Business leaders face a simple but profound choice: do they multiply value, impact, and opportunity, or do they diminish it? Marketing and business strategist Jay Abraham says the difference between the two approaches can define whether a business thrives or merely survives. On today’s episode of Strategic Edge, Jay Abhraham, business leader, executive coach, and founder and CEO of the Abraham Group, outlines how entrepreneurs can self-diagnose whether their leadership style multiplies or diminishes value.
Multipliers
Multipliers focus on expanding human and relational capital, increasing employee performance and impact, and enhancing the perceived value of their offerings. Abraham emphasizes that skills such as consultative selling, Socratic interviewing, listening, and engaging communication can independently increase productivity by 10 to 30%. Beyond individual skills, he emphasizes the importance of continuous process training, which mirrors how medical professionals are trained, over one-time seminars or static programs that retain only about 9% of knowledge.
Relational multipliers cultivate loyalty and trust by paying vendors promptly, becoming preferred clients, and building relationships that drive referrals. Clients should view the business as their most trusted advisor, even if it offers only a single product, thereby extending the relationship far beyond a single transaction.
“In truth, we retain at most 9% of what we learn from static training.”
Multipliers are about expanding perception, driving residual growth, and treating business as a competitive sport where the goal is to strategically exceed, outperform, and out-earn the competition
Abraham stresses holistic strategic integration, noting that successful entrepreneurs combine multiple facets of business:
- Strategy
- Business model
- Distribution channels
- Value creation
- Partnering
- Preemptive advantage
- Cost reclamation
Through constant experimentation, akin to research and development in technology or pharmaceuticals, businesses can identify incremental, low-risk breakthroughs in revenue generation, operations, and management. Applied strategically, these small innovations can produce an outsized impact.
Trust and authority are also critical multipliers. Abraham cites research showing that trust has 13 measurable characteristics that, when cultivated, can drive a 200-300% increase in impact. Likewise, an authoritative yet compelling presence, free of arrogance or hubris, enhances a company’s influence and effectiveness in interactions with clients, partners, and employees.
Diminishers
Conversely, diminishers reduce value at every level. They rely on transactional relationships, copy industry practices without questioning their effectiveness, and fail to train their teams beyond the basics of product knowledge. Abraham explains that leaders who diminish limit their human capital and suppress growth opportunities. These approaches result in short-term gains at best and often leave businesses as “best of the average,” competing in a field where no sustainable advantage exists.
Central to Abraham’s philosophy is the idea that businesses sell outcomes, not products. The drill is not what customers want; they want the hole. Entrepreneurs should focus on benefits, results, and the problems they solve. By understanding this, multipliers become not just a matter of training or strategy but a mindset: every employee, customer interaction, and business decision can either elevate or reduce value.
“A true entrepreneur is a valued creator, an experienced creator, a value creator, but not on cheapness, on different denominations of value. “
Abraham also challenges the conventional reliance on “best practices.” While early adoption may offer a short-term advantage, best practices quickly become standard operating procedures, erasing any competitive edge. Multipliers innovate continuously, treating business as a competitive sport where strategy, foresight, and measured risk define long-term success.
Ultimately, being a multiplier is about impact and fulfillment. Abraham stresses that businesses exist first to benefit people, with rewards flowing in direct proportion to the problems solved and opportunities created for others. Whether selling premium products, delivering services, or running small enterprises, leaders who embrace this mindset generate exponential returns, not just financially, but in influence, loyalty, and the lasting success of their organizations.
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