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

by Jordan Belfort

Now, when it comes time to ask for the order, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the closer you’ve gotten your prospect to a 10, the better chance you have of closing them. On the other hand, the farther away your prospect is from a 10, the worse chance you have of closing them. From a practical standpoint, if your prospect is anywhere below a 5, you have basically no chance of closing them. The reason for this has to do with something called positive intent, which serves as the very foundation from which all human beings make their decisions. In other words, human beings don’t buy things that they think will make their lives worse; they buy things that they think will make their lives better. However, the operative word here is think. You see, just because someone has positive intent doesn’t necessarily mean that the resulting decisions will end up having a positive impact on them. In fact, with many people, it often doesn’t. Their lives are punctuated by a series of self-defeating decisions. However, even these “serial bad decision-makers” believe their decisions were good when they made them. That’s the definition of positive intent. In consequence, when you ask for the order, if your prospect thinks that your product is shit then you have absolutely no chance of closing them. Conversely, if they think the opposite is true—that your product is the best thing since sliced bread—then you have an excellent chance of closing them.