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

If you’re perceived the wrong way—that you’re as dull as dishwater, a disinterested bore, and a stone-cold novice—then the opposite happens and the prospect takes control. It’s nothing less than a make-or-break situation.

Now, that being said, one thing that I want to make crystal clear to you is that I am not advocating that you become one of those talking-head types, the kind who go on and on while their prospect just sits there and listens.

While that might be what pops into your mind when I say, “take control of the sale,” I assure you that this is not what I’m talking about. I mean, think about it for a second: don’t you utterly despise being on the receiving end of a salesperson who goes on and on without ever letting you speak?

It makes me want to run out the door!

That’s why the Straight Line System is as much about becoming an expert listener as an expert talker.

However, to truly become an expert listener, you first need to learn how to take immediate control of the sale. There’s simply no other way.

The million-dollar question is how?

4

TONALITY AND BODY LANGUAGE

SO LET’S GET DOWN TO brass tacks.

How do you convince your prospects that you’re sharp as a tack, enthusiastic as hell, and an expert in your field, in the first four seconds of a conversation?

In fact, let me take it one step further:

Since a substantial portion of communication takes place over the phone nowadays, how do you ensure that you’re being perceived the right way when your prospects can’t even see you?

Is it through the words you say?

Think about that for a moment. What could you say to try to get all that across in those first four seconds? You’d have to be literally yelling at your prospect, “Hey, Bill, listen to me! I’m sharp as a tack! I’m enthusiastic! I’m an expert in my field! I swear, I swear, I swear . . .” and blah, blah, blah. You’d sound like a freaking idiot! Not to mention that, even if it all were true, no one would believe you anyway.

The simple fact is that the right words just don’t exist. There is no combination of words that are profound enough and stealthy enough to sneak past the logic center of your prospect’s mind and create an emotional reaction that goes straight to their gut; for it’s there, in your prospect’s gut, where first impressions get formed in fractions of a second, and they’ll guide their decisions until you prove them wrong.

So if your words won’t do it, then where do you turn?

The answer is simple: your tone of voice.

Specifically, how you say what you say has a profound impact on how it’s perceived and, for that matter, how you are perceived; and not just during those all-important first four seconds, but throughout the entire conversation as well.

You see, after millions of years of evolution, the human ear has become so adept at recognizing tonal shifts that even the slightest one can have a dramatic impact on the meaning of a word or phrase. For example, when I was a kid and I did something wrong, my mom would say “Jordan!” in a stern, no-nonsense voice, and without her having to say another word, I immediately knew that I was in serious trouble. Conversely, if she said “Jor-dan!” in a singsong tone, then I immediately knew that things were fine.

On the flip side, if a sales encounter takes place in person, then a second communication modality comes into play, working hand-in-hand with tonality to help us get our point across.

We call this second modality body language.

Serving as the dual linchpins of an immensely powerful communication strategy known as unconscious communication, tonality and body language play major roles in how we get our point across—both while we’re talking and as we’re listening.

In essence, your tone of voice, how you move your body, the facial expressions you make, the type of smile you offer, the way you make eye contact, and all those little friendly grunts and groans you make while you’re listening to someone talk—the oohs and ahhs and ahas and yups—are an integral part of human communication and have a massive impact on how you’re perceived.

In terms of percentages, tonality and body language comprise approximately 90 percent of our overall communication, split evenly down the middle, with each modality having approximately a 45 percent impact, depending on which study you buy into (and there are more of them than you can count). The remaining 10 percent of communication is comprised of our words—meaning, the actual words we say as we verbally communicate.

That’s right: only 10 percent.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking right now: