Way of the Wolf: Straight Line Selling: Master the Art of Persuasion, Influence, and Success

by Jordan Belfort

Jordan Belfort—immortalized by Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit movie The Wolf of Wall Street—reveals the step-by-step sales and persuasion system proven to turn anyone into a sales-closing, money-earning rock star.

For the first time ever, Jordan Belfort opens his playbook and gives you access to his exclusive step-by-step system—the same system he used to create massive wealth for himself, his clients, and his sales teams. Until now this revolutionary program was only available through Jordan’s $1,997 online training. Now, in Way of the Wolf, Belfort is ready to unleash the power of persuasion to a whole new generation, revealing how anyone can bounce back from devastating setbacks, master the art of persuasion, and build wealth. Every technique, every strategy, and every tip has been tested and proven to work in real-life situations.

Written in his own inimitable voice, Way of the Wolf cracks the code on how to persuade anyone to do anything, and coaches readers—regardless of age, education, or skill level—to be a master sales person, negotiator, closer, entrepreneur, or speaker.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Biography, Finance, Personal Development

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2017

Reviews

[Henrik Haapala · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Every sale is the same" /JB

1 ----------------------------------- 10 certainty:
10: Being 100% convinced this person, product and company will make my life better and help me achieve my goals/avoid pain.
1: absolute crap.
5: "Please influence me now. I can't make up my mind, so please help me!"
Straight line:
OPEN X ----->---->----->----->X CLOSE
In control vs out of control

2 types of certainty:
• Logical certainty
• Emotional certainty

Future pacing:
You are playing the post-buying movie in the best possible fashion allowing the person to experience your products amazing benefits right now.

Speaking:
When you’re speaking its directed. Its powerful. Your words have meaning behind them; and the meaning is to create massive certainty in the mind of your prospect as you move him down the straight line, from the open to the close.

1. The prospect must love your product: 100 % certainty
2. The prospect must trust and connect with you:100 % certainty
3. The prospect must trust and connect with your company: 100 % certainty
4. Lower the action threshold
5. Raise the pain threshold

First four seconds establish that you are:
1. Sharp as a tack
2. Enthusiastic as hell
3. An expert in your field

90% of the time we are communicating without speaking.

Power whisper: using scarcity.

Bottled enthusiasm
Below the surface and bubbles over as you speak with clarity and intensity.

State management
"An empowered state is the equivalent of the valve to your internal resources being fully open, allowing you to access them at will." p.81

Entering a state of enthusiasm/power at will --> charisma

Olfactory anchoring:
Using a powerful smell to create an anchor when in an empowered state. Similar to NLP, but doing it when already naturally in that state. (my comment: definitely try this, I’ve done similar stuff)

Tonality and body language:
Eye contact: 72%
Open vs closed
Smiling
Listening --> intelligence
Being in control
Being an expert
Rapport
Congruence
10 different tonalities.

Be an expert listener.

Always use a script as a strategy but memorize it, or several, and free your conscious mind to read the other person.
(Planning, preparation)

5/5 absolute gold!

[da AL · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough description of the art of sales in descriptive hands-on terms - good for any level of salesperson.

[Marcos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting points. Writes like a dick though.

[Chris C - A Midlife Wife · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting ideas. Straightforward writing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This book is loaded with great tips and tricks about the human psyche and how to sell effectively. Learning sales skills is important in any type of business today so why not learn from the best?

Written in easy, conversational language, any one can pick up this book and start to improve themselves. A great addition to your marketing lessons and self improvement skills. This is one you will recommend to others as well as read over and over yourself.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’ve ever seen the incredibly stylish and debauched film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” you might understand why a book written by Jordan Belfort seemed so appealing to me at first.

While you can certainly question Belfort’s sense of judgment, morality and self-control, it’s hard to deny that he is excellent at what he does professionally. And this book is all about learning his methods for becoming a great salesperson through “The Straight Line System.” He claims that this is the system he and his team at Stratton-Oakmont used to skyrocket their company to success, and that you can become a top notch salesperson by applying the same principles. To be honest though, I didn’t fully buy it (no pun intended).

Belfort just came across too much like a salesman to me, if that makes sense. “Well duh, what else were you expecting?” Yeah I know, but it was to the point that it didn’t seem genuine. He’s a big fan of exaggeration and hyperbole, and making broad statements about the efficacy of his methods that seem way too good to be true. It almost reminds me of the communication style of Donald Trump, which is not a positive quality to me. He’ll say things like “The Straight Line System can turn even the worst salesperson into a great one, every time, always!” and “Using this method, you can close ANYONE who is closeable!” That last part especially annoys me. It feels like a cop out so that if the system doesn’t work, he can just shrug and say that the prospect must not have been closeable to begin with.

Well I’ve made clear my feelings about the messenger; what about the message? I will give credit where it is due, I actually think there are a lot of good points in this book. The Straight Line System is a good framework for making sales. It organizes important points and allows you to methodically yet naturally progress through the various stages of a sale. There’s nothing groundbreaking about it like Belfort keeps claiming, since a lot of it feels like common sense and an amalgamation of tried-and-true principles that he didn’t invent, but I did get value from it. I would certainly recommend this book to aspiring salespeople.

I couldn’t tell you if this is the best book to teach you about sales – I’m not a salesperson, nor do I ever plan to become one. However, I believe that almost every job has at least some aspect of selling involved, and mine certainly does. I picked up some useful tips and tricks from Mr. Belfort, even though I wasn’t sold on his bravado (okay, that time the pun was intended. Sorry not sorry). 7/10.

[Hamid Dastgir · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was severely disappointing for me. I read this book with the impression that it would help strengthen my persuasion skills and help me be as confident as his Leonardo counterpart. However, this book turned out to be just another generic "get-rich-quick-with-my-super-secret-recipe" book with no real content to offer.
Firstly, the book was full of fillers to fill the overly diluted 242 pages. These fillers constituted of countless repetitions of his technique, followed by vague explanations that merely focused on quantity over quality. He would give you bulleted points of what you had just read, over and over again in hopes of filling up his pages.
However, the tone of writing itself was incredibly immature. I bought this book with great expectations from "The Jordan Belfort". But it quickly became evident that I had made a mistake. For example, he started off his first chapter by establishing how he's the best, a natural, a wizard, and he's merely imparting us with the greatest sales gift ever.
Lastly, the main crux of the book itself was a hoax, for it constituted of generic business communication techniques such as having a good posture and using good tonality in order to sell. This felt condescending, for the author felt that the readers are so incompetent that they wouldn't know basic techniques.
Conclusively, I would not recommend this book ever. I was counting the pages left - a practice that I myself despise.

[Faisal Alarifi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is definitely a plus to have book read to you by the wolf himself through Audible. It gave it an edge, but at the same time it felt like he was trying to "Sell" you the straight-line system that he created.

It felt a little repetitive at times, and longer than it should have been. At the end of the book there was so many lists, objectives, scales to keep track of.

It is aimed towards salesmen mainly, I walked in hoping that it would be general to the point where it will be beneficial to people outside the industry,, but unfortunately that was not the case.

At the end, a lovely ride with Jordan that I will not regret.

[Saber Memari · Rating 1 out of 5]

حال نکردم

[Daniel Rodic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by the Wolf of Wall Street himself, this book gives you an overview of the Sales Training System (called the Straight Line Method) which simplifies every sales conversation into a simple to follow framework.

There are some elements of the book that I just thought were overly specific to his personality (e.g. he linked moving into a “flow state” - what he calls a state of complete certainty - by using a specific smell in a tube that he carried with him)

While definitely worth experimenting with, I think very specific tactics like this will vary person to person. With that said, the framework of sales as I’ll describe below made perfect sense to me the first time I read it, and I’m excited to begin testing it to see how it might work.

THE FRAMEWORK
A sale only happens when you’ve accomplished 5 things with your buyer:

1. Certainty with your product or service
2. Certainty and trust with the sales person
3. Certainty and trust with the company selling the service
4. A low pain threshold relative to the ability that your product has to remove the pain
5. An action threshold that is surpassed based on the level of certainty of 1,2,3

If you don’t have a sufficient level certainty across all 3 that surpasses a prospects action threshold, a sale will never happen.

If someone has a low action threshold, they only need to be an 8/10 on #1, #2 or #3 to buy. Someone who is very hard to sell to is one that has a very high action threshold and would need to be at a 9.5+ / 10 for a sale to happen.

To ensure the sale closes the pain the buyer is feeling must be above their current threshold to deal with that pain. If they aren’t suffering from sufficient pain, there isn’t a real benefit for them to change their state and buy your product to solve it.

You can lower their action threshold by (1) increasing the pain of what they are suffering from in some way or (2) showing how the decision is reversible, or won’t have a life changing impact if wrong, and therefore reducing the cost of making a bad decision in the buyers mind.

On 1,2,3 you must ensure you get the prospect to a level of certainty on both a logical and emotional level.

HANDLING OBJECTIONS
When an objection presents itself, Belfort highlights that regardless of what the buyer is saying, it can be boiled down to them not having a sufficient level of certainty on #1, #2 or #3.

Either they don’t trust that your product will solve their need, they don’t trust you, or they don’t trust your company.

Anytime there’s an objection, instead of addressing it head on, you instead need to deflect it using a turn of phrase like “I understand what you’re saying. But let me ask you a question, does the idea make sense? Do you like the idea?” then go back into another few sentences of your presentation (he calls these segments of a presentation loops) with the objective of increasing the buyers level of certainty.

You must ensure you have certainty on #1, #2 then #3 in order. So you will continue loops until you feel like the prospect is at a 8+ on product certainty, logically first, then emotionally second, before moving on to sales loops on #2, then #3.

ON SCRIPTS
As someone who’s very against scripting, this concept really stood out to me.

Whenever you watch a movie that motivates you, inspires you — elicits an emotional reaction of some sort — those moments were created for you as the viewer with carefully crafted and rehearsed scripts.

As a sales person, if you want to generate the same results in your buyers, you need to perfect a script that you repeat every time.

If a script makes you feel “wooden or stiff” it just means you wrote a shitty script. It should be written as if you’re speaking, not using perfect english.

The script should also focus on the tonality that you use. The same words said with different tonality will come off different to the person you’re speaking with.

Scripts enable you to not worry about what to say, and instead focus on how to say it, and to actively listen to your buyer.

BUILDING A SCRIPT - THE INTRO
One of the most important elements of the script you write is the first 4 seconds. You need to convey to the buyer that you are:

1. Sharp as a tack - you must show you can make fast decisions and have a pace of delivery that signifies this intelligence.
2. Enthusiastic as hell - you must believe internal that you have something great to offer and talk accordingly
3. An expert in your field - this comes from translating features into benefits and simplifying industry terms that make the complex look simple

The onus is on you to quickly close the gap between acting “as if” you are the expert, and actually taking the time to rapidly learn and “become” an expert

Overall you must come across as a person worth listening to.
1. Get to your points quickly
2. Don’t waste their time
3. Have a solution
4. Be an asset to them long-term

After this 4 second intro - you then progress into intelligence gathering but before you do this you must ask permission to the prospect to o so.

You simply do this by saying something like “Let me ask a couple of quick questions so I don’t waste your time”

Using the word “so” is an important thing called a justifier to ensure the buyer knows why you’re asking them these questions.

BUILDING A SCRIPT - Gathering Intelligence
Your questions should be used to validate if you can actually help the buyer and that the buyer can afford the solution you are selling to them.

The questions you ask should be asked in a logical order, in such a way that also moves from low invasive to high invasive questions, and each question should use the appropriate tonality so you ensure you build rapport with your buyer not destroy it.

Assuming the prospect is actually a buyer - then you use a powerful transition such as “Well, based on everything you’ve told me, this is definitely something that will hep you and let me tell you why…”

BUILDING A SCRIPT - RAPPORT & PREPARATION
Building rapport has nothing to do with small talk as that doesn’t establish you as an expert. You don’t want to quash small talk. Instead you let the buyer have their moment and bring them back to the “straight line” by saying something like “That’s really cool, I never knew about that. Thank you for sharing that. Now, as far as your goal of…”

If you feel like you are ever moving out of rapport with a buyer, you need to stop your loop and move back into active listening, using a tone of “I care and want to learn more” and “I feel your pain” - you always have to be building rapport throughout the prospect.

Scripts ensure that rapport and charisma is baked into the words you’re saying. “He cares about me, he understands me, he feels my pain” are things people feel when they meet someone with a lot of “charisma” - you can engineer this through a script.

Your script also ensures that you are prepared for anything that may come up in a sale. You’ve thought through and prepared a sales loop for any objection (remember - that’s a smokescreen for not having a certain level of certainty on 1, 2, 3).

Overall you have 4 elements to your script
* Script to introduction
* Script with the main body of your presentation that ends with you asking for the order the first time
* Scripts with the rebuttals to main objections you expect to hear (the generic response can be “I hear what you’re saying, but let me ask you a question: Does the idea makes sense to you? Do you like the idea?”)
* Scripts to loop you from an objection-rebuttal script that will allow you to loop back into the sale process to increase certainty

After every loop you say something like “You follow me so far?” or “Makes sense” - only until they say yes do you move on to the next loops.

For example
* 4 Second Intro - upbeat and enthusiastic
* Link the call to how you met your prospect
* Justify why you’re having the call
* Ask permission to enter the intelligence gathering phase
* Qualify the prospect via intelligence gathering
* Assuming this is true, powerful transition into your body of your sales script saying “Based on what you told me, I think This is a perfect fit for you”
* Name of your Product
* Paragraph or two on ONE single benefit that fills a clients need
* Use Metaphors or examples here, or try to link it to credible high profile customers that use your product or endorse it to increase certainty
* “You follow me so far?”
* Paragraph or two on ANOTHER single benefit… you follow me so far?
* Paragraph or two on ANOTHER single benefit… you follow me so far?
* Transition to close - create urgency if you can (at minimum with your tonality by using a “hushed” tone)
* As directly for the order
* If they object (as most will)
* Transition into a rebuttal script / new loop by saying: “I hear what you’re saying, but let me ask you a question: Does the idea makes sense to you? Do you like the idea?”
* Depending on their response, if they give you a very unenthusiastic response (e.g. 1 or 2 on certainty) you probably didn’t qualify properly and should end the call
* If they are in the middle, then you loop back into a sales script that left off after the last benefit you highlighted
* Reply in a tonality that matches theres and is slightly more certain. You will break rapport if you jump too many levels
* As you go through your new loop, increase your certainty ever so slightly until half way through where you are speaking at peak confidence
* Repeat this sequence 3 or 4 times at most until
* They have total confidence in the product
* Then start looping on the trust level with you as the sales person
* These loops go into your background, experience, credentials
* If that’s established, then start looping on the trust of the company
* These loops go into company awards, great customer service… etc.
* At any time if you get a sense they are now getting uncomfortable (being rude, laughing nervously) after 3 or 4 loops, the give them space and ask permission to reengage at a later date
* If you progress through all 3 levels, ask for the order.
* If that fails, amplify pain or lower their action threshold
* You can do this by asking for a smaller order via a step down like “I’m obviously not getting rich here but this will serve as a benchmark for future business”
* Other ways include money back guarantees, cooling off period, paint a picture by saying “I’ll hold your hand the entire way” to reduce negative fears or use a 4th very powerful language pattern such as a phrase like
* “Let me ask you an honest question, what’s the worst that can happen here? Let’s say this fails, you loose $XXXX, is that going to bankrupt you? [No definitely not] And if it works well, it won’t make you incredibly profitable either, will it? [No, definitely not]. This won’t kill you and won’t make you wildly successful, but it will serve as a benchmark for future business.
* Follow this with a step down sale of a smaller amount.
* If this doesn’t work, you then must start recalling in a sympathetic tone the pain points they highlighted to you at the start of your intelligence gathering
* E.g. I know you said before that you’re worried about XYZ, given how things are going where do you see the business a year from now?
* If it still doesn’t work say something like
* “Please don’t misconstrue my enthusiasm for pressure, I just know this will help you. Let me do this, I’ll send you some info and let you sit with it. Let’s chat again next week?”
* Let them cool off and repeat this again

BUILDING A SCRIPT - OBJECTIONS
You must structure your script so that not all your benefits come out at the start as you need to save those benefits for subsequent loops that you use to increase the certainty within your buyer.

You should have loops that reinforce certainty in 1, 2, and 3

Be mindful of “energy in, benefits out” as you get to the close.

Whenever a prospect gives you buying signals such as “so how much will this cost me?” you shouldn’t just reply with “$3,000” but instead “great question, the cash outlay is $3,000 and for that you get Benefit 1, Benefit 2, Benefit 3 - the next steps to get you setup are super simple, so believe me if you do half as well as my other clients, then the only problem you’ll have is that I didn’t call you six months earlier and you started then. Sound fair enough?”


Notes
* On calls, it’s important to monitor how many calls it takes for a prospect to buy. When a prospect exceeds a certain number of days between calls or a certain number of calls above and beyond your maximum you should consider it a dead prospect and recycle it for someone else to reengage in 3+ months
* Once a deal is closed you still need to work on maintaining or improving certainty within your prospect through case studies, dinners, emails… etc.
* Good questions to ask
* What do you lie or dislike about your current supplier?
* What is your biggest headache with your business?
* What would be your ideal program if you could design it?
* Of all the factors that we just spoke about, what is the most important to you?
* Have I asked about everything that’s important to you?

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the title of the book it is quite clear this is a sales book so I’m unsure why there are so many one star reviews expecting it was a sequel to The Wolf of Wall Street autobiography.

For someone who doesn’t work in sales the book still had several useful elements and explained the importance of planning your script, state management, anchoring, matching and mirroring, predicting likely objections, keeping the conversation on track, choice of words and the subtle use of tonality. All would be useful in a project presentation or salary negotiation as some examples to benefit those of us who don’t work in an obvious sales role.

I plan to watch the video series as I think some of it will be clearer in the videos and I can more easily take notes while I’m watching on the areas that are more relevant to my position.

[EpidermaS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Napisany bardzo przystępnym językiem podręcznik na temat strategii sprzedażowej o wdzięcznej nazwie System Linii Prostej.

Z uwagi na charakter tej książki znacznie "odkleja się" ona od "Wilka z Wall Street" i od "Polowania na Wilka z Wall Street". Dwie wcześniejsze miały charakter autobiograficzny, ta natomiast zahacza o wątki autobiograficzne, ale jej głównym zadaniem jest wytłumaczenie, jak działa System i jak wytrenować się w jego stosowaniu.

Czy warto? Nie wiem, marketing, sprzedaż i ekonomia behawioralna niekoniecznie są moimi konikami. Na pewno na podstawie lektury da się zrozumieć działanie strategii i wdrożyć ją w życie. O dziwo nie jest to typowa manipulacja. "Manipulacja" jest dla mnie słowem, które ma zawsze wydźwięk negatywny. System Linii Prostej zakłada, że nie sprzedajemy komuś czegoś, czego nie potrzebuje. Raczej nakłaniamy go, żeby wybrał nasz produkt, naszą firmę i nas samych - jako przedstawiciela - w celu spełnienia istniejących już potrzeb. Perswazja - owszem. Manipulacja - niekoniecznie.

Odrzuciło mnie natomiast bezczelne lokowanie produktu. W treści książki podana była nawet strona internetowa sponsora. Też sobie ulokuję: pozdrawiam BoomBoom.

[Rey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty much a course from Belfort on how he sells which when put into practice can be gamechanging.

Heard the audiobook which has Belfort himself explaining his exact process in a comprehensive and methodical manner. Its a book which is arguably more effective in audio format as topics includes getting the right tonality or hitting the right pitch in your voice which is best when heard.

Also watched a clip of the movie post the audiobook and Dicaprio absolutely nails it. A perfect execution of the selling method described in this book.

Going through this it is easy to understand how he was able to be so successful despite being on wrong side of the law. All purely on the basis of developing this skill. Quite informative and useful.

[Connor England · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the Way of the Wolf by Jordan Belfort, the book honestly pointed out things that I have never thought about before. This book is nonfiction and teached you how to become a better salesperson through different tactics.

This book was able to grab my attention right from the start. He started off with a warning of how this book will provide anyone reading with the ability to persuade most people. He tells you not to take advantage of people because you will be able to. After the warning he went into how he invented the straight line selling system. This part was interesting based off of how he came up with the idea pretty much in the moment of talking to his struggling employees. For the rest of the book he take you through every step it takes to become a killer salesperson. He talks about body language, conscious and unconscious mind, how to make people think for you not against you. This honestly helped me with my job in door knocking since I have to persuade people everyday. If I am unable to, then I will make no money simple as that.

This book is worth picking up and reading it front to back. Everyday we are trying to convince and persuade people and I promise this book will only help. I agreed with everything that Jordan Belfort was saying he was only telling the truth about people and their motives/intentions. What stood out to me the most with this book is actually how much it has helped me improve in sales. At first I thought I would read the book and get nothing out of it. But the book proved me wrong and helped in ways I would have never thought of.

[Petar Ivanov · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book with some interesting ideas regarding the "Straight Line Selling" system. At the same time, I felt like the author is trying to sell me the book. Not so impressed by Belfort's writing style. Also, it felt a little repetitive at times and I was debating in my head whether I have to turn the book back or continue reading.

I'm now aware of several vital concepts such as action and pain thresholds and how to try to lower them. Of course, the tone of voice and body language play a crucial part as well. It's very important to have a script and as the author states, every sale is the same.

Overall, I do not regret the journey with Belfort but in my opinion, there're more engaging books on sales.

[Jonah Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, you don't even have to be in selling! Great food for thought!

[Nam Nguyen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Certainly a very interesting insight into the mind of a well-known Wall Street broker and convicted felon. While Belfort adds in bits about the ethics of his methods, they merely feel like disclaimers. On a psychological viewpoint, it is fascinating to see how one is able to manipulate/influence another’s mind through words and tonality. In my opinion, this book is merely meant for entertainment and should not be taken as serious advice for avid salespeople learning to become better at their job.

[Stefan Bruun · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few books that actually focuses on the techniques of selling. A bit too much self-promotion, but I guess that’s to be expected

[Emilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[kartik narayanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the full review at my blog Digital Amrit

I’m the Wolf of Wall Street. Remember me? The one who Leonardo DiCaprio played on the silver screen, the one who took thousands of young kids, who could barely walk and chew gum at the same time, and turned them into world-class closers using a seemingly magical sales training system called the Straight Line? The one who tortured all those panic-stricken New Zealanders at the end of the movie because they couldn’t sell me a pen the right way? You remember.

What is the book about?
Way of the Wolf: Become a Master Closer with Straight Line Selling is written by Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall Street.

Jordan Belfort explains his Straight Line Selling system in this book. This is the system that he used when he was making millions at Wall Street. And this is the same system that he is teaching at seminars after his conviction and parole. His explanation is clear for the most part. As a result, I found this book to be incredibly informative and insightful about the sales process.

What does this book cover?
Way of the Wolf has twelve chapters.

Jordan Belfort talks about the genesis of his Straight Line System in the first two chapters. He then gets into the specifics over the next ten chapters. Some of these specifics are
-The importance of the first impression and how to make it count
-The importance of self-belief
-Getting into the groove where you are ready to sell
-Body language and what works
-Sales funnel and qualification
-The conversations with the prospect
-Sales scripts and how they exponentially improve selling
-Art and science of looping i.e. handling objections

Read the full review at my blog Digital Amrit

[William Findley · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for a sequel to Wolf of Wall Street, you will be extremely confused when you open this book. Now, when it comes to Way of the Wolf by Jordan Belfort, it seems as if a true salesman has the ability to sell the ability to sell. This is overall a descriptive nonfiction book pertaining to the art of closing a deal, and for the overall sake of selling objects, this book would be crucial to anyone who might even think about entering the world of marketing or selling. There is a lot to be learned from this book for any type of salesperson.
There are no characters, the plot doesn’t exist, and it doesn’t exactly compare to any other book you might read. It’s one of a kind, literally explaining every single little detail when it comes to closing a deal, called the Straight Line System. The fact is, this book really won’t matter to anyone who doesn’t require the knowledge it provides, but for someone who’s in need of an empowering kick, even if you don’t need to know anything about sales, the power for which Belfort writes with is absolutely amazing.
When it comes to controversy, Belfort made his living ripping off the rich, and so many people see his books as criminal stories, and with this book being so new, the only way that I can think of this book as, “criminal” is when Belfort explains that his system can be “too effective.” I don’t quite believe this, but I guess that’s where the controversy comes into play.
Overall, the book was an empowering read, but I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone who reads for enjoyment. It isn’t exactly the most climatic book or intriguing novel. It is purely informational. I enjoyed it though.

[Sina Zand · Rating 1 out of 5]

اگر بخواهم کتاب را در یک کلمه توصیف کنم کلمه‌ای بهتر از «ضعیف» پیدا نمیکنم. آشنایی اولیه‌ی من با جوردن بلفورت با دیدن فیلم محبوبم «گرگ وال‌استریت» با بازی دی‌کاپریو آغاز شد و چنان تأثیری روی من گذاشت که شاید ۱۰ بار فیلم را دیده‌ام و به نظرم بهترین فیلم اسکورسیزی است. هر از چندگاهی نقل‌قول‌هایی از بلفورت به صورت پراکنده می‌دیدم و تکه‌هایی از صحبت‌کردنش را در شبکه‌های اجتماعی دنبال کرده‌ام. پس تصمیم گرفتم کتابی را ازش بخوانم. در کتاب حضور اسکورسیزی و فیلمش به قدری نمایان بود که به نظر می‌رسد اگر اسکورسیزی این فیلم را نمیساخت شاید بلفورت هیچوقت این کتاب را نمی‌نوشت و این کتاب فقط به خاطر شهرت فیلم بست سلر شده وگرنه هیچ مفهموم عمیقی یا جدیدی برای ارائه ندارد. توضیح دادن‌های طولانی و تکراری پشت سر هم، هر خواننده‌ای با ضریب هوشی بالات از ۹۰ را کسل می‌کند. حدود ۲۰ صفحه فقط در مورد یک خط مستقیم حرف میزند و شکل‌های بی‌دلیل به آن اضافه میکند. با خواندن کتاب حس تبلیغات پکیج فروشان اینستاگرامی به نویسنده گرفتم و دوباره نویسنده در نظرم تنزل مقام کرد. در مورد تناقض سطح نویسنده در کتاب و بلفورت در فیلم هم نویسنده میگوید که اسکورسیزی برداشت آزاد از زندگی او کرده است. اگر خلاقیت اسکورسیزی نبود این فیلم نیز مانند زندگی بلفورت کسل‌کننده میشد. اگر وقت اضافه هم دارید کتاب را توصیه نمیکنم.

[Adrian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible book.
It’s one of those books where the author name is written on the cover 2 times bigger than the title. This tells a lot of someone.
The guy is acting like everyone else is dumb and he is the most intelligent man in the world.
Somebody should write a book to extract the ideas from his stories. He keeps repeating same examples over and over without ever getting to the point. He has no clue on why his strategy works. No explanation on the science behind it.

I feel like I lost my time. Do yourself a favour and watch 2-3 YouTube tutorials for 30mins. You’ll learn a lot more.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Straight line of selling is a good approach but rather for physical products not for creative products. Even though it has good insights and basics what you need to have as a good sales person as of being the #1. It’s not about the movie after all but about the technique of success.

[Josh Clausen · Rating 5 out of 5]

PHENOMENAL book on selling

[Robert Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe the best book on selling I've read yet. It was an audiobook though, I wish I had the physical copy.

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone not exposed to the inner workings of telesales organizations, I found this book interesting as it offers a glimpse into this world. Practical and applicable learnings.

[hpmasih · Rating 5 out of 5]

not a book for everyone but it helped me a lot

[Vallo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helps to keep things simple, teaches tonation and efficiency in any sales situation.

[Amber Wall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone in sales!

[KnowledgeSpecter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great sales book by none other than the Wolf of Wall Street himself. I found the book extremely useful with sales techniques explained thoroughly. It’s a book I definitely will re read during my professional career.

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I finished this book for the second time. I listened to the audiobook version.

Jordan came through with extremely useful sales tips and techniques. His straight line formula is golden. I loved the fact that Jordan himself narrated the audiobook which made this book even more intimate.

As I embark on my sales career, I will re-read this book.

key takeaways:
Cracking the code for sales and influence —>
in every sale, three core elements, known as The Three Tens, must line up in any prospect’s mind before you have a shot at closing them —> logically and emotionally, on a certainty scale from one to ten, your prospect must —>
trust your product to fulfill their needs at a cost-benefit ratio that is unequivocally a great deal, trust and connect with you as an expert in your field who put’s your customers’ needs first, trust and connect with your company —> objections are merely smokescreens for uncertainty for one or all of the Three Tens

Five Core Elements of the Straight Line System —>
the prospect must love your product —> the prospect must trust and connect with you —> the prospect must trust and connect with your company —> the action threshold – your prospect must be at a level of certainty on each the Three Tens to be willing to buy —> the pain threshold

The First Four Seconds —>

three things that you need to establish in those first four seconds of an encounter if you want to be perceived in just the right way —> sharp as a tack, enthusiastic as hell (specifically, “bottled enthusiasm”), an expert in your field —> we all want to deal with pros or experts —> you have to sound and act like someone who can help the prospect fulfill their needs and desires —> add value by offering a unique perspective during the sales conversation, demonstrating extensive knowledge and understanding of the market, industry, product, prospect, and competitors

Tonality and Body Language —>

how you say what you say has a profound impact on how it’s perceived and, for that matter, how you are perceived —> bottled enthusiasm, which sits just below the surface and literally bubbles over as you speak —> it’s about enunciating your words with absolute clarity and stressing your consonants so that your words have an intensity to them

State Management —>

your success is still going to be contingent on your ability to trigger a key emotional state within yourself as you’re about to enter the sales encounter, and then maintain that state to the very end —> future pacing entails running an imaginary movie through your mind where you get to see yourself in the future having already achieved a certain outcome —> in terms of achieving success in sales, there are four key states that you need to learn how to trigger at will within state management. —> we call them the four Cs; certainty, clarity, confidence, and courage

the basic premise of NLP anchoring is that human beings have the ability to choose how they feel at a particular moment. NLP has distilled the entire state management process into two core elements, both of which are under a person’s conscious control —> what you choose to focus on —> Your current physiology; comprised of the sum of all the possible ways that you can move and hold your body — your posture, your facial expressions, how you move your appendages, your rate of breathing, your overall level of motion

A Surefire Formula For Managing Your State —>

there are five basic steps to NLP anchoring:
choose a state, choose your focus, choose your physiology, intensify your state, set your anchor

Advanced Tonality —>

your words move a prospect logically, and it’s your tonality that moves your prospect emotionally —> a salesperson should never address their prospect in an overly formal manner; instead, the salesperson should address the prospect in the way they would respectfully address a friend; so, instead of saying, “Hi, my name is Bill Peterson, from the Acme Travel Company. I’m looking for Mr. John Smith. Is he home?”— which is the equivalent of death — the salesperson should simply say, in a very upbeat tone, ”Hi, is John there?”

Ten Core Influencing Tonalities —>

“I care”, or, “I really want to know” – upbeat and enthusiastic —> phrasing a declarative as a question – ex: “Hi, my name is Bill Peterson? Calling from Acme Travel Company? In Beverly Hills, California? How are you today?—> mystery and intrigue – especially when explaining the precise reason why you called the prospect today
—> scarcity (to create urgency) – lower your voice to a whisper as if you are sharing a secret —> absolute certainty – firm and definitive —> utter sincerity – calm, smooth, & confident; velvety smooth; humble
—> reasonable man – raising your voice at the end of a sentence to imply reasonableness; ex: “You got a minute?”
—> hypothetical, money aside – Ex: So let’s say in response to you asking for the order, your prospect says, “It sounds good. Let me think about it. “Your reply would be, “I hear what you’re saying, but let me ask you a question. Does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea?”
—> implied obviousness – to infer the notion that it’s beyond obvious that your product or service is a winner
—> “I feel your pain” – use when you’re asking questions that are designed to uncover your prospect’s primary and secondary pain points

Advanced Body Language —>

the best way to dress is in a style that’s congruent with your profession —> when selling (in person) to another man (whether you are a man or a woman), “corner off” by standing at a light angle to the man, as opposed to directly in front of him. When selling to a woman, stand directly in front of her with your hand above waist level where she can see them —> to gain control; (1) match the other person without overtly copying/mirroring them (2) then lead them

The Art Of Prospecting —>

four buying archetypes;
—> buyers in heat – they’ve already made the decision to do something about it now
—> buyers in power – aren’t consciously feeling pain from their unfilled need, which causes them to lack the same level of urgency as buyers in heat
—> lookie-loos – weed these out
—> mistakes / “People who were dragged there” – weed these out

The Ten Rules of Straight Line Prospecting —>

Rule # 1; You are a sifter, not an alchemist.
Rule # 2; Always ask for permission to ask questions. Ex: “John, let me ask you just a couple of quick questions, so I can see exactly what your needs are. “
Rule # 3; You must always use a script.
Rule # 4; Go from less invasive questions to more invasive questions.
Rule # 5; Ask each question using the right tonality.
Rule # 6; Use the correct body language as the prospect responds.
Rule # 7; Always follow a logical path.
Rule # 8; Make mental notes; don’t resolve their pain. You do not want to try to resolve their pain at this point. In fact, if anything, you want to amplify that pain.
Rule # 9; Always end with a powerful transition. “Well, John, based on everything you just said to me, this program is definitely a perfect fit for you. Let me tell you why… “
Rule # 10; Stay on the Straight Line; don’t go spiraling off to Pluto.

—> rapport is by far the single most misunderstood word in the English language; do not talk about things that aren’t germane to the prospect’s outcome; for example, if they try to take you off track, say, “It sounds really interesting. I can see why you feel that way; now as far as your goal for learning how to trade currencies goes…”
—> rapport is not a constant; it goes up and down throughout the sale, depending on the following two things:
how your prospect thinks and feels about the last point you made and his belief as to whether or not you are on the same page with him, in regard to that point

The Art and Science of Making World-Class Sales Presentations —>

charisma is the foundation of rapport; it is the sense that he cares about me, he understands me, and he feels my pain
—> charisma’s has three components;
effective use of tonality, targeted use of body language, not saying stupid shit
—> your script is all of your best sales lines, arranged in exactly the right order — starting with those all – important first four seconds and continuing on straight through to the end, at which point your prospect will either buy, or you will end the sales encounter in a respectful way
—> you need to become proficient in the art of reading from a script without sounding like you’re reading from a script; and second, you need to become proficient in the art of writing a script that will allow you to sound perfectly natural when you read it
—> For your script to be effective:
- Your script must not be front-loaded; front-loading is when you disclose all your major benefits right up front, which leaves you with nothing powerful to say to change your prospect’s mind when they hit you with the first objection
- Focus on the benefits, not the features;
Your script must have stopping-off points. If you make a powerful statement, and then another powerful statement, and then yet another powerful statement, by the time you’ve made the third powerful statement, they’ve all started to blend in with one another, and they lose their power. This is why a well – written script has an abundance of stopping – off points, where the prospect will interact with you and affirm that you’re still on the same page. For instance, pause to ask: “You follow me so far?” or ”Make sense?” or ”Are you with me?”
- Write in the spoken word, not grammatically correct English.
- Your script must flow perfectly.
- Your scripts must be honest and ethical.
- Remember the overarching equation of energy in, benefits out. In other words, closing should be easy for the prospect. Ex: “Now, John, getting started here is very, very simple. It’s just a question of your name, some basic information, and then we handle everything else for you over on this end. And when you combine that with [ benefit # 1 ] and [ benefit # 2 ] and [ benefit # 3 ], then, believe me, John, the only problem you’re going to have is that you didn’t buy more. Sound fair enough?”
- A Straight Line script is part of a series of scripts. One for the first 4 seconds; one for the main body; several rebuttal scripts for common questions; looping scripts to bring you back to the straight line when you encounter questions or objections or digressions

—> Every product or service will have its own predetermined sales cycle that has a set number of days between calls. At a certain point, when a prospect has exceeded the outer limit for the number of days between calls, the lead goes into a dead pile, which eventually gets redistributed to someone else in the sales force after the appropriate amount of time

—> Every product or service will have its own predetermined sales cycle that has a set number of days between calls. At a certain point, when a prospect has exceeded the outer limit for the number of days between calls, the lead goes into a dead pile, which eventually gets redistributed to someone else in the sales force after the appropriate amount of time

The Art and Science of Looping —>

No matter which objection your prospect hits you with, you are always going to answer in exactly the same way. You’re going to say:
“I hear what you’re saying, Bill, but let me ask you a question; Does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea?” Now, notice how, rather than directly answering his objection, you deflected it instead

—> Four ways to lower your prospect’s action threshold.
- Offer your prospect a money – back guarantee
- Offer your prospect a cooling off or rescission period.
- Use certain key phrases that paint a picture that runs counter to the worries and concerns that a typical high–action – threshold prospect ruminates on. Some examples of this are: ”I’ll hold your hand every step of the way”… “We pride ourselves on long-term relationships”… “We have blue – chip customer service
- (most effective) Use a very powerful language pattern that allows you to temporarily ”reverse” a high–action – threshold prospect’s parallel movies — “Bill, let me ask you an honest question; what’s the worst that can possibly happen here? I mean, let’s say I’m wrong and the stock actually goes down a few points, and you lose two thousand bucks

—> As soon as you sense that your prospect is feeling even the slightest bit pressured, you immediately want to pull back and say something along the lines of “Jim, please don’t misconstrue my enthusiasm for pressure; it’s just that I know that this truly is a perfect fit for you.”