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

Option two is to use this as an opportunity to get back into rapport with your prospect so you can end the encounter on a high note, while also setting up the possibility for a callback. In this case, you would say something like: “Jim, please don’t misconstrue my enthusiasm for pressure; it’s just that I know that this truly is a perfect fit for you.” Then you’d change your tonality to one of utter sincerity, and add: “So, why don’t we do this: let me email you the information you’re looking for”—or whatever the prospect’s last objection was—“and then give you a few days to look through everything and also to discuss it with your wife”—or whatever their secondary objection was; if there was none, then you’d just omit this—“and then we can speak again next week, after you’ve had a chance to really get your arms wrapped around everything. Sound good?” And, from there, you can decide whether you want to set it up so that you’re supposed to call the prospect back or the prospect is supposed to call you back.

Which path you choose depends on too many factors for me to give you a definitive answer without knowing the specifics of your industry; but, if there were only one factor I could consider above all, it would be what percentage of your callbacks ultimately end up buying. If the percentage is very low, then for the sake of time management, I would leave the ball in their court and wait for a callback—thereby assuring that you only talk to prospects who are truly interested.

On the flip side, if the percentage of callbacks that ultimately turn into clients is very high, then I would keep the ball in your court and instigate the callback yourself.

Just one final point with this—and that’s to never forget the ethical side of the equation, which is that you do not want to use pain to disempower people; you want to use it to empower people by helping them make good buying decisions, so they can have the things that they truly need.

I. Go to www.jordanbelfort.com/tonality to listen to the tonality.

II. Go to www.jordanbelfort.com/tonality to listen to the tonality.

III. Go to www.jordanbelfort.com/rebuttal to read about proven rebuttals.

FINAL THOUGHTS

WHEN IT COMES TO THE real-world application of the Straight Line System, the most common mistake salespeople make is that they tend to be far too rigid when it comes to modifying the system’s core language patterns to fit seamlessly into their industry.

For example, the vast majority of the language patterns I’ve covered will be a perfect fit for salespeople in industries like insurance, financial services, education, solar products, vitamins, network marketing, and pretty much any product or service where the salesperson initiates the sales encounter.

However, if you’re working in a retail store, selling TVs or clothing or sporting goods or computers or just about anything else, then, obviously, it’s not going to make much sense to ask a prospect if the shirt he just tried on makes sense to him.

So, in cases like that, where the initial pattern doesn’t fit very well, all you need to do is adapt it to your current situation. For example, if you worked selling TVs in an electronics store, then you could say to your prospect “So, what do you think? Is this what you’re looking for? Is this up your alley?” as opposed to saying “Does this TV make sense to you?” which sounds totally ridiculous.

Remember, when I first invented the Straight Line System, it was designed for selling five-dollar stocks to the richest 1 percent of Americans by cold-calling them on the telephone. Since then, I’ve taught the system to millions of people, in just about every industry you can imagine, and with just a bit of tweaking of the core language patterns, the results they’ve achieved have been truly staggering.

The point I’m trying to make is that, when it comes to applying the Straight Line System to industries outside the one it was originally designed for, the key to success is to be as flexible as necessary while you’re creating your core language patterns—using your common sense as your guiding light to make sure that everything fits.

The Straight Line System is an immensely powerful persuasion system that can literally change your life in a matter of days. I’ve seen it happen all over the world, in countless industries.

People who had never achieved anything even close to resembling success are suddenly achieving things that they themselves had never dreamed possible, and they’re living a life that’s far more empowered than in their wildest dreams.

It all starts by mastering the art of persuasion, using the Straight Line System, while maintaining a clear understanding that you will never sacrifice your ethics and integrity along the way. After all, success in the absence of ethics and integrity is not success at all.