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

This is what happens, all over the world, when salespeople get hit with that first objection—unless, of course, they were lucky enough to have been taught the strategy of looping, in which case they sidestep the first objection using the strategy of deflection.

However, in the case of the second objection, you’re going to have no choice but to address it head-on, as it would seem too evasive to keep deflecting objection after objection. The important thing to remember is that, whatever rebuttal you use to respond to your prospect’s objection, all the answer does is give you the right to speak more.

Let me give you an example.

Let’s say that Bill didn’t buy after your first loop. Instead, when you asked for the order the second time, he said, “It sounds really good. Why don’t you give me your phone number, and I’ll call you back in a few days and let you know.”

Your actual rebuttal to that objection would sound something like this:

“I hear what you’re saying, Bill, but let me just say that I’ve been doing this for quite some time now, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that when people say they’re going to think about it, or call you back, what ends up happening is that they end up putting the idea in the back of their mind and deciding against it, not because they don’t like the idea—in fact, in your case I know that you actually do—but the simple fact is that we’re both very busy people, and you’ll go back to your busy life and end up missing out on this; and I don’t want to see that happen to you.

“In fact, let me say this: one of the true beauties of the situation is that, right now, Microsoft is on the very cusp of . . .” And, just like that, you’ve seamlessly transitioned back into the sale, where you’ll pick up right where you left off with building your airtight logical and airtight emotional cases at the end of your first loop.

In other words, when your prospect hits you with the second objection, you’re not going to just answer it and ask for the order again; instead, you’re going to loop back into the sale once more and move your prospect to an even higher level of certainty for each of the Three Tens, using the secondary language patterns that you created for this exact purpose.

Now, from here, rather than going straight to the close (like you did with your first loop), you’re first going to run an extremely powerful language pattern that will allow you to crack the fourth number in your prospect’s buying combination—namely, their action threshold.

THE ACTION THRESHOLD

By way of definition, the action threshold is the collective level of certainty that a person needs to be at before they feel comfortable enough to buy. For example, I, personally, have a very low action threshold, which means that I’m extremely easy to sell to.

Why?

Because you don’t have to get me to a 10, 10, 10 on the certainty scale to get me to buy. If you get me to a 7, 8, 7, that will probably be enough, especially if the purchase is going to resolve a pain that I’m feeling from an unfulfilled need.

Here’s a perfect example:

A few years back, I was walking through an airport in Perth, Western Australia, and as I approached the gate I heard a loud thwack in the background, which sounded like someone had just hit the living hell out of a golf ball.

Sure enough, when I turned towards the sound, I saw a slender young Asian kid with a golf club in his hand, in a perfect trophy pose—as if he’d just finished hitting a three-hundred-yard drive straight down the middle. The kid was standing inside some type of promotional stand that had been roped off, and as I continued towards my gate, I watched him tee up another golf ball on an indoor mat and take a smooth, elegant swing. From where I was standing, it looked like he’d hit the ball straight through a window, although on closer inspection I saw that the ball was stuck to the face of the club.

As it turned out, some company had come up with a “revolutionary” golf training system in which they put Velcro on the face of a golf club and on a regulation-sized golf ball that was made of some sort of sponge-like material, so when you took a swing at the ball, it would stick to the face of the club; and, based on where it stuck, you could tell whether you were going to hit a hook or a slice.

In any event, I watched the kid take a few more swings, at which point I moseyed on over to take a closer look, and to get an explanation as to how the thing actually worked.

“It’s really simple,” he said confidently. “Watch, I’ll show you!” And with that, he put the ball on a white plastic tee, and then he took his stance and proceeded to take a beautiful cut at the golf ball, one that would have easily sent it three hundred yards down the center of the fairway. However, when he showed me the head of the club, sure enough, there was the ball, stuck to the face of the club, as if it had been glued there.