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S ELL Y OURSELF L IKE T RUMP

the cooperation of key players—buyers, sellers, lenders, tenants, con-
tractors, and others. If you’re not enthusiastic about your real estate
investment idea, there’s no way you can get someone else to sign on.
Remember that people will initially be skeptical of whatever you say.
So be like Trump, sell hard. If you can maintain your level of com-
mitment and enthusiasm in the face of initial doubts, you’ve taken
the first step toward getting the support you will need to succeed.
Trump knows that enthusiasm is contagious.
For example, Trump’s enthusiasm for the Commodore-Hyatt
project and the way he envisioned it benefiting the entire city of New
York were boundless. He communicated his vision over and over to all
of the people who were involved in the various governmental agen-
cies, including the mayor’s office and the railroad. He argued that
this one project could help turn around the entire blighted midtown
Manhattan area. They all agreed that it was important to do some-
thing about this eyesore, the Commodore, because of its critical loca-
tion next to Grand Central Station. Trump’s enthusiasm convinced
them that he was the only person capable of putting all the pieces to-
gether. For example, he told the city, “Forget real estate taxes and
concentrate on the money you’ll earn from room taxes, income taxes
paid to the city on the salaries earned by the employees working in
the new hotel, and the profits from the hotel operation.” (Trump of-
fered to make New York City a partner in the profits.) “Think about
how the new construction will bring desperately needed jobs to New
York and reestablish New York City as the capital of the world.”
Trump’s enthusiasm was the catalyst for getting key people,
whose support he needed to achieve success, interested in the deal
and to getting the city to embrace the idea. He prepared charts and
graphics showing the dreary existing conditions of the area, the like-
lihood of an extended recession in property values leading to further
erosion of the city’s tax base. He explained, “This is what you’ve
got now but here’s what I can do for you.” He would then display a

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