Tom Searcy - How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett: Lessons from the Worlds Greatest Dealmaker

Praise for How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett

When you walk through the Omaha airport, there is a picture of Warren Buffetts graduating class from the University of Nebraska and his quote, Invest in yourself. Once you understand that there is an art and a science to making the deal, youll understand the value of Warren Buffetts quote. Investing in yourself is not an option; its an imperative, and investing in this book is exactly the same. Getting the wisdom and thinking behind Warren Buffetts deals will help you gain insight into the art and science of making your deals.

Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling

Tom Searcy and Henry DeVries uncover Warren Buffetts secrets to closing the biggest deals in the world. Theyll teach you the skills to make your first million dollar deal.

Dan Waldschmidt, author of Edgy Conversations

Tom Searcy and Henry DeVries have done a masterful job of distilling Buffetts wisdom into a highly readable book youll want to refer to again and again. A must-have for dealmakers!

Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and Leading at a Higher Level

Almost anybody interested in deal making, from salespeople to CEOs, will find something of interest here. Simply the most important new book on deal making and big account sales strategy.

Marshall Goldsmith, million-selling author or editor of 32 books, including the New York Times bestsellers MOJO and What Got You Here Wont Get You There

Read this inspiring, advice-filled book to discover how you can leverage Warren Buffetts deal-making strategies to negotiate and win big contracts.

Jill Konrath, author of SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies

Searcy and DeVries have made their own science of dissecting how persuasion leads to decisions leads to big deals. This book is Dale Carnegie reconfigured for the business world.

Thomas Barnett, contributing editor of Esquire and author of Great Powers: America and the World After Bush

Warren Buffett is one of our heroes, and this is the first book weve read that truly explains how Buffett thinks and how his lessons can be applied to your business.

Neil Senturia and Barbara Bry, serial entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship columnists for UT San Diego

Copyright 2013 by TMS Partners, Inc and Henry DeVries. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-180166-9
MHID: 0-07-180166-9

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To our inspiration, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.
Studying them, Berkshire Hathaway, and its managers
has been a pleasure and a gift to us

We wish to thank CBS MoneyWatch for believing in Tom as an online columnist. This is where the seed of the idea for How to Make Deals Like Warren Buffett sprouted in column form. We want to thank Donya Dickerson of McGraw-Hill, who persistently encouraged us to bring to readers the lessons of the greatest dealmaker in the world. We are grateful to friends and authors Robin Ryan and Dan Janal for their insights during the proposal process. Special thanks go to our researchers, Karla DeVries and Don Sevrens, for their assistance in gathering information. We also want to express our thanks to the Berkshire Hathaway managers who helped us with fact checking the manuscript. Perhaps the biggest thanks go to our team at Hunt Big Sales, especially our president, Carajane Moore, and the most valuable player, Jessie Kelley. Because we never wanted this book to be theory without practical applications, a nod of thanks also to the Hunt Big Sales clients that allowed their case studies to be included in the book to illustrate the Warren Buffett lessons. Tom would also like to thank his wife, Jen, and Henry his wife, Vikki, for their understanding of the lost nights and weekends during the research and writing of the book.

The Berkshire Hathaway (stock symbol BRK) annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, is truly to capitalists what the Daytona 500 is to NASCAR fans. Its a spectacle, a tradition, and a happening. The event is over the top and reassuringly familiar to the faithful.