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

Personally, however, I strongly disagree, and I think that number has more to do with poorly trained salespeople going through the closing process in a wildly inefficient way. Three or four times should be more than enough when you’re using the Straight Line System. Remember, this is not about pressuring people into making bad decisions; this is about using the Straight Line System to create massive certainty in the mind of your prospect, on both a logical and emotional level, and then asking for the order in a low-pressure, graceful way.

Here’s a typical language pattern for a close:

“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?”

So, there you have it: the basic framework for constructing world-class scripts that set you up to close a massive number of deals.

Once you’ve gone through the script-building process and you’ve finalized your draft, there are only two things left to do:

Training and drilling.

I can’t even begin to tell you how massive the payoff will be if you take the time to read your script out loud, and keep practicing and practicing until you get to a level of unconscious competence where you literally know your script by heart.

Now, I don’t expect you to get this perfect the first time out, but what I will tell you is that script writing has a very strong Good Enough Factor, which means that even if you’re just okay at writing scripts, it will still dramatically increase your closing rate.

To that end, one question I always get asked is, “When should I use my script?” And my answer to that is, “ALWAYS!”

You should always use a script, whether you’re selling in person or on the phone. How do you use a script in person? you’re wondering.

Very simple—you have it memorized.

Like I said, I want to know my scripts so well that I move past the point of the actual words. Remember, 10 percent of human communication is words; the other 90 percent is tonality and body language. By memorizing my script, I free up my conscious mind to focus on the 90 percent.

So I urge you to keep reading your scripts back to yourself, to make sure all the language patterns and transitions are absolutely seamless. It takes a bit of time, but I promise you that it’s well worth it.

12

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF LOOPING

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.

To that end, regardless of what product you’re selling, there are only three possible ways that your prospect can respond the first time you ask them for the order.

They can say:

 Yes—meaning, the deal is closed and it’s time to break out the paperwork and collect payment.

In essence, these are the lay-down sales that I spoke about in Chapter 2, where the prospects are basically pre-sold before they enter the sales encounter. As salespeople, we love getting them, but, from a practical standpoint, they’re far too rare to put any stock in them as an expected outcome.

The key here is to manage your expectations.

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.

 No—meaning, the prospect is definitely not interested and it’s time to end the sales encounter and move on to the next prospect.