thank you, Blair. Thank you and see you next lesson.

[Blair (Sales Expert and Author)]

Thank you.

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