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

Similarly, if your prospect had said, “I guess so. It sounds okay,” in the sort of dismissive tone that would have placed him at a 4 on the certainty scale, then you would say, “Exactly—it really is a great buy down here! In fact, one of the true beauties here is . . .”

And, once again, if he’d said, “Absolutely! It sounds like a great investment,” in the sort of enthusiastic tone that would have placed him at an 8 or even a 9 on the certainty scale, then you would say, “Exactly—it really is a great buy down at this level! In fact, one of the true beauties here is . . .”

In essence, just like the process of deflection, no matter how your prospect answers, and no matter where that answer lands him on the certainty scale, you’re always going to respond with the exact same words; what’s going to change, however, is your tonality.

Let me quickly explain.

Remember the story I told you about my son, Carter, being upset after soccer practice, and how I was able to quickly calm him down by using the tonal strategy of pace, pace, lead?

Well, that’s exactly what you’re going to do now—starting with the strategy’s first step, which is to enter your prospect’s world where he is, and then you’ll pace him, and you’ll pace him, and then you’ll lead him in the direction that you want him to go.

For example, since the tonality in Bill’s answer was at a 6 on the certainty scale, you wouldn’t reply to him at a 10. (If you did, you’d instantly break rapport and be viewed as a high-pressure salesman.) Rather, you would reply at a level just above a 6—like a 6.2 or a 6.3—so that you’re nudging him ever so slightly in the direction you want him to go, but you’re still entering his world where he is. From there, you’re going to transition into the main body of your follow-up presentation, where you’re going to pace him, and then pace him, and then you’re going to lead him in the direction that you want him to go by slowly increasing the level of certainty in your tone—timing it so that you hit your peak tonality about halfway through the pattern; then you’ll maintain that tonality of absolute certainty straight to the end.

The one exception to this is if your prospect’s response is below a 3 on the certainty scale. In that case, you’re going to end the encounter right then and there and move on to the next prospect. After all, a prospect who still feels that negative about your product after you just completed framing your airtight logical case is not a real buyer. In fact, you’re probably dealing with either a lookie-loo or someone with a warped sense of humor, as that level of negativity should have definitely come out during the intelligence-gathering phase and would have been weeded out accordingly.

It’s for that very reason that responses below a 3 are extremely rare at this point. For the most part, you’re going to be dealing with responses that fall between a 5 and a 7, with approximately 10 percent landing on either side.

Now, remember, deciding where your prospect landed on the certainty scale is not an exact science, so you need to use your common sense here. For example, if you’ve pegged your prospect at a 2 on the certainty scale, but something in your gut tells you that he still might be a buyer, then you want to repeat his negative answer back to him in an incredulous tone, and then ask again if that’s how he truly feels about your product. If he responds anywhere above a 5, then you can start moving forward, albeit warily, as the philosophy of not trying to turn nos into yeses will continue to apply throughout the entire back half of the sale, with anything less than a 3 being the cutoff.

Of course, on the flip side, for every response above that, you’ll transition into your follow-up presentation, using the same proven language pattern every time.

You’re going to say, “Exactly! It really is a great buy at this level! In fact, one of the true beauties here is . . .” and then you’ll go directly into your follow-up presentation, which must be so utterly compelling that even the most skeptical of prospects will have no choice but to become logically certain after hearing it.

In all seriousness, I can’t even begin to overestimate the importance of this language pattern. It needs to make perfect sense from every angle—mathematically, economically, logistically, the value proposition, the benefit stack, the pain resolution, the energy expenditure, along with your strategic use of maximizers and minimizers and justifiers and power words and comparisons and metaphors and trustworthy figures—and then be flawlessly delivered, using the strategy of pace, pace, lead to create emotional certainty as well.

To complete the pattern, you’re going to check in with your prospect by asking the same leading question every time (maintaining your peak tonality, from pace, pace, lead), which will allow you to gauge the increase in certainty for the first Ten. You’re going to ask: