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

You’re thinking that 10 percent sounds like way too low a number to measure the importance of words, especially in a situation when someone is trying to sell you something. In fact, if you were to think back to a time when you were being sold to, then I’m sure you would recall hanging on the salesperson’s every word and judging each one based on its meaning. It was as if your logical mind was almost being hypervigilant as it went about deciding what level of logical certainty was most appropriate based on the logical case the salesperson had created with his words.

HUMAN COMMUNICATION

Tonality—45% +

Body Language—45% =

90%

Words—10%

So I do understand how difficult it can be to buy into the concept that our words aren’t that important.

But here’s the irony:

You’ve actually misinterpreted the meaning of my words!

You see, despite comprising only 10 percent of our communication, words aren’t just important; they’re actually the single most important element of our communication strategy, but—and this is a very big but—only when we finally open up our mouths to speak. In other words, 90 percent of the time, we’re communicating without actually speaking!

Yet, still, when I walk into any phone room or I observe a sales force in the field, with the exception of maybe one or two salespeople who are blessed with perfect tonality and flawless body language, the rest of them will be completely missing the boat. In consequence, they don’t get perceived as having even close to the level of expertise that would prompt a prospect to hand over control of the sale and let themself be guided.

And, just like that, through a process of unwitting self-sabotage, the sale has been poisoned from the very start, making it only a matter of time until it spirals out of control.

Yet what’s even more ironic than that is the fact that of all the tactics and strategies that comprise the Straight Line System, tonality and body language are some of the easiest to master.

In total, of the twenty-nine tonalities that a human being uses to communicate, only ten of them are core-influencing tonalities—meaning that we use them over and over again as we go about influencing and persuading. Likewise, the Straight Line System has been able to consolidate the infinite number of gestures and postures and facial expressions that comprise our body language into ten core principles.

Now, for those of you who are currently saying to yourselves, “Aha, I knew there had to be a catch! Jordan made everything sound so easy, and now I find out that I have to learn twenty different things? How am I supposed to do that? I’m not a kid anymore; I’m an adult! And an adult can’t just learn ten new tonalities and ten new body language principles! It’s totally preposterous!”

Hopefully, that’s at least a slight exaggeration of what you’re thinking right now, but either way, if you’re feeling even remotely like that, then I have two very important thoughts I’d like to share with you.

First, and I mean this in a kind, avuncular way:

Cut the crap! It’s time for you to get out of your own way and start living the life you deserve. You are capable of becoming proficient at anything you put your mind to. All you need is an easy-to-learn, step-by-step strategy to show you the way, which is exactly what the Straight Line System is.

In fact, one of the true beauties of the Straight Line is that even after just a little bit of training, when you’re still at a very low level of competency, you’ll still get surprisingly good results.

Just how good depends on a number of variables—the industry you’re in, the length of its sales cycle, how much time you dedicate to learning the system, and, of course, your skill level at the start—but most salespeople get at least a 50 percent pop in their sales over the short term—and you’ll get double that if you’re a complete novice who’s in an industry with a very short sales cycle and lots of million-dollar producers.

In Straight Line parlance, we call this the “Good Enough Factor”—meaning that you’ll still get very good results, even when you’re first getting started and you’ve only achieved a reasonable level of proficiency.

And second, regardless of what you were thinking about having to learn all these “new” distinctions, the reality is that you don’t have to actually learn anything. After all, implausible as it might seem, you already know everything you need to know.

In fact, not only do you already know all ten tonalities and all ten body language principles but you’ve also used them countless times throughout your life. The only difference is that, in the past, you have been using them automatically or unconsciously—without even thinking about it.