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

by Jordan Belfort

At the end of the day, it’s these three distinctions—he cares about me, he understands me, and he feels my pain—that serve as the very foundation on which all rapport is built, and they come naturally to those who possess massive charisma.

In addition, for those of you who are in management, or if you’re an owner of the company, always remember that if you hand your sales force a script that’s riddled with lies and exaggerations, they will most certainly know it—and the consequences will be disastrous.

“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?”

For example, the prospect might say, “How much did you say it would run me?” or “How long will it take until I receive the product?” or “How long until I start to see results?” Those are just a few examples of the more common buy signals.

To that end, the proper way to have responded to the buy signal “What was the price on that again?” is as follows:

“It’s a cash outlay of only three thousand dollars, and let me quickly tell you exactly what you’re going to get for that: you’re going to get [benefit #1] and [benefit #2] and [benefit #3], and again, like I said before, getting started is very, very simple, so believe me, if you do even half as well as the rest of my clients in this program, then the only problem you’ll have is that I didn’t

call you six months ago and get you started then. So...

The most important thing to remember throughout this entire process is that until a definitive agreement gets signed and money changes hands, the deal is not closed, which means you need to keep in touch with the prospect and do whatever you can to keep the Three Tens at the highest level possible. This includes sending your prospect testimonials from other satisfied clients; articles from trade journals, newspapers, and magazines that reinforce the idea that the prospect made

More importantly, though, you need to make sure that during the waiting period all your communications to your “almost” new client come from a position of strength—meaning that, as far as you’re concerned, the deal is already closed and the communication you’re sending is from the perspective of building a long-term relationship and doing more business in the future.

Quite simply, by making the airtight logical case first, you satisfy your prospect’s bullshit detector, which then frees them up to be moved emotionally.

In your opening pattern, you’re simply introducing yourself, your company, and explaining the reason for your call, while using tonality and body language to establish yourself as an expert, so you can take control of the conversation and begin moving your prospect down the straight line, from the open to the close. Here are the basic rules for creating a powerful introduction. We’ll assume an outbound phone call:

“Give me one shot, and believe me, if I’m even half-right, the only problem you’ll have is that I didn’t call you six months ago and get you started then. Sound fair enough?”

Since the day I invented the Straight Line System, one of the core principles that I’ve been drilling into the hearts and minds of all the people I’ve trained is that the sale doesn’t truly begin until after your prospect hits you with the first objection; only then do you have the chance to finally roll up your sleeves and earn your paycheck.

You want to appreciate lay-downs when they come, without ever expecting them to come. This ensures that you’ll enter the back half of the sale with the same level of certainty and with the same positive mind-set that you had when you entered the front half of the sale.

Remember, from your very first word, your tonality must be positive and upbeat, with a hint of bottled enthusiasm slipping out around the edges.

2 Remind him that you two spoke a few days or a few weeks ago, and that you emailed him a bit of information on your company. Do not—I repeat, do not—ask him if he actually received the information or had a chance to review it, as there’s an excellent possibility that he’ll say “no” to at least one of those questions, which gives him an easy exit ramp out of the encounter. The way to avoid this is to simply ask him if the conversation “rings a bell,” to which he will almost always

Explain how something just came across your desk and that it’s one of the best things you’ve seen in quite some time now, and if he has sixty seconds, you’d like to share the idea with him. 6 Complete your introduction by saying “Got a minute?” using the reasonable man tone.I

“So, tell me, Bill, precisely what do you need to think about?” you took control of the sale and started picking the lock on his buying strategy.

On average, approximately 20 percent of the prospects who hit you with an initial objection will close right here, as a result of one simple loop. The rest of them, however, are going to require a bit more persuading, in the form of running additional loops that address one of the following three areas: 1 Increasing their level of certainty for one or more of the Three Tens 2 Lowering their action threshold 3 Increasing their pain threshold

Now, for the vast majority of salespeople, getting hit with even one objection is enough to send the sale plunging into a death spiral. However, when they get hit with a second objection—which, like the first one, is nothing more than a smoke screen for uncertainty—that’s when things start to get comical.

Bill, if you do even half as well as the rest of my clients in this program, the only problem you’re going to have is that you didn’t buy more. Sound fair enough?” And then you shut up and wait for a response.

This is why you introduce pain in two spots: first, during the intelligence-gathering phase, you want to identify where your prospect’s pain lies and, if necessary, amplify it to ensure that your prospect listens to your presentation from that perspective; and second, you’re going to reintroduce that pain right now, at the beginning of your third loop, using a language pattern that sounds something like this:

Now, at this point, if the prospect sticks to the same objection, then you should thank them and let them move on with their life. After all, you don’t want to be a high-pressure salesman and keep running loop after loop after loop after loop.

Just one final point with this—and that’s to never forget the ethical side of the equation, which is that you do not want to use pain to disempower people; you want to use it to empower people by helping them make good buying decisions, so they can have the things that they truly need.