Straightline system born from an “old sales system” (still good) when selling penny stocks to moms & pops. But to conquer the new niche of selling penny stocks to the wealthiest 1%, Straightline system was invented.
JB & Danny can close, but the other “soldiers” can’t – too many objections. Most of them are variations of two: (1) “Bad time of the year”; (2) “Let me speak to someone else”.
Week 1 – Cracking the Code (很好)
Straight-line analogy
Once in a while, you get a “laydown” sale, i.e. someone who’s already pre-sold.
But most of time, prospect will wonder off the straight line. When stay on “safe boundary” of the straight line – salesperson is in control of the sale.
When “on the straight-line” : salesperson do the talking, when “off the straight-line” : prospect do the talking, salesperson do info-gathering & rapport building.
Information gathering:
1. needs;
2. core beliefs (not comfortable working over the phone/making a quick decision/not trusting salesperson in general);
3. Past experience with similar products & salesperson;
4. Identify their values: what things are most important to them;
5. Identify their financial situation: spending ability;
6. Identify where their pain lies;
Tenets
1. Have Control of the Sale – Position as Expert
If you aren’t in control of the sale, you cannot run predictable set of strategies on someone
First four seconds – seller judge you.
Need to be perceived as Sharp+Expert, otherwise seller mess with you (i.e. cut you off etc.).
On the straight-line vs. off the straight-line – when “off” use active-listening
Can be used to customize the presentation afterwards
3. Build even more rapport both on conscious & unconscious level.
Both Logical certainty + Emotional certainty
Logical certainty: they know how the product works so they can explain to others: i.e. their spouse etc. This will help justify the purchase decision.
Emotional Certainty: prospect is “future pacing” themselves – how great they would feel three months down the road (i.e. wind blow through their hair, they feel sexy/powerful etc.).
Envision the life down the road, already enjoying the benefit etc.
Example: first logical loop (presentation of air-tight logical case), ask Q “how do you think about the idea? Do you like the idea?”. A: sounds pretty good. (5~6 certainty). Second logical loop – on top of first one. Q “now you see what I mean John?” A “Now I get it”. Now they have very high logical certainty.
Buyer justify purchase logically first, then act emotionally.
Only logical certainty without emotional certainty will result in: “Ok, that sounds great! Now let me think about it.”
You cannot afford to lose the enthusiasm in terms of “how you say it”.
Straight-line sales ~ Safe cracker analogy – there’s at least three numbers in the safe to crack, you listen to them one after another. (Three tens + two threshold).
1. They must love your product. Positive intent (must-have) – not just features of the product, but how the product will benefit the buyer.
Potential Objection: I like the product, but I don’t have enough money / I don’t know if the product is personal for me.
Don’t front-load the buyer.
Example: worst type of testimonial would be a rich person with a lot of personal power likes the product. Better testimonials are average day users similar to the target buyer.
Does buyer think buying the product will make his life better?
Product buying thesis
If someone is uncertain after your first-loop, don’t move down the straight-line and try to close the person.
2. Trust-worthy salesperson – we don’t buy from people we don’t trust
Counter example: if you like the product but there’s something about the salesman(or the company) being untrustworthy, you wouldn’t buy it.
Don’t create all certainty about trust-worthy in one-shot, multiple wave + back-off pattern.
3. Connection/Trust of the company
4. Action Threshold – whether easy to buy/act if previous points satisfied.
Everyone ask themselves – “What’s the worst that can possibly happen?” Buyers “future pace” themselves of buying vs. not-buying.
Magic sentence to lower action threshold.
Lower someone’s action threshold (you can only lower it temporarily 5~10 minutes).
Action threshold is the person’s summary of beliefs about making decisions.
People with high action threshold are the best long-term clients (recurring buyer). Because they slips away from virtually all salespeople.
Only lower action threshold after securing the first three tens.
5. Pain Threshold
Example: JB’s father very high action threshold (always use the same car mechanic) but when he’s family might be in danger, he uses the first car repair shop you can find (pain threshold).
Dentist story – pain in the ass to go back and forth for an implant teeth (that takes months). A lot of pain -> buy whatever can fix this problem.
Example dentist who’s a bad salesperson: i.e. I am going to put you in short-term pain.
What the dentist should have done (to sale to JB)? Future-pace the pain: i.e. imagine yourself fly across half of the world (i.e. in Zimbabwe), and your tooth starts to hurt, what are you going to do?
Scale analogy
Logical reasons + Emotional reasons to buy the product. And emotional + logical reasons to be skeptic about the product. (These acts as weight on the scale).
In the beginning, because of preconceived notion, the scale might be balanced or imbalanced.
The Three numbers are the “weights” (positive / negative) on the scale.
Action threshold
In the scale example, that means the “fulcrum” is not in the middle (high action threshold -> fulcrum on the right). I.e. the positives doesn’t weight as much, negatives weights a lot.
Use looping to lower buyer’s action threshold.
Pain threshold just means moving fulcrum to the left.
Q: Selling heart defibrillator to politician (who uses public fund & cares about votes) is very different from selling it to family for self-use. -> This is prospecting.
When selling to family – emphasize on customer-service, “I myself is going to hand-guide you on each step.”
Sales models:
Old vs. New Model of selling – JB thinks both of these are non-sense LOL
Old: Hard-core closing driven; Closing 4 > Presentation 3 > Gather Info 2 > Rapport 1.
JB thinks you should be 100% closing + build rapport (superimposed state).
And strategic prep before sales encounter (do your homework) – similar to “Spin Selling”‘s do your homework before sales encounter.
Week 2 – Unconscious Communication (还可以)
First impression
We all judge a book by its cover
Make a first impression: In telephone, we have 4 seconds; in person we have half a second.
What kind of impression? Sharp + Enthusiastic + Expert in your field.
Expert Aura
Reason: buyer would choose expert over newbie seller all the time.
One difference – novice speak in far less definite terms.
Expert language example: “Listen Bill, I have been doing this for quite some time now. I understand the problem
Example: medical doctor.
Enthusiasm Aura
Pronounce words with absolute clarity, stressing consonants.
Impression: A volcano with big power/heat under the surface.
“Bottled Enthusiasm”
Sharp: Smart + Insightful + born problem solver.
Overall: you’re a person worth listening to + you can help them achieve their goals.
Harvard study: If you don’t make the correct (good) first impression – it takes seven impressions to change their mind.
You don’t get seven shots! You have to make the first impression right!
Additionally, first impression is just an opening, then the mind keeps analyzing the impression of the salesperson.
Connection from first impression -> intelligence gathering phase must be great as well.
Salesperson Habituation: Salesperson might get lethargic because it’s their 100th time saying the same script. But for buyers, it’s the first time.
First 10 secs – be a person on a “mission” to get it exactly right.
Unconscious communication: tonality + body language.
Tonality: It’s not words that gives (good) first impression, but tone of voice.
There’re 29 tonalities overall, with 10 core influencing tonalities.
Modulation – changing of tonality
Lower vs. Higher voice, Speedup vs. Slow-down, declarative vs. question, group words together vs. stac-ca-to like beats.
Don’t stay in one tonality for too long (or prospect will be bored/habituate).
Impact : ability to capture someone’s attention.
Certainty is important. JB able to have certainty even if in other tonality (i.e. tonality of sincerity).
Words’ weight in communication is 10%, it doesn’t mean words doesn’t matter, but a lot of time, the communication is without words. Without words, you cannot (1) create air-tight logical case; (2) do future pacing;
That means you need a good script!
Rapport – big misunderstanding in sales industry.
Rapport is about:
(1) prospect feels that you care, not just to sell them and get paid a commission. Filling needs and resolving pain.
When you don’t have rapport, you cannot say “I am not just doing this for the money but I really want to help you.” but down the road you can say that.
“We care” comes from tonality, the sympathetic / empathy.
(2) You’re just like them. Similar rate of speech, we see the world the same way.
Instead of disingenuously pretending to share every interest.
Rapport is unconscious instead of conscious. Don’t go off the boundary of straight-line (i.e. talking about fishing which has nothing to do with the sale).
Pace of talking, uhhuh etc., common jokes.
Keep rapport: building logical + emotional case during the straight line presentation.
If you said something that doesn’t quite make sense to the person (i.e. 60% response), you need to go back and keep explaining and get a 90% response.
“Give me a shot, and you will be glad you did”.
Unconscious vs. Conscious mind
Unconscious mind stores everything. First impression is judged by the unconscious mind (from stored patterns).
Unconscious mind is a big disk of stored patterns, conscious mind is a RAM.
Natural closer taps into the unconscious mind.
To make the good first impression, access that unconscious pattern. (Expert aura + Enthusiasm like volcano with hot lava slowly oozing out heat.) In buyer’s shoes.
Hire sales people
Hiring/Interviewing: Read their tonality + read their body language.
Tonality example:
Compound objection – “sounds good, let me think about it”. Tonality of the objection also matters a lot. Different ways of saying it means entirely differently.
Tonality is telegraphing the feeling.
Unconscious communication (tonality + body language) happens both ways between salesperson <-> buyer.
Script
It took JB a day to write “Aerotyne international graph” – there’s thousands of ways to say the same thing!
Initially tonality on paper was hard (because tonality wasn’t on the script).
Charisma = right tonality + right body language + not saying stupid things. Charisma is trainable not a born nature.
Salesperson looking
Handsome is a deficit for salesperson; Good looking is a great asset for female salesperson.
Week 3 – State Management (鸡汤鸡汤)
Sales is the transfer of emotion
Straight line transfer certainty from salesperson to the prospect.
Analogy: salesperson is the Heating Furnace, customer is the room.
Your internal state is important because you need to “transfer certainty” from your internal state to the prospect.
Olfactory Anchoring – Strategy to trigger peak state at ease
Two key ingredients (1) Tippy-top of the state – absolute certainty; (2) Intense Anchor;
Tippy-top of the state: example: when you just closed the sale. Absolutely ten to set the state.
Mechanism
We can choose what to focus on + we can choose physiology.
Test:
Example 1: Can you act happy for 45 sec for 100K?
Of course yes, adjust your physiology etc.
Example 2: Can you act happy for next 18hrs for 250K?
No! Impossible.
Anchoring – Pavlov
Olfactory is very effective (i.e. childhood memory linking)
Use Olfactory anchoring to overcome bad times in business.
State of absolute certainty
When JB is door-to-door salesperson trainee, watched how someone start with state of absolute certainty to (after 20 failed sales) losing it.
Negative state example: you get rejected 50 times before, so you assume you’re going to get rejected on next, you just want to get it over with.
If you aren’t in a good state, you cannot make your best sales decisions.
Straightline system transfer the certainty within you to the prospect.
Week 4 – Advanced Tonality (干货满满 – secret sauce)
When people listen, they have inner monologue, but when you use right tonality, people here more words with the right tonality, and inner monologue is suppressed.
Tonality for closing
Tonality-1. Absolute certainty: “John, you give me one shot…”
Tonality-2. Utter Sincerety [Calm / Silky Smooth / No pressure]: “And believe me…, the only problem you’ll have is that you didn’t buy more. “
Tonality-3. Reasonable Man: “Sound fair enough?”
Absolute certainty is not yelling/screaming. Two kinds of enthusiasm – over the top enthusiasm (doesn’t work for sales) vs. bottled enthusiasm (use it together with power whisper) -> Certainty.
Compound response
Example: “Sounds good,… Let me call you back” / “Sounds interesting,… Let me think about it”
Tonality-4: Money Aside/Hypothetical
Example: “I hear what you’re saying…, but let me ask you a question. Does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea?”
Effect:
Remove immediate pressure from the prospect -> makes the prospect comfortable enough to give you an honest answer -> build more certainty (looping).
More accurately determines your prospect’s certainty level.
If you say the same thing with aggressive tonality, it will make the prospect’s certainty level lower.
Adding “extra words” in the tonality, it will destroy the sale.
Example: For tonality-4 (hypothetical) – adding “now an academic exercise” to it would destroy the sale.
Power of unspoken words, example: you don’t say “money aside” in the hypothetical tonality, but the words “money aside” is implied.
Looping: take objections and build the three tens without breaking rapport
Need to know when to apply which tonality.
Tonality-5: I really want to know. (When asking question / in the beginning).
The unspoken words here is “I really want to know.”
Example: “Hi Bill, how are you doing today?” (Upbeat + Enthusiastic).
Mentally : salesperson need to don’t worry about “keep using the tonality” (because have used that on 100 clients before).
Set up reciprocity
Tonality-6: Phrasing a declarative as a question.
Example:
Neutral: “Hi, this is Jordan Belfort calling, from XYZ company, how are you doing today?” Seller thinks “Another salesperson”.
Phrasing a declarative as a question: “Hi John! This is Jodan Belfort? Calling from XYZ company? In New York? How are you doing today?” Makes seller into search mode – “Do I know Jordan Belfort?”
Momentarily confuses the prospect. Combined with Tonality-5 (I really want to know) via “How are you doing today?”
This will control the prospect’s inner monologue.
Energy (and tonality) tends to fall down over the day (feels stupid doing the same thing over and over) – need to keep it up.
Opening example: Tonality-5, Phrasing declarative as question (三问) + Tonality-6 (“How’re you doing today?”)
Not pre-judged as salesperson. Seller response “yah?” (trying to get more information). Keeping the possibility of influence open.
Tonality-7: Mystery and Intrigue
Example: “Now Jim, the reason for the call today…”
Drop your voice
“Now” is the transition word, hanging the “R” for reason
Tonality-8: Scarcity
利用物以稀为贵的心态
Leads to Urgency / Triggers the need to buy now
Three kinds of scarcity:
Verbal Scarcity (neutral tonality): words imply scarcity. i.e.: “I have only one of the cars left.”
Tonal Scarcity: same words, different tonality. (Lower your voice, somewhat secretive).
Informational Scarcity (Information itself is scarce)
“Here’s the deal Jim, there’s only one of cars left black in black and nobody even knows it.”
Powerful – “This is a secretive piece of info, act fast!”
Emotional vs. Logical Reason of buying
Emotional – “buy now” trigger
Front end (opening) scarcity + back end (closing) scarcity
Example: Real Estate Company – “Phase I sold out, Phase II sold out, we only have these four left”.
Tonality-9: Presupposing tone – implied obviousness
Assuming the sale: i.e. (obviously) “You will make money with it”.
Very subtle but powerful
Used in looping / future-pacing
Tonality-10: I care / I feel your pain
“Bill Clinton” Tonality
Example: “What’s your biggest pain-point here?”
Effect: Dig into someone’s pain points (esp. the personal ones)
Trick – use body language to (easier) induce a certain tonality
Dissecting the famous “Aerotyne International” clip in Wolf of Wall Street – The constant shifting of tonalities.
1. “Hello John, how are you doing today?” (I really want to know)
2. “You mailed my company a postcard weeks ago? (Right?)” (Phrasing a declarative as a question)
3. “About a company that has Huuuuge upside potential and very little downside risk” (absolute certainty).
4. “Does that ring a bell?” (Reasonable Man)
OK great (transition)
5. “Now the reason for the call today” (Mystery & Intrigue)
6. “I just come across a stock it’s perhaps the best thing I’ve ever seen (whispering but absolute certainty).
7. “Got a minute?” (Reasonable man)
8. “The name of the company – Aerotyne International” (Absolute Certainty, Staccato like beats)
Continuing absolute certainty: “Hugggge military and civilian application…”
Note: Congruency: say “Huuuge” in a way congruent to Huge.
9. Scarcity (shhhh): “Now (transition word), this stock trades at 10 cents a share”. (Informational Scarcity)
10. Presupposing tone: “Our analysts indicate it could go a lot higher than that”.
11. Absolute certainty: “A mere $6,000 investment would be upwards of $60K dollars”.
“Exactly you could payoff your mortgage.”
12. Presupposing tone (JB doesn’t like this statement/thinks it doesn’t make sense, but it’s in the movie) – “I never ask my clients to judge me on my winners, I only ask them to judge me on my losers because I have so few”.
13. Absolute certainty: “In the case of Aerotyne, based on every technical factor out there, we are looking at a grand slam home-run.”
Tonality – the skill to get people open to you.
Using wrong tonality to call someone is very toxic – by default, answerer is hostile
Metrics – 200~300 dials minimum per day for cold-caller
Tonality transfers energy over the phone.
Salesperson has energy of self-belief
Sounds different.
Opening is most important
How JB trains his wolves at Stratton Oakmont
Must insist first two sentences are said with perfect tonality
Transfer (positive) energy
Most people in a disempowered state most of the time – Your voice brighten their day / make them smile.
Self-belief is infectious.
Looping – follow-up campaign
High-end sales need at least 5-6 touch points
When leaving VM, tonality definitely matters (follow-up campaign module).
Week 5 – Body Language (一般般)
Dual Lynchpin of Unconscious Communication: Tonality + Body Language
Awful body language will stop you from closing the sale
Body language – hits you within 1/24 second
This is stored as patterns in our unconscious – example: “How experts shake hands” etc.
Wrapper your package (your holistic presentation to the external world)
Law of Congruency (i.e. plumber look like expert plumber, attorney look like expert attorney)
Example:
1. Plumber in suit & tie vs. Plumber in working clothes.
2. Plumber in working clothes that looks clean vs. the one that looks dirty
Suit common-sense – 别穿成”卖保险的”西装
Don’t have wrinkled, don’t button up
Shirt tucked in
Pants shall be appropriate length
Rapport diff between men vs. women
Men influence Men
Not stand directly toward, otherwise would be confrontational
Men influence Women
Stand face-to-face (women want to see you / all of you)
Don’t invade space bubble
A lot of facial hair (i.e. beard) tends to not be trustworthy
Exception: if you’re selling Harley Davidson, then a lot of beard is good
Eye contact – unless you make eye contact at least 72% of the time, ppl will not trust you.
72% is optimal, too much / too few decrease trust
Handshake
Standard Cooperator’s Handshake
This is “matching”
Jewelry
Professional setting – less is better
Worst for men – big pinky ring (diamond etc.), exception is if you’re the pit boss in a casino
Use body language to trigger certain tonalities
Note when you want to sound “absolutely certain” the gesture / body language you use
Use that body language in the future when you want to use that tone.
Tonality <-> Body Language
Matching the body language
Match the posture / rate of breathing / speed of talking / types of words / slang usage
Difference with mirroring, not instantaneously, but slowly & casually, with 5-10 sec lag
Mirroring is creepy and too obvious
Rapport = pace pace lead
Example: JB’s son is angry with another kid.
Pace-1: JB starting with more anger than his son (enter his son’s world).
Pace-2: And more angry.
Lead-3: Shift into a state of calm + compassion. Leading his son into the same state.
Pace pace lead, when customer responds with 6/10. Then respond by around 6/10 initially (pace + pace), then lead towards higher certainty.
Week 6 – Prospecting (干货满满 – funnel方面)
Prospecting: ask people a series of question in a way that builds rapport
Ask questions + Active listening
Question “Sell me this pen” – How do I know this person is in the market for a pen.
Prospecting: If the person don’t need / can’t afford the product, no need to chase.
Example: Family doctor – help you get what you want
Goes thru 45 minutes of medical history, questioning, how the condition starts etc.
When prospective buyer “interested” in the product – sales job begins
Telemarketing
Door-to-door etc.
Online Marketing
Four step marketing
Identify your best buyer set
Bring those buyers to your sales funnel in a cost effective manner
Have a message-market fit (maybe add a hook / urgency)
Seamless transition from marketing to sales
Better conversion rate for big-ticket items (i.e. Car / Carvana)
Better to have the sales process / have a human being in it.
Four types of buyer
1. Buyers in heat
Want / need / can use / can afford
They’re in pain and wants to “Buy Now”
i.e. Car just broke down need a new car
Small fraction, at most 15-20%, even if campaign is super targeted
2. Buyers in Power
Want / need / can use / can afford
Not enough pain to “Buy Now”
They have power
25-35% buyer in power
3. Tire-kickers
Disguise themselves as “buyers in power”
Can’t afford it – window shopping
Toxic:
1. time-wasting
2. raise self-doubt – is there a problem in my sales ability?
Need to filter away those people, how? Heuristics:
Too much information about your product (window-shopped too much)
Often overly emote
For financial questions (because lookie-loo / tire-kicker) cannot afford it, they will be either overly vague / overly boisterous about money (“oh yea, I got tons of money”)
30-35% of the people
Difference between tire-kicker & buyer in heat/power is mostly Money
4. Mistakes
Relatively easy to identify.
For “buyers in power” identify + amplify their pain and turn them into “buyers in heat”
Some company divide the “info gathering / rapport” stage vs. the “closer” stage
Not the “two call system” but the “one call transfer system”
Two call system: Companies have “cold-caller” stage then 5~10 later, “closer” stage.
Sales funnel
Different vs. Marketing funnel
Different depends on sales process
Strictly phone based
Massive number of leads (for cold-caller type of marketing)
Funnel example:
1. 100 outbound calls
Wrong number / answering machine etc.
2. 50 contacts <- actual person
Gate keepers (secretary) in B2B situation
Or a kid answer the phone
3. 25 decision makers
Whether they need / want / can afford your product
4. 10 qualified leads
Setting up a follow-up presentation
50% will no show for example
5. 5 sales presentations
If you use two call system, you probably have attrition due to people miss the appointment!
Conversion rate optimization: It makes more sense to collapse into one call!
For logical based parts – lean backward, scratch your chin thoughtfully
For emotional based parts – lean forward into emotion & continue active listening
Lean straight without movement is the worst body language.
Energy exchange is zero.
8. Ask questions, make mental notes on their responses, but don’t resolve their pain.
When gathering information, hearing customer’s pain points, don’t just say “Ohhh my product solves the pain point” yet
Until you know the whole picture, you can’t present yet.
Once get the whole picture, you can say, example: “Jill, based on what you just said to me, this is a perfect fit for you. Let me tell you why…”
Reason: you want the buyer to feel the pain a bit more / a bit longer then you present your solution
If you offer the solution too early, you turn “buyer in heat” to “buyer in power”. This is reverse of “Amplify buyer’s pain”.
9. Always end with a powerful transition – Straight line transition
Example: “Mia, based on everything you just said to me the program/the product I have is a perfect fit for you. Let me tell you why…”
Prospecting -> Presentation
Transition is also where you get rid of the tire-kickers and the mistakes. Example:
“Jim, listen, the product I have is a perfect fit, but honestly it’s really not within your budget right now. Maybe you can go to this place.” (Don’t take everyone down the straightline).
10. Stay on the straight line.
Straight line : Took Control -> Gather Intelligence (active listening / body language / tonality) -> build massive rapport
One common mistake is to stray off the straight line (to build rapport incorrectly).
When prospect is spiraling off to pluto? Use active listening to show interest, and when they’re done, bring back to straight line and ask the next question.
If you stray off together with the prospect, they unconsciously realize you’re not an expert!
Experts don’t have time to ramble.
Example: try to use hobby to build rapport with doctor, but doctor put JB back to the straight line.
Buyer’s pain
Initially shocked, but then people will be in “denial of pain” mode (to live their life normally)
So some “buyers in heat” becomes numb of their pain (because of denial) and look like “buyers in power”
What need to do to reverse this – take them back in time to when they first realize there’s a problem/pain
Make them talk about it / ask them how they feel (in a sympathetic tone).
Change their “denial of pain” -> “feel the pain”
Make them stay painful for a while – then offer solution.
Three purposes of straight-line prospecting
Filter out the tire-kickers + mistakes
Active listening + build rapport
Amplify buyer’s pain
Voice mail Tricks
Leave VM isn’t that significant a sales booster. JB don’t think you need to always leave VM. Most people don’t listen to VM, just look at transcripts.
VM is part of the strategy, together with SMS + email + etc. would be better / more powerful.
Where VM’s power is similar to “omnipresence” in marketing.
Keep it short/sweet/right to the point. Don’t use long message on voice mail.
Somewhat ethical, but in some industry, pretending to be a customer they call you back every single time.
I.e. calling for a plumber as a customer’s tonality (“About a plumbing job?”). Downside is they might get angry.
Need test out the strategy.
Big picture questions
Non-invasive questions that have been designed to establish a frame for a specific line of question that follows (药引子). This is industry-dependent.
Ask three non-invasive big picture questions then ask a specific invasive question.
Example:
1. What do you like about the current product you’re using? (Good)
2. What would you change or improve with your current source? (Bad)
3. If you could design this product for yourself, what would it look like? (Their specific needs)
Example: “Have I ask about everything that’s important to you?”
Great doctors they will always ask “Anything I left out?” in the end. (Aura of Expert)
Equation: Energy-in, Benefits-out – how many “energy” I need to spend, in order to get the “benefits”? (From prospect’s perspective)
I.e. a truck driver spend a lot of energy to move some steel from AZ to Los Angeles.
Main benefit is money, but there’s other benefits like repeat business.
In sales, minimize the envisioned energy the prospect spends, and maximize the envisioned benefits the prospect gets.
Week 7 – Vision – 心灵鸡汤周 – 快速通过
Week 8 – Script building (干货满满)
Charisma: (1) right tonality + (2) right body language + (3) not saying stupid things
Salesperson: Novice vs. Expert framing
Need to sound like expert to close the deal
Script advantages
1. Don’t run out of things to say
Normal / Average salesperson can talk about their product a few minutes intelligently, but as sales drags on, they run out of smart things to say and would make mistakes (say stupid things)
2. Prepare the right tonality at right time
3. Best possible words
4. Free up the conscious mind and focus on prospect’s state
Their body language / their tonality / language pattern
5. Air-tight logical case
6. Systematize the sales force
7. Avoid regulatory problems – sales people might speak too much and got complain from customer
Misconception about using scripts in sale
Sound wooden/inauthentic: reading from a script without sounding like reading from a script
Film – brave heart, a lot of “soldier” hired in a big scene, cannot fail, got to have:
1. a good script writer write a script with emotion + logic
2. a good actor to master the script
Not just rebuttals, when selling penny stock to the rich, maintain the “expert frame” all the way (while normal / average sales people without a script will be found out to not be an expert).
Scripts makes “every sale the same”.
Psychological experiment
JB prepared 90 minutes for a experiment sale (where the customer is an actor and not allowed to say “yes”) but still persuaded him
One factor is he prepared 90minutes while the baseline (~50 other top producers) spent at most 5 mins at prep.
Goal:
Master the art of reading from a script without sounding like reading from a script
Construct your own script
Eight rules of Straight Line Script Writing
1. Do Not Front Load
Frame don’t Front-Load
Series of scripts – not one big script where you just talk talk talk.
Framed logical case and fill in the blanks
House building analogy – you initially give air-tight logical case, the “frame” of the house, but not everything in one shot
Not front-load: too much info, (1) prospect overwhelmed; (2) you cannot get from 5/10 to 10/10 in one shot.
2. Benefits not features
Untrained salesperson tend to go feature after feature -> Prospect will tune out
Mention a feature then expand on benefits
3. Must have “stopping off points”
Talk about some idea – then “make sense / follow me so far?”
Effect: Keep Rapport + Build “Yes saying” Pattern
If you don’t address client’s objections – they are think “they are not listening to make / just to make a sale” – break rapport & cannot close sale
4. Must write scripts in spoken word, not grammatically correct English
Spoken word, not slang, but common language that people normally say
Example: “Name of the company, Aerotyne International”, not “The Name of the company is Aerotyne International”.
5. Must flow perfectly
Remove words/phrases that are tongue-twisters/difficult to say
6. Script must be honest & ethical (LOL)
7. Energy in, Benefits out
Minimize energy expenditure, maximize benefit
Easiness of buying – how much energy do you have to spend?
Example: amazon – one-click buying, instead of jumping thru several hoops to buy this product. Money is one form of energy.
We have short memory of benefits, when asking for order, need to re-state the benefits again
Especially important for service providers – make the energy in small (easy to buy)
Not only applies to initial ask for order, but also later looping
Always balance energy taking with benefit receiving
8. Your script is actually a series of scripts
Intro Script – first four seconds + company intro + prospecting questions
If two call system, send some material + setup next appointment + exit
If one call system, transfer to main body script
Main Body Script
Looping Scripts
In these scripts, at least 3 ways (language patterns):
These words that captures the attention of the prospects (make them what you’re about to say is important)
5. Ask for permission to ask questions
Without asking for permission – come off to break rapport + as great inquisitor
6. Always use justifier – “so”
“Just a couple of questions so I don’t waste your time/I can best serve you.”
“so” increase compliance rate
Positioned as “trusted friend / family advisor / family doctor”
7. Powerful transition
“Based on everything you just said to me, this is a perfect fit for you”.
Main Body Script
For a new company, gather sales as a group, each person propose five best language patterns for the product + yourself + the company
Seven steps
1. Say the name of your product/process, follow it up by a very good quick explanation
Example: “the name of the company, Aerotyne International… [Explanation]”
Make sure it flows, “truth well told”
Present your product/service as “sexy/powerful” as possible
2. Focus on one feature, and expand on the benefits
3. Check in with prospect (i.e. “you follow me so far? / Make sense?”)
4. Repeat step 2 & step 3
Example:
Feature 1 / Benefit 1~3
Feature 2 / Benefit 1~3
Feature 3 / Benefit 1~3
If less than 3 feature, probably a little bit too thin
5. Create urgency to buy now
6. Energy In / Benefit Out
Getting started is very simple
7. Ask for the order (don’t beat around the bush)
Rules
Body of script shouldn’t be more than > 1page/1.5page, don’t want to front-load
If front-load, you’re out of ammo, when seller says “let me think about it”, you have no ammo. If you leave some stuff out, you have more ammo in looping.
Every word is crucial – has to flow
Check your prospects often – not monologue but dialogue
Transitional words / phrases
i.e. “Now” the reason for the call
These transition words allow changing the tonality / sound good.
“Let me think about it” is when the sale begins
Script need to explain complex things in a simple way
Sale Cycle – 1 call / 2 call / 3 call etc.
There’s trade-offs, for example, trying to sell something that’s not an easy sell in 1-call will get pushbacks & objections.
Two-call system you can just introduce yourself (no pressure mode) in first call.
Then “just a couple of questions to best serve you” then info gathering Questions – and you build rapport
Because you took pressure off from the front end – you get the build rapport in the back end – 欲速则不达
Email Communication between the two calls
Exception not the rule (maybe 10%): if opportunity presents itself, you might close on one call in two call system
Bad Seller (pressure sale) example
An AI technology company that sells a complicated product at 30-50K range that impacts all parts of the company requires decision on the same day (urgency sale)
When next day even lower priced, all credibility with the company is destroyed. This is a bad pressure selling.
Pressure selling makes sense when: smaller decisions/reversible decisions
Also not starting small is a red flag.
Most industry, you can make it easy & low-risk for someone to start using your product. Your sales will soar if you can find a way.
Draft script process
List out every detail (with permission to front load) till close.
Later optimize out the front-load parts into looping.
Intro Script:
Over the phone
Script is supposed to be used word-by-word in phone situation.
Expect at least 5-10 iterations
After having a “perfectly worded script” have it organized into blocks for memorize (anchor point for sales)
2~3 best openings
In the field
Sales Aids (a checklist for mortgage agent for example)
Info Gathering
What’s the most logic question as first question?
I.e. don’t ask “how much money do you make?” as the first question
Every question must be meaningful
Big picture vs. Specific question
Pain based questions – towards the end
Ranked sequence of questions
Main question vs. Follow-up questions
Main Body Script
Tip-1: If any well-known figure endorsed your product, use it
I.e. “Warren Buffett thinks the product is great”.
Tip-2: Tell Story
I.e. “a client we have” (not just feature, but also tell a story for benefit)
Create urgency
Week 9 – Standards (半鸡汤，motivate workers挺好的)
Story: when JB was 16, he sold coolers of “cold drinks” in a local beach in summer.
Himself is a great sales, sold a lot and made a lot of money. But when he involved his friend to also sell the drinks, some sold almost none.
Top sales need “standards”
Standards are like the “thermostats” in a house, regulates the warmth
Your own standards & your worker’s standards
Kids -> Adolescent : standards starts to shape
Standard is long-term success indicator, state is short-term success indicator
Human Resource management: (once you have the straightline sales system), using people with standards is more important than with skills.
If people don’t have high standards (i.e. making 100K is OK), then after reaching the target, they’re no longer “hungry”.
Raise the standards of the employees by big meeting.
Example: “I’m doing okay making 100K” -> “If I don’t make $1M, I am a loser”.
A lot of people have “Beer standard and champagne vision”
Standard & Vision need to be congruent
Motivate People/Employees
Use Dr.Bandler’s pain & pleasure method
Use language to paint the biggest fear of workers:
Example: In the movie, it is “look at the person on your left/right, a few month down the line you will see they are in a nice car with gorgeous wife/husband+kids” (future pacing?) while you’re flipping burgers.”
Lowest Denominator type of motivation
JB don’t like to motivate by fear, would like to motivate by positivity
When you take a fall, you might create limiting beliefs in your head, and degrade standards.
Week 10 – Looping (干货满满)
Looping : take any prospect sitting on the fence (i.e. “Let me think about it”) -> address objection in a way that doesn’t break rapport -> continue straight-line & close the deal
First objection: collaboration in front-end -> confrontation in back-end
Take objection -> increase prospect’s certainty on three tens -> lower action threshold -> add pain -> close the deal
Straight-line Structure
Gather Info + Building Rapport -> Transition -> Presentation & Ask order for first time (calm+sincere tonality)
Asking order for first time:
Example lanugage pattern for asking order first time: “[Absolute certainty] And Believe me bill : [Utter Sincerety] If you do even as half as well as rest of clients on my program, you’re going to be very very impressed. [Reasonable Man] Sounds fair enough?”
Make it easy & low-pressure, to make prospect give you order first time
Sale supposed to NOT work the first time (95% chance w\ common objection)
Lack of three ten / high action threshold / no feel of pain
Thus looping exists.
Sales Death Spiral :
Prospect give a bogus objection -> sales give a canned response for overcoming objection -> ask for order -> Prospect gives another bogus objection.
Objection are smokescreens for uncertainty.
Looping : past these smokescreens & transition into the essence of what’s truly holding your prospect back -> Lack of Certainty.
Looping use objections to further build certainty.
When asking order first time, there’s only three ways prospects can respond
Scenario-1: “Yes”. Very rare, lay down sale. Without objection.
Scenario-2: “No”. Definitely end the encounter & move onto next one.
Scenario-3: “Maybe”. (i.e. “Let me think about it” etc.)
In this case, mindset should be “撸起袖子加油干” instead of fear.
No matter what the common objection is, respond the same way.
Example seller objection: “Sounds interesting, let me think about it.”
Standard straight line response for every initial objection:
“[Reasonable Man Tone] I hear what you’re saying, Bill… [Money Aside/Hypothetical tonality] But let me ask you a question: Does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea?” (with a little tweaking, depending on what you’re selling)
Rather than answering the objection directly -> Deflect instead!
Deflect the objection:
Acknowledge you heard what your prospect said (so that don’t break rapport)
Shift the convo to productive track – where they stand on certainty scale for the first three tens
You can only deflect once
Two part deflection:
1. “I hear what you’re saying, Bill…”, use reasonable man tone,
imply their objection is reasonable, not break rapport
2. “But let me ask you a question: does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea?”, use “money aside/reasonable man tonality”.
money aside tonality – makes easy for prospect to give an honest feedback.
If you use a heavy tonality – the prospect is not going to give an honest feedback.
Response of deflection – tell you how much they land on the certainty scale
Example 10/10: “Oh yeah! Absolutely! It makes total sense to me! I love the idea!”
Example 1/10: “Oh No! Not at all! I think it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard”.
Not an exact science
Follow-up Presentation (Loop-1)
If prospect is 6/10 certainty scale – not moving to close yet.
Instead do a follow-up presentation.
Logical: Make logical case even more airtight.
Emotional: Pace-pace-lead to build more emotional certainty.
More powerful emotional certainty increase via future pacing
Example:
Prospect says 6/10: “Yes, it sounds pretty good…”. Sales: “Exactly, it really is a great situation. In fact, one of the true beauties here is …” -> main body of follow-up presentation
Always the same words, but apply similar level of tonality – in order to “enter seller’s world”
Lead to enthusiasm by slowly & surely increasing the level of certainty in your tone. Reach Peak enthusiasm-10 around middle of the follow-up presentation, and maintain straight to the end.
Goal of the second loop, ideal effect – prospect: “Ahhh Now I get it”.
By saying “do you see what I mean with the idea?”
Need only basic yes for front-end of the sale, need enthusiastic yes for back-end of the sale.
Forrest Gump Pattern (for certainty on salesperson)
Need three tens, not just certainty about product
When Forest Gump’s 5 years ago, he gets on the bus. Bus driver is a intimidating women, some dead locks because of stranger + distrust. “Self-intro -> we’re no longer strangers” solves the problem.
People tend to distrust strangers
Either Overly trust or overly distrust
The purpose of “Forrest Gump Pattern”
Tell them who you’re.
Transition from prev – Start with “mystery and intrigue” tonality. (Previous Pattern ends with absolute certainty, have a small pause for transition).
Part-1:
Start: “[Mystery & Intrigue] Now Bill, let me ask you a different question – [Money Aside] Had I been your broker in the past 3 or 4 years, making you money on a consistent basis, then you probably wouldn’t be saying – ‘Let me think about it right now, Bill’. You would be saying – ‘Jordan, pick me up a block of at least a few thousands shares.’ [Reasonable Man] Am I right?”
Your prospect would most likely to openly admit it’s trust that’s holding them back from buying. – which means you passed the smokescreen.
If they don’t, just use “mocking” tonality –
“Wait a second, Bill, you mean that if I put you into FB at $70 and put you out of it at $130, [2-3 more examples], you wouldn’t be saying ‘Jordan, pick me up a few thousand shares, right now, on the spot?’ Come on, Bill, really?!”
Prospect likely say “Yeah, well, then I would”.
Successfully reframed this sales (once ensuring buyer likes the product) is about trust of the salesperson.
Take control of the sale + starting picking the lock on buying strategy.
Part-2:
Let me take a moment to reintroduce myself. Tell them who you’re, why you’re trustworthy.
Example:
“[Sympathetic tonality] Now that I can understand! You don’t know me, I don’t have the luxury of a track record… And let me take a moment to reintroduce myself.”
“My name is XYZ, I’m a ___. I’ve been with the company for …, I pride myself on …”
This self-intro has to be personal to you. How you’ll do anything for your customer to assure you’re an asset, no just to them but to their family as well.
Need multiple versions to serve as ammo when sell drags on.
Pattern to sell the company (third ten)
Transition – “And as far as my company goes…”
Example: “Now Bill, I’m not here to just guide you into this situation, I’m here to guide you out as well. And by the way, as far as my company goes, XYZ securities, it’s one of the most well-respected…”.
Have several scripts for this as well:
i.e. “We’re the most well-respected / fastest growing / foremost experts / etc.”
Second time ask for order
Step-down sale
Ask for a smaller order – more chances
i.e. initially ask for 5K stock, now 2K. – “Bill, instead of buying 10K shares, why don’t you start with 5K shares instead? After you see what a great job I can do for you, we can then work much bigger and better down the road. Does that sound fair enough?”
Doesn’t work for every product (i.e. a car), but very effective
Language Pattern – “All I’m asking for is 1% of your trust… And, I promise I’ll earn the other 99%”
Example: “On a sale as small as this… after I split my commission with the firm and the government, I can’t take my wife out for lunch, I’m not getting rich here. But what I do know, is once you see what a great job I do for you, this will serve as a benchmark for future business and we can work much bigger & better down the road. Sound fair enough?”
Likely : people with low action threshold will buy. (Estimated ~20% with initial objection will close here).
Additional loops
When second objection – don’t deflect, calmly encounter head-on
Example – first objection from seller – “let me think about it”, second objection – let me speak with my partner
Answer second objection using rebuttal, then second loop (second pattern for product for more emotional certainty)
Three objectives:
1. Further increase three tens’ certainty
Phenomenon: Certainty will wane after a few minute, until you get a conviction.
2. Increase pain
3. Decrease action threshold
Second Loop
Three tens + Lower Action Threshold
Lower Action Threshold
Two movies when deciding whether to buy: Upside Movie & Downside Movie
Four strategies to lower action threshold
1. Money Back Guarantee – esp. online
2. Offer prospect a rescission period
They can reverse their decision for up to X days
3. Key phrases & language patterns that paint a picture that runs counter to typical “Downside Movie” that a high-action threshold person thinks
i.e. I’ll hold your hand every step of the way / we price ourselves on long-term relationships / we work mostly on referral / we have blue-chip customer service
4. Language pattern (hypnotic pattern) that temporarily reverse high-action threshold prospect’s strategy for running parallel movies
Use language to hijack their strategy in order to run really long positive movie & short negative ones.
Example: “Let me ask you a question here, Bill, what’s the worst thing that can possible happen?”
Make the prospect run a fully developed empowering movie.
Future pace the relationship
How he’s going to feel (optimistically) a few month from now / Great it is have the salesperson in his life / How the salesperson will be an asset to him & his family
Then Combine it with a subsequent step-down sale.
This is a magic moment – If the prospect don’t respond yet, don’t talk first.
Around 75% prospect will buy from second loop.
Third Loop – Pain Threshold
天平图 – Three Tens + Action Threshold + Pain Threshold
There to increase pain: two places
1. Gather Info – ensure they listening to presentation with proper perspective
2. In beginning of Loop-3 – digging into the pain again that’s revealed during prospecting.
Wake them up from Denial
People love talking about their pain points once pain is waken up.
Active listening to even get tighter rapport.
Amplify Pain Example
Prospect might say: “Yeah well, at best maybe I’ll be in the same spot but I’m a bit worries about it so I’ll probably be a lot worse off…”
Then likely self-torture – keep amplify that pain
Follow-up question: amplify even further.
Tell a story about another client who was in a similar situation, and how they were able to use your product to get into a different position where they were back in control
Transition into a close
Then “Shut up” – the first person talks loses.
Sequence of third loop:
1. Rebut the new objection
2. Pain Increase Pattern
3. Follow-up question to amplify more pain
4. Tell a story about a client in similar situation & used our product to be back in control
5. Transition into soft close.
If third loop still doesn’t close
If it’s because not enough certainty -> additional loops
Alternatively – end the call now, then setup a follow-up call.
End the call – point of diminishing returns.
Objections:
There’s only ~14 objections, depending on your industry
All the objections can be reframed into “lack of certainty”
One exception might be, for “I can’t afford it”
It might be real.
Use Empathy + Understanding in the tonalities. To ensure rapport.
But not accepting his “inability to pay” at face value.
Mindset – “roll up the sleeve & earn my paycheck” instead of “fear”.
Only thing rebuttal does -> earn you the right to speak more
You need rebuttals for objections, but you need looping / follow-up presentation even more to make the sale happen.
“You know, Bill, I understand you want to call back, but I’ve been doing this for quite some time now and if there’s one thing I’ve learned – it’s that callbacks simply don’t work. You’re a busy guy, I’m a busy guy, and I don’t have time to follow up and I know you love the idea and I don’t want you to miss out! In fact, let me say this…”
Preventing objection is better than Overcoming objection – 好的中医治”未病”
If you sense your prospect is a even the slightest bit pressured
“Don’t misconstrue my enthusiasm for pressure, I know this is a perfect fit for you…”
Option – 1: One more loop, instead of “absolute certainty” in tonality, use “Utter Sincerity / I feel your pain”
Option – 2: Get back into rapport & end on high note. Setup callback.
Example: “Let me email you the info you’re looking for. I’ll give you a few days to wrap your arm around everything & we will speak then. Sound good?”
Let seller you call back might sometimes be good (save time if they don’t pickup the phone).
Buy Signals
Example: “How much does that cost?” / “How long does shipping take?” / “What you say about that feature?”
When at backend of the sale: You cannot just give a short answer to a buy signal (Example: “How much does that cost?” – “It’s only $5,000.”). Instead, should use it to start a loop.
Example: It’s only $5,000 and let me tell you exactly what you’re going to get (benefit x3).
This is because “Energy in – benefit out” principle.
Early Stage Buy Signals
Do not be evasive / answer as best as you can by giving a range of prices / explain how you customize to directly suit their needs
Then move forward on straight line
If they sense buyer in a rush then give them a shorter presentation and try to close
Follow-up Method
Relentless follow-up campaign is a must.
Efficiency – follow-up only legit buyers
Structure
Normal industry: Call-1 the cold call; Call-2 & 3 the best shots at close the deal;
7+ calls to get most deals is mostly non-sense
unless exceptional case where you need multiple decision maker / complex product that needs integration with other systems – where you need multiple people to get three tens.
You need to understand your industry’s sales cycle. You could request prospect to call you (instead your follow-up).
Dead lead – recycle in 6 months / 1 year.
Drip Campaign.
If you have a change to callback, it psychologically makes you weak on the phone (not confident enough). Doesn’t push you towards closing it on the spot.
Biggest mistakes is only one modality (Example: Only Phone)
SMS is the greatest follow-up 🙂
Or Whatsapp if international
Email – not as much
Also don’t get fixated on the same time (i.e. always “follow-up at 2PM”)
Best “time curve” for follow-up
i.e. “call them – 3hrs later email – then next day SMS – then 2 days later call again etc.”
Also best time for “email to be read” similar for SMS / call.
Example: if you always call a CEO at 2PM it’s difficult. Tends to be the case their gatekeeper works set-hour (i.e. 9-5) while CEO work longer hours.
Situation: Super hot lead – but you can’t get them back on the phone later.
Work on other people on the decision chain! (If CEO interested then no longer reachable then find a director)
This is analogous to “omnipresence” in Ads
Tenets:
1. Calling based on a systematic follow-up schedule (and disciplined) don’t call beyond that.
2. Different follow-up method: SMS / call / email / snail mail / brochure. Call their different decision chain (boss / worker / colleague / family etc.)
3. Correct timing – different times of the day
4. Templates for SMS / Email – find best way of saying something.
Don’t say the same thing over & over again!
5. Make sure there’s tracking / measurement!!! Otherwise you don’t have methods for testing.
You need to be able to A/B test the follow-up schedule for example
6. When on the phone with someone, be specific about next step. i.e. I’m going to call you in a specific day/time.
If hit ratio very low, then let prospect call you instead you call prospects.
7. Keep educating prospects (testimonial / new article etc.) that will help them make a positive decision.
8. Email optimization – track open rates etc. Then optimize the head lines, for example.
9. Most salespeople will avoid cold-calling (and just follow-up old leads)
There will be a “fall down” point – i.e., after X calls, results fall down dramatically.
For people in the field, if appointment got ghosted – prospect tend to feel bad about it (because salesperson drive a long way) and closing rate is higher.
Customize the pattern based no industry
i.e. when selling a car, don’t say “Does the car make sense to you? Do you like the car?” LOL
Looping Deflection的本质 – “你喜欢我说的这个产品/解决方案吗？What do you think?”
Week 11 – Beliefs – 有点鸡肉的鸡汤
Empowering beliefs vs. Disempowering beliefs
Cycle of beliefs
Pure Potential – people are born with unlimited potential & Action
In the process of growing up, an art/drawing teacher gives JB a negative feedback & give him a limiting belief & cutoff his potential. Belief->Action->Belief downward spiral feedback.
Someone’s non-malignant comment goes into our unconscious mind to form limiting belief
Similarly – positive feedback cycle for “public speaking” for JB
Later on it becomes a conviction
Experiment – when you looking for read, that’s all you will find.
Capability Belief
Example: “I’m not good with people”.
Does into a “disempowered state” -> everything then goes wrong.
Change the meaning of the experience, i.e. sales failed, not because you’re “bad in person”, but because “you haven’t learned Straightline system yet”.
Vision vs. Goal – goal has a time limit, vision doesn’t. Vision is invested emotionally goal isn’t.
Goal isn’t emotional because you might need to re-assess and abandon
Break Limiting Belief
Pain is important motivator
Negative vs. Positive Motivators
Negative Motivator – If you don’t do it, something bad will happen
Positive Motivator – If you do it, something good will happen
Timeline Regression
Root Experience – first time limiting belief formed
Week 12 – Customers for life
Objective
1. No Buyer Remorse
2. Cross-sell
3. Walk-thru how to create repeating customers
4. Referral
Creating repeating customer by turning them into fans of the “three tens”
Technical side: onboarding
If procedures are complex (to onboard/setup), make sure someone does onboarding / at least send material, so customers feel good about get started.
Unless your production is like Apple, which has seamless/super-smooth onboarding experience.
Make sure no complication/confusion.
1. Don’t “Overpromise + underdeliver”. About management of expectations.
A – Sexy Pitch + Realistic Goal: these two aren’t mutually exclusive.
B – Energy-in & Benefit-out equation
Don’t overpromise that it’s sounds “so easy to setup”, it actually can hurt conversion ratio (buyer no longer paying after seeing its complex setup isn’t as promised).
If you pretend energy-in is much lower than in reality, when reality hits, you have a problem.
Change language-pattern, “Setup is so simple, here’s what you gotta do, and we do everything else for you”.
C – Don’t promise more & more stuff when looping if you cannot deliver.
D – Unrealistic Delivery Times
E – Customer onboarding & adoption strategies
If someone don’t engage product in first 90 days, there’s 90% chance they never will.
Healthy onboarding is two-fold: (1) new design changes to reduce friction; (2) call personally and take thru onboarding process.
2. Manage Expectations
A. Under-promise + over-deliver
B. When things don’t go according to plan, apologize on the spot, straighten out things ASAP. Reset expectations. – Effective problem solving.
See thing thru to the very end, personally.
3. Ducking phone-call would be worst thing for long-term relationship with the client. – under NO CIRCUMSTANCES can a salesperson duck a phone call.
Nuances: Keep three ten at high level, then lay foundation for cross-sells + upsells then generate referrals.
WOW your customer
1. Raise your energy level to more certainty when customer says “YES”. Making the customer feeling everything is going to play out exactly as envisioned.
Bottled enthusiasm.
Language pattern for “correct-handoff”: leave contact info + “if any problem, I am here for you”.
Without correct handoff, up-sell conversion will nose-dive.
2. Follow-up sale whenever possible. Hand-written notes are a lost art, so super effective. (Small note, heartwarming + emotional)
Ingratiator.
3. Post-closing, have a convo about what their needs are outside of just the product sold.
i.e. Family / Hobby / Follow-up questions.
Schmooze calls – just update on what’s going on, not looking to sell a single thing.
Foundation for upsell / cross-sell / referral by ingratiating yourself to this new customer & solve any needs they might have along the way.
Here’s where you can “talk about fish” to build rapport (Outside work).
Upsell conversion
There’s a bump in funnel before people enter Credit Card info
LTV of customer
You can ask referral / upsell / cross-sell on day-1 and on a periodic basis.
Usually ~2 days later.
Schmooze call once get paid + thank you note
Once we make a decision to trust, we trust fully (previously seen in Forrest Gump Pattern) – the pendulum swings “totally distrust vs. totally trust”.
So in upsell / cross-sell, customers have psychological bias to make themselves consistent. If you already trusted you via purchasing the product, they tend to buy again if you follow-up soon.
After-sale : some company profit mainly from warranty instead of the product – i.e. dishwasher, this is where after-sale shines.
JB turned the warranty compliances rate from 10% to 85%
Should treat warranty sale as its own independent sale
With full pitch + close + looping patterns
Then step-down sale (3-year -> 2-year -> 1-year)
Money is not in your list, but in your relationship with your list, otherwise spammer will be the richest person
List can get cold if you don’t touch them frequently
Customer Pathway (for upselling)
Start with cheaper / tripwire offer
Then free consultation call : find out more about the client, info-gathering session. Find out their needs & pain-points.
Then based on their needs/pains to see what pathway to guide this customer.
Assume a yearly subscription, then reach out to client 120 days before subscription expire.
Cost of revenue for new customer is typically 6~7x a returning/existing customer
Maximize LTV!
Sometimes sending customer to competitor (if it doesn’t backfire) can establish you as customer’s point of first contact whenever they have related question
Works for: men’s suits (where you sell a lot of diff SKUs), but not work for: landscaper (one job).
Thank you note
Write on the “emotional side” rather then “pure logic” side, use words that evoke emotional response (I loved/adored/genuinely liked)
i.e. Good: Thank you for the gorgeous candles, my wife absolutely adores them. We keep them right on our dining table and people always comment on how beautiful they’re.
i.e. Bad: Thanks for the candlesticks! Much appreciated!
Gift Giving
Wrong gift is poisonous
1. Show “don’t care”; 2. Indicates intention of bribing them; 3. Poisons the relationship;
Example: When JB running Stratton, phone providers try to bribe him by giving him sports tickets, which have no value to him LOL.
Wrong gift could also be what’s tied to their job
Example: giving a plumber a wrench is the worst possible gift (to remember what you’re doing everyday).
Remember their family – sometimes can make a big sale happen
Example: get a 15M order after finding out a customer who won’t budge whose kid who’s a big fan of a specific quarterback – arrange a meeting between the kid & the quarterback
Also the bigger deals, you need to try harder to pass more gate-keepers.
Use gifts correctly
7 pointers
1. Gift relates to their personal life (not business life).
2. Gift matters to them (via info-gather).
3. As visible as possible; If they see if everyday, it stays in the mind.
4. Recurring Monthly Subscription (also stay in the mind).
5. Remember their family.
6. Special situations.
7. Check the laws. (Regulations etc.)
Example: And if you research & giving plumber a fly fishing magazine subscription is great gift (assuming fishing is his hobby).
Referrals
27% customers give referrals, but 90% would give. -> Salespeople should ask!
Referrals is also a numbers game – target number of referrals each month.
Ask for referral ASAP – after the purchase (usual mistake is wait too long).
People love you give referrals if they know you’re the real deal.
Explain what type of people you’re asking them to refer
Don’t assume they know the target type of people to be referred.
Ask referrer for intro rather than just contact info (higher credibility / higher conversion rate).
In person / phone call / CC-on-email.
Effective language for referral
1. Use “Introduce” rather than “Refer” – refer has a salesy meaning to it.
2. Use “Help” rather than “Get/Give” – “Do you know someone I can help out?” / “Someone I can help with my service?”
Friends + Family + Neighbors + Business Associates (use all four categories in one sentence) – Tend to embarrass them into taking action
If possible, reward them for support (i.e. kick-back)
Look at referral as ongoing business (Keep asking instead of one-off).
Overcome objections when customer say “I just closed, I don’t know about it yet”.
Example Overcome: “No worries, in a few weeks, when you see how awesome this is, I’ll ask for referral”.
Epilogue
Four levels of knowledge
Unconsciously incompetent: you don’t know what you don’t know.
Consciously incompetent: You now know there’s “this concept” that you don’t know and you can learn about.
Consciously competent: Use your conscious mind, you can use the knowledge (i.e. Straightline).
Unconsciously competent: The unconsciously mind will auto-run the knowledge. Practice makes perfect!
Misc – the sample selling interview with an actor who’s instructed to “not order”.
Frame: Bank Salesman acquiring new clients for FX functionality
Analysis
Info Gathering
Keywords: China, Company Structure (who manage what), Supply Chain/Integration, business strategy
Ask good questions in the process
Give useful advise about business strategy (china expansion)
Another client success story to show the company’s ability to perform
Then also make sure mention the difference in industry, in specific tactics
Till 9:37 in video
Closing
Attack-1: Just do one thing for the client – current + commodity hedging
Do one thing really well + start small (give me one shot) 30 days
“If I’m half as good as I say, I believe you’ll be moving all your business to me after that. That sound fair enough?”
Client-1: I’m not particularly worried about what we’re going in that space. What are you thinking you would be doing?”
JB: “Does the overall idea, …, does that appeal to you?”
Client-2: “I guess it does, it just depends on the costs”
JB: Of course in the end it’s always the cost, but also the value you get from the cost. But one of the things we pride ourselves on / the true beauty of what we do … (1) Keep cost down as much as possible, [Examples] (2) we also look at 3-5 years down the road, because sometimes the cheapest money is not the best money – example: do it this way you might save three basis points more, or you can pay two basis points more and be on alliance with top people in china, be more flexible with terms, and allow you to grow to a bigger company [long-term network construction benefits].
Does that make sense to you? Do you like that problem?
Client-3: In theory it sounds good, it sounds like you deal with a lot of big companies, we’re not a huge company. I’m wondering if it’s a bit too much or too complex for us right now. We have pretty simple model. I’m just not sure.
JB-3: Let me say this, I hear what you’re saying and I’d like to pride myself on the guy who takes medium sized company into big companies
Acknowledge that “throw the baby into bathwater” would be crazy
[Long term Asset] I want to be the guy that takes you from 50 to 500 million. And in that area, I know I can be a major asset to you because we can do for you besides in [Business Activities 1,2,3]
We can be an asset to your company over the long term and I pride myself on holding my clients every step of the way
[Long term relationship] You know I’m based on referral / I’m not a cold-calling machine, it’s all long-term relationships, I know I’m going to be judged on – 30 days, if I stink you’ll fire me we’ll never speak again.
[Not getting rich in this deal, but really looking for long term collaboration] And just let you know my commission on 30 days of business … I cannot even take my wife for lunch in Australia. I’m not getting rich.
But I know this, If you see what I can do for you in one month just small you’re not getting rich or poor but the percentage gain – you’ll see a broker who’s goinng to work for you harder / more diligent than anyone ever has then down the road – we can really get to know do bigger opportunities together – bigger & better down the road
That sound fair enough?
Client-4: What do you think is possible within 30 days?
JB-4: Not a question of money but percentage savings. Let me ask you a question – how much you’re hedging on a monthly basis right now.
Client-5: blahblah, FX
JB-5: Expert frame in FX. The biggest, I wouldn’t say fraud, the biggest way for you to get clipped as a businessman is in the foreign currency markets.
We do blahblahblah, and the money we’ll save you, percentage wise, is staggering. Not 10 extra Million on your bottom line but in a riskless way it will show you, I am doing this way right now and this guy comes in with a very small transaction and show me I can save literally 30-40% amount of money.
Which shows I know what I’m doing, and then let’s talk about bigger & better where I could really save you bigger money down the road.
Give me one shot, let me just run 30 days hedging your money show you how you can …, and believe me you’ll be very very impressed.
Client-6: I am just a little bit cautious I don’t know anything about your company, …
JB-6: Let me ask you a question, if I’ve been your broker for the last 3-4 years, making you money on a consistent basis, if I run a bond strategy for you, etcetc. – you probably wouldn’t be saying let me think about it right now. You say Jordan just take over. Am I right about that?
Client-7: if we had a relationship. Yea.
JB-7: [Forest Gump Pattern] Of course you don’t know me I don’t have a track record. Let me just reintroduce myself a little bit, tell you about myself, my name is Jordan Belfort, I’ve been with LMK bank for 6 years now, I’m a top salesman in my company. I pride myself on actually going after the ppl that I know I can help.
And I will find the absolutely best person in my staple. [Elaborate more] Guide you every step of the way. etcetc. – just a phone call away.
[Add trust to company] As far as LMK goes, you know, all term relationship that’s all we’ve built them, oldest merchant bank in Australia, 1886, obviously we don’t get where we’re by burning our clients and we don’t get by “30 day trial then see you later”. We earned our client’s trust by being right / diligent / not risking their money.
JB-8: [Worst case scenario downplay] What’s the worst that could happen? Let’s say at the end of the day you don’t make any more money, let’s say you lose 1 bp. I’m wrong, you just say Jordan you are full of it, didn’t work, you fire me. Is that going to put you in the poor house as a company? Client: No.
JB: Of course not, then [Best case scenario up-play]. Let’s say I’m right, I can show you a 25% return, and you’re like “etc.” (amazed). It’s not going to make you the richest company in Australia. It’s not going to make you rich / make you poor but what I will do is to serve as a benchmark for future business.
So All I’m asking is this – one shot, give me 30 days, okay, if I’m wrong, you fire me as your broker, not only we do bigger & better deals but I’m going to ask you for some referrals.
Client-8: Sounds interesting, here’s my concern. We go to business who else are we going to deal with, you’re a big company [you’re not handling the account yourself].
We’re not a big bank, not [example] that’s so ridiculously impersonal. [Example: Press one for something]. We’re a family banking model, fit so well with your business model.
If I want to introduce you with someone else, they’ll be with me. Example: if someone has a new algorithm to save more basis points. Give more detailed example.
All I’m asking is this, I’m not asking to be married right now, I believe in starting small because I know I can prove myself to you.
I’m not saying I want all of your business and fire the existing vendor, you’re going to say GTFO. But I’m not saying that, what I’m saying is I’m confident if you just see a little bit of what I can do, you can use that as a benchmark to go forward.
So I am asking one shot for 30 days, and you’ll be a client for life. Sounds fair enough?
Scripts Builder System (Component-6)
Video Lecture
Why script
Tonality + body language
Smacking the hands – is a gesture JB use to express certainty
Scripts makes sales people more able to focus on “unconscious part of the communication”, since they already know what to say
Greeting + reason why calling + ask for permission to qualify
First four seconds – opening impression. Expert with bottled enthusiasm.
Also break the buyer’s state – elevate them to a higher state.
2. Body
Don’t front-load
Main body should be short (1/2 ~ 3/4 page)
Benefits not features
After saying one powerful statement, need to check back with client “you follow me so far”? – otherwise 3 consecutive powerful statement start to lose their power.
Dialog not monolog
Make prospect into the habit of saying yes.
If people reply no, you don’t want to move forward, because that would break rapport.
Don’t use buzzwords to talk above somebody and make them tune-out, be natural with expert frame.
Practice + Iterate the sales script.
3. Use language patterns to close the deal
i.e. increase certainty of the product or person or company
Example language patterns:
1. [Tone of absolute certainty] just give me a shot & believe me, even if I am half right, … [Tone of sincerety] the only problem you have is I didn’t call you six months ago, [Reasonable man – no big deal] Sound fair enough?
2. Open: [Tone – mystery] the reason for the call today is to [+ justifier].
3. Qualify: [Tone – not a big deal – a tonality not in the above ten] How much money you’re liquid for, just a ballpark
4. Transition: [Tone – absolute certainty] Based on your description, this product is definitely for you.
5. Close: Getting started is very simple, no big deal to get started [Based on energy in benefits out].
6. Rebuttal language pattern: Deflection – [Money Aside] “Does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea?” – beginning to re-sell.
7. Rich Man / Poor Man – what’s the worst that could possible happen. What it will do is serve as a benchmark for future business.
Combine it together with future pacing: i.e. long-term relationship, what else I can do for you.
3. The close
Video-4:
Example in Video-4: Bottled Enthusiasm
Even whisper is so powerful
Basic Transition Word:
Now / Well, i.e.: Now, the reason for the call…
The goal is pause & change tonality
Micro-agreement
Iterating script on the fly
i.e. cross out “electricians” because tongue-twister
i.e. add transition word “now”.
Simplified Rebuttal (~5 page) PDF
I actually think the rebuttal script seems shallow & overly aggressive – not recommend. I wonder if it’s written by someone else.
Basic Structure of script
Opening
Justifier – “The reason for the call today…”
Create some sort of urgency in the justifier
This justifier is first “close”
Example:
We have 100 new customers each week in the area, and we’re looking for 2 plumbers to send business to.
After opening, go to info-gathering process:
1. What client is currently doing
2. Their problems/challenges right now
3. Their pain points
Combo of big picture + specific questions
Key in info-gather, is from less invasive questions to more invasive questions.
Not only identify needs from customer, but raise their pain!
Example question: “What’s the biggest questions you’re facing right now?” / “What’s not working?” / “What has been the result of that?” / “What will happen if you don’t do anything?”
Transition
“Based on everything you told me, this seems to be a perfect fit for you!”
Ask for permission to share the program – then give a couple of bullets about the program.
When two-call system, end of first call might be getting email address to send more info about the program and follow up in a couple of days.
Body
Find out the problem – Amplify the pain & wait for a bit
Urgency again – you don’t offer the same price if they call back 3 days later.
Looping – turn objection into close
One question would be in “two call system”, how to start the second call – you shouldn’t just “spit out an offer number – 应该有铺垫”. Want them to be in an amplified pain emotional state until almost the close.
Example:
Opening of second call – sent a free report – does that ring a bell?
Don’t ask if they read it, because they might have not, which means it would be a callback.
The reason for the call today – maybe a special promotion. [Another justifier]
Also add some urgency optonally.
Main body of the presentation – giving features & benefits, ask if they follow so far afterwards.
Then refer back to some info in the gathered info. Check again.
Also raise their pain in the process.
Benefit not feature:
Feature is for example your website shows up on page-1, benefit is customers find you.
Transition to close: make it sound simple – because “energy in benefit out”
First close, “And believe me, XX, even if you do even half as well as the plumbers in the program, you’re going to be very, very impressed. Sounds fair enough?” [Thinking this as a trial close]
Before second close, show customer in an extremely benefit driven way how you can help the customer. [Stop point after the benefit]
Cash out is “Only X dollars”, & reframe cost as “cash outlay” / “investment”.
Show how the company does business with people “just like them”. (i.e. other plumbers is prospect is plumber)
When selling guarantees (regarding what if there’s no ROI / the worst case scenario), want to add a language pattern “but believe me, that’s not going to happen here. Even if you do half as well as the other plumbers in the program, your only problem is you didn’t call us 6 months earlier. Sounds fair enough?”
Rebuttal / Looping
Deflection: I hear what you’re saying, but let me ask you a question: Does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea?
Specific “I hear vs. I understand” what you’re saying
If they say a specific reason – I’m short on money / I’m busy but can I call you back later? – use “I understand”.
But if they say “let me think about it” – use “I hear”. Because you don’t understand.
Pace-pace-lead
“Exactly, the true beauty of the program is that, [Add Ammunition]”
Example of air-tight logical case: break the cost vs. profit for the program by numbers.
In the end, use tonality of “implied obviousness” – amazing return / you will make money with it.
Language pattern to add certainty to person / company:
Now, let me ask you this, if I’ve your advisor for the past few years, making you money on a consistent basis – I mean, let’s say …, you probably wouldn’t be saying, let me think about it, ___? You would be jumping thru the phone, to sign up. Am I right?
The I mean here is important, that means you come up with this example in real-time “in-the-moment” convo.
(In the rare case) If they say no, then use “calling the prospect on his stuff” pattern
Wait a second, you mean to tell me that, if three years ago, I’d put you into a direct mail campaign that you made a bloody fortune with it or [Example-2] too, you wouldn’t be saying, “Where do I sign up, Jordan? I mean – come on! Honestly!”
Forest Gump Language Pattern
Forest Gump Pattern combined with company (the third ten)
Final asking for order – tonality of reasonableness, not beating around the bush – certainty + calm + reasonable.
Additional Tips
Oftentimes, Sales is about being mellow & persuasive thru using tonalities that’s pleasing to the ear & insert subliminal messages
Building rapport := gather massive intelligence while empowering clients.
Language pattern := one or two paragraphs that have defined end and beginning. i.e. increase one of the three tens.
Using colloquialism to make the script sound better
i.e. up & running, ringing like crazy, soups to nuts.
Sound better: pay attention to syllables, beats, pauses.
Adapting to industry & sales team
Use language of the industry
Train sales team until they’re unconsciously competent
Different between inbound calls vs. telemarketing calls
Whether the prospective is already interested
The first paragraph in cold-call is really seeing if the person is interested
Calling back a lead
Need to “re-qualify” to create consistency: “If you recall, we spoke on this day” + “the reason for the call is that”.
Scripts
#1 – `In home confirmation script – seems like a scam lol, not much learned – essentially qualification + conversion to in-person appointment.
#2 – Website data script – Essentially same as #1, just more data gathering + qualification
#3 – Forex Opening – info gathering demonstrates a good example of less invasive to more invasive questions (how much are you liquid for?)
Very script is actually very good – one call system. Very straight-line style.
Good thing – this product isn’t a “subscription model” but rather one-off (rip-off LOL).
#4 – Forex first rebuttal
Deflection – “Does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea?”
Then add the ammunition
Ammu-1 Elaborate institution money as “smart money”, and this program allows the customer’s money to follow the smart money.
Ammu-2 The company’s founder as “most astute trader in Forex Market” and this program is literally turnkey.
Then depends on whether the person agrees enthusiastically / still want to think about it
If agrees enthusiastically:
Then Ammu-3: if I have been your X for the past three years, making you money on a consistent basis…
And if they say no, add additional “Wait-a-second, … I mean, come on, honestly!” pattern
Then Ammu-4: Forrest Gump Pattern for self (top producer + long-term relationship) + sell the company
Then Ammu-5: Sell the training session’s trainer as top trainer.
Then try close again.
“Cash outlay” Not Cost – reframe as “a few day’s trading profit once you get started”
“Even you do half as well as …” Pattern as well.
Otherwise still wants to think about it
1. Callback Rebuttal – in the process also evoke some pain (stuck in daily grind and take no action).
2. Add urgency by saying timing is important, and say now all the “fundamental & technical factors are in your favor”.
#5 – Hedge Fund Opening
Give information about what’s hedge fund
Investment vehicle for the financial elite – i.e. some rich guy example.
Goal : send info about the hedge fund
Info gather: less invasive to most invasive
#6 – Hedge Fund Closing
The reason I’m calling – add urgency by saying a “good flagship fund is closing out” – powerful hedging strategy with very little downside risk. If you have sixty second, John, I’d like to share the opportunity with you. You got a minute?
Then remind the previous convo with colleague – currently where client’s money is located in.
Then review with the client based on previous info-gathered, ask a few question, with tonality of a doctor reviewing intake from nurse. To establish expert frame + build rapport.
After that, “this program is definitely a perfect fit for you.” Then give brief background about fund + strategy.
Ammunition for the first closing
Ammu-1: Hottest model, the biggest banks/brokers are also doing it to give retail clients the “staggering returns” they get for their institutional
Ammu-2: Hedge fund: professional traders, with very strict set of risk protocols, get percentage return you’re looking for without getting your principles wiped out,
Ammu-3: Hedge fund only takes cut in profit. Compared to stockbroker takes cuts whether its profits / losses.
Ammu-4: Give numerical examples to make an airtight logical case. (assuming 50% ROI yearly LOL).
Ammu-5: Waive 1% management fee if don’t profit by 10% in each year. Which means interest perfectly aligned.
Ammu-6: Using client’s info, i.e. currently getting 3% ROI in a pension fund, while we can get you 10%-20% return, completely tax free btw. That’s obviously something you would be interested in, correct?
Ammu-7: Spread-betting model: fundamental + technical analysis – to establish more expert frame.
Ammu-8: Put “Hedge fund” on Pedestal: In the past, these models are strictly for institutional hedge funds and large money-center banks, only catering ultra-wealthy, minimum investment at least $1MM.
Ammu-9: Summary + mention the urgency (close out the fund). And the flagship fund return is nothing short of staggering.
#Ammu-10: Easy to create account (just some basic info). Easy to monitor profit (Computer / Phone / APP). Also sell the brokerage firm a bit (>3B capital, >50 years). Watch your profits grow!
Then try to close (“If you do half as well as the rest of our clients in this program, you’re going to be very, very impressed. Sounds fair enough?”)
#7 – Hedge Fund Rebuttal
Deflection first
Ammu-1: Institutional money is smart money
Ammu-2: Trend + Liquidity: In stock market, you go with trend, no “piss into the wind”. This fund invest in “Blue chips”, if you need money, it’s literally a call away.
Ammu-3: Head trader X has impeccable reputation. [His Resume] Run a trading desk in a big bank. Master at disciplined trading, fighting for every penny, on every single trade. Combined with Leverage 10 to 1, not paying tax on any profits -> Incredible strategy.
Then depends on if they agree enthusiastically or no
If agree:
Personally (If I were to make you money in past 3 years consistent basis) + its following “come on! Seriously!” if needed.
Forrest Gump pattern for self + company
Step-down sale: $10K initial deposit instead of $25K
Finally “If you do even half as well as the rest ,…”
Otherwise no:
Callback rebuttal – huge upside (how much money you can make over long-term, and how many problems that will solve) vs. stuck in the daily grind again & won’t call back.
Timing – fundamental & technical + bluechip etc.
Even more step-down sale: 5K instead of 10K.
After step-down sale combined with worst case / best case analysis.
Not make you rich/poor but to serve as a benchmark for future business, be a long-term asset for you/your family – “Does losing $1.5K going to put you in the poor house? No of course not, but upside maybe $5K if you double it. It will not make you the richest man in town.”
If I’m wrong, and you lose a few dollars, you can fire me and we part as friends.
Since mention the worst case – need to add “but Believe me, that’s not to be happening here. Because if you do even half as well…”
#8 – Solar Sales Opening
This actually seems (by itself) to be a one-call close script
妙点
1. In Info-gathering questions, “Would cutting that bill down to zero and getting a $7,500 rebate from the gov be something you would be interested in?”
2. Since this is not a “profit / stock market” situation, you can say “even half as thrilled as the rest of the customers who made this switch, the only problem you’ll have is that I didn’t call you six months ago and get you started then.”
Ammus
Ammu-1: Kiss electric bill good-by & get paid by utility company
Ammu-2: Simple installation
Ammu-3: Different levels of installation (cheaper vs. more expensive)
Ammu-1 Electricity raising at ~10% in past three years, and projected to raise at staggering 62%, it will soon look like extortion money LOL
Ammu-2 Don’t know how long the gov rebate will be around – add urgency
#10 – Solar Sales Rebuttal
Deflection first – “Does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the program?”
Ammus
Ammu-1: Not only helps your pocketbook but also helps environment. Win-win situation.
Ammu-2: Cashflow perspective (additional): Between Gov rebate + Interest-free financing, cashflow not impacted by a bit.
Additional-Ammu-3: Price increase; Once switch to solar, no longer at risk for this.
Forrest Gump Pattern – “Half as thrilled as the rest… ”
Plus the company intro
#11 Driver Operations – Cert III (Some Australia Commercial Driving)
Business model – mostly state funded commercial driver program. With $20 student fee for a nominally $3K class.
Mostly qualification, then ammus
Transition from qualification to ammus: “All I need is some basic info, to fill out the application, then we’ll handle everything else after that. But, first, real quick let me tell you a little bit more about the actual training, because it’s totally awesome. It’ll take me less than sixty seconds, sound good?”
Ammus:
Ammu-1: Training done at your convenience, we come to you.
Ammu-2: Training has ideally no downtime. (You already know 80-90% of it after X years of normal driving, we just train the “gaps”)
Frame: you already paid the fee out of your tax dollar, so it’s important to us that you get every bit of value out of it.
“If you’re even half as thrilled …”
#12 Plumber Cold-Call
Sexy company intro + urgency in “the reason for the call today” (by saying looking for two local plumbers to send the business to.)
Info gather + ask for permission to share the program + benefit + gather email&phone.
#13 Sell to Company “head of employee training” for a program to train employees for national skills list.
Opening script – qualification questions
Seems a bit weak
#14 FX trading program
Sexy opening about the program + qualification questions (less to more invasive, till “how much do you have liquid”?)
Ammus
Ammu-1: Program is fully automated – simple – set & forget
Ammu-2: In the past the strategy only used by “big money”. i.e. Goldman use similar strategies to make hundreds of Millions per month etc.
Ammu-3: Small investment, only $5K initially, upside blahblah.
Ammu-4: Simple to setup the program. “If you do even half as well as the other people in the program…”
If “think about it” send E-brochure.
#15 Sell to Company “head of employee training” for a program to train employees for national skills list script again (same as #13)
Depending on strong vs. weak referral – strong referral can appear more personal
Conversion is again to in-person appt
#16 FX opening script
Essentially same as previous FX opening script (but weaker it seems)
#17 Yet another retail hedge fund closing script, almost the same as #5-#7
Just start with “customer downloaded a free e-book” to start the call. Otherwise identical.
Weekly Q&A
Episode-1, about looping
Salesperson’s core skill to convert people sitting on the fence to conversion
Sales is about transferring emotion – mostly – certainty
Objection is smokescreen for uncertainty
If the salesperson isn’t mentally prepared when facing the first objection, it will show in their subsequent action – i.e. “What exactly do you want to think about?” (Bad)
Should do “deflection” (money-aside tone)
ForrestGump Pattern + Company Pattern
Encounter objection hopping – rebuttal book (second time you cannot deflect, but must rebuttal)
What does rebuttal do – purpose is to “earn you the right to speak more”
Example rebuttal (callback at second) – I’ve been doing this for quite some time now, one thing I’ve seen, is that when someone tells me they will call me back, think about it, they almost never do. Not because they don’t like the idea, but because they just go back to their busy life and decide against it.
Then loop back to “John let me say this – sell the first ten again” (need to make sure enough ammu)
Later on ammunition – can future pace them.
Pain – i.e. just imagine two years from now, if the problem isn’t resolved…
Got interrupted before presentation – it likely about the opening impression + stray-off the straightline
One language pattern right after deflection / rebuttal
“Exactly, the true beauty of it is…”
Tri-tonal closing pattern
[Tone: Absolute Certainty] And John, believe me, + [Tone: Sincerety] the only problem you have you didn’t buy more. + [Tone: Reasonable Man] Sounds fair enough?
Episode-2 Tonality
Type-1: Absolute Certainty
Type-2: Sincerety, “and believe me, the only problem you have is …”
Type-3: Reasonable Man
Type-4: Scarcity
Type-5: Money Aside
Type-6: Question vs. Declarative
Type-7: I care / I feel your pain – info gathering session.
Absolute certainty is the wrong tonality (“What’s really bothering you? What will happen to your kids if you die right now?”) [Sounds like an ass-h**e and don’t give a sh*t]
I care tonality – care about their family.
Type-8: Implied obviousness, “you will make money with this”
This is useful in “looping”, when you stack this together with other benefits.
Type-9: I really want to know – i.e. “How’re you doing today?” (Instead of not giving a shit)
Type-10: Mystery & Intrigue
Tonality Principle: When using tonality, it causes prospect to hear additional words on top of words you say.
Example: “Phrasing a declarative as a question” – will cause customer to hear “right? right?”
Q&A
When using straightline tonality – sound like a scam.
Too much certainty, not much sincerety.
Also “Pace pace lead”.
VM tonality
Keep it short, with some uptones (don’t say “I am from XYZ, selling ABC product”)
Other guru – Dan Lok – high ticket sales (never ask order, never ask how’s it going today)
JB speaks lowly of Dan Lok – judge it as pure idiocy
When what you’re selling is commoditized (i.e. coca cola / beer) where what matters only is price
It’s not just about price, but also about customer service / relation etc.
When writing emails, make sure tonality comes across.
SMS are shorter, be short & concise, but no closing on the SMS.
Gatekeeper bypass – give them less info – i.e. “Is john there?” (Sound familiar + casual)
Episode-3 Prospecting
Structure
The front half of the sale is usually 1/3 of the timeline (determine by first time asking for order)
Key to front half is intelligence gathering + rapport building, key to later half is looping
Info gathering – find out their pain (that keeps them up at night) & resolve that pain
Prospecting is front half, Looping is second half.
Prospecting – sifting analogy
“Wood lead” – looks like a lead, not really a lead
Lead is the fuel of the sales system.
Prospecting is where you build rapport
Each question need a different tonality, if you use the right tonality, you build rapport. Wrong tonality, break rapport.
Super important (another secret) – build rapport when gathering intelligence
Show interest in the other person
Example effect: I am just like you (we see the worlds in the same way), I am trust-worthy.
For buyers in power (type-2) – You need to “find pain” first in order to “amplify pain” later down the sale.
Q&A
Diff between closing a 2K vs. 20K deal
Well it depends on how rich the customer is, so a more accurate question is big-ticket vs. small-ticket item
Most elements are same, diffs might be (for a bigger-ticket item):
More decision maker involved;
The impact/implication of the purchase (i.e. luxury item for self vs. infra that need to be integrated company-wide) – specifically, what can go wrong.
Customer’s limiting belief
Example 1: I don’t trust salespeople.
Example 2: I don’t think good decisions are made quickly / good decision I believe are made slowly.
So likely if blocked by customer’s limiting belief, probably you front half hasn’t done enough.
NLP – Bandler’s the best! Though there’s a lot of bogus trainers claiming to be helpful in NLP as well!
Necessity of Question – do I really need to ask this question (to close the deal)?
Tonality on Paper – i.e. writing books. In direct marketing / copywriting application.
Using scripts are how you “quality control” the sales presentation. Most people’s presentation is bad most of time (good presentation is exception rather than a rule)
Strategic Prep
Preparing every possible outcome of the sale, and convert it into a template to convert the prospect.
Script – a union of ten best presentations.
Energy in benefits out equation.
Ppl increase certainty step by step, not in one shot
Sell by story
By comparison/metaphor, some stock will bounce back just like some other stock in history
Create urgency in offer
Soft close – no pressure method
Absolute certainty -> Sincerety/Genuine -> Reasonable Man
Pressure in closing doesn’t work (i.e. only absolute certainty)
Energy-in & benefit-out: make the process so simple & easy (i.e. Amazon’s one click buy button)
Q&A
What if your product has a lot of bad reviews on internet?
Front that in main body of script, include positive testimonials
Hire a Company that manage reputation and population front page of google with positive things!
Sales & Marketing
Active part of any business
Mock Role-play of script is very effective
Any variation on the script? Yes, based on answers of Questions in info-gather, you want to tailor your presentation a little bit.
If customer don’t like the price point, sound like an expert, and offer some customized solution/product.
Make it easier to buyer to buy via payments/financing plans (to get the starting cost low).
Limiting beliefs from prospective are most likely they don’t trust the salesperson
Good question + active listening in info-gathering to build rapport
In Looping,
(1) with guarantees, cancellation period to protect the buyer. Protect the downside.
(2) run a different looping. What’s the worst that can possible happen. “Not going to put you into the poor house”
(3) Step down sale.
Straightline is not just for making money, but also for dating LOL (or human influence in general).
If a women don’t like a guy after first date, most likely she will say “All he talks about is himself”. (Lack of active listening).
Similar rapport building technique by asking good question + active listening.
Episode-5 : Transfer certainty (both logical & emotional)
Logical Certainty: You can explain it clearly to someone else if you understand it;
Car Example: Values in the car, others with same feature more expensive.
Emotional Certainty: it’s a gut feeling;
See yourself six months in the future, using your product (i.e. car), imagine yourself driving down the road, feeling the wind, sexy/gorgeous girl sitting next to you – feels like a million bucks.
Generated from (1) future pacing; (2) tonality (pace+pace+lead);
To influence somebody, you have to enter their world where they are (Pace+Pace+Lead).
If you don’t enter with similar level of enthusiasm (too much), it will break rapport.
Loop-1: Pace-Pace-Lead
(The best logical case) Logical based secondary presentation. Words for logical certainty, pace-pace-lead for emotional.
End of loop-1 goal: 9-10 on logical scale; 6-7 on emotional scale;
Loop-2: Future Pacing
Loop-3: Add pain
Q&A
How to do the tonality correctly? (i.e. certainty)
Connect with body language, certainty actually lowers the voice instead of yelling
Accent: as long as English is impeccable, accent doesn’t matter.
Episode-6: Return business
Example – Plumber increase sale: use “free check of your plumbing system” then upsell once finding new errors in plumbing system.
Existing customer return is very good ROI compared to attracting new customer
Prospect vs. Customer : the “hell” story LOL (prospect – stratton level “party”, customer – tied to a wall)
After converting prospect to customer, want to incubate relationship (talk about life) a bit more.
Strategic gift giving
Q&A
Ask for order – tri-tonal pattern. Absolute certainty (and Believe me, Jim) -> Sincerety (…I didn’t call you six month ago) -> Reasonable Man (Sounds fair enough).
When can you start gifting
First – thank you note.
One minute salesperson – somewhat helpful salesperson
Gift – price point
Not bribe – not supposed to be wildly expensive, usually < $100
Not bribe because your product is inferior
Episode-7: Looping
Three ten certainty can drop over the minutes during the sales process
How to prevent “狗熊掰棒子” 的 certainty decay – via looping
This is “boxing” (多维度攻击) logical + emotional + beliefs etc. to sell
Expect objection
Deflection to detect certainty level.
Forrest Gump Pattern (about trust) only after logical case has been established (i.e. the prospect agree this project logically sound)
Certainty will wane (i.e. over three minute for example when upside/downside movie play) – you need build back three tens again then close
Make yourself / your company look a lot bigger than you are via marketing/branding without outright lie (tell the best version of the truth).
Small company as advantage (close to people / move quickly / personal).
Know the negotiating landscape – make sure you know what a good deal looks like in your industry. Mentorship important.
The “intangible” of the deal (identified using the strategic prep) – i.e. the status. Example: in Stratton-Oakmont, the most important thing is a parking lot. Who has parking lot has status.
Give them things that matter a lot to them (intangible) but that doesn’t cost you anything.
Seek win-win of deal
Otherwise if the deal is so good it’s unsustainable, the buyer will break the deal.
Example – JB got 85% of the shoe-maker Steve Madden’s deal, the deal is unsustainable because he got too much control of the company. Steve should get more actually.
一战之后的凡尔赛和约 – 盟军 get way too good a deal, but not sustainable because Germany unhappy.
Episode-8 Body Language
Body language is important – most powerful of selling stuff online is video – there’s body language in video.
Man to man (same sex) – don’t frontal face, but side face (90% angle) + hands-down (non aggressive)
when in seat, side body by 10-degree or so
otherwise unconsciously break rapport
Man to woman (oppo sex) – hand above waist level + frontal
Space bubble
2.5-3 feet western, 2 feet east asia
retail sales, if invade customer sales bubble, customer back-up
Too far is also bad – “something to hide” perception
Dressing – just look professional (industry dependent)
Plumbing company – upsell emergency call into free inspection – 1K fix
Plumber as salesperson – uniform matters
Good sales plumber on emergency call to upsell + bad ones only on manual labor.
Handshaking – if want to add extra warmth, use two-hands
Eye contact – 72% optimal
When to break eye contact is strategic timing, i.e. 捂住下巴若有所思的时候向下看
Listener body posture – lean forward for logical, lean backward for emotional
Episode-9 – Inner State Mgmt – Mostly Skip
Episode-10 – How to tell a story
1. Pattern Interrupt – unexpected beginning to grab attention
2. Don’t be afraid to tell personal story, personal story has bigger impact
Every day’s a story, practice the habit of telling stories
3. Active dialogue
Not someone said something, but in the present mode (present tense) of someone saying something, like acting.
4. Detail of story
Colors / textures etc.
Bad story-tellers often under-describe (i.e. a beautiful house)
5. Tonality of the moment
Sound like the character
Sell stocks via story (story about another stock that hit the rock-bottom and bounce back)
6. Frame the listener about the story (i.e. strange things inside)
Episode-11: 掺水 / 访谈
Episode-12: Vision – Mostly Skip
Episode-13: Straightline Wealth & Success Index
Inner world
State Mgmt: Managing emotional state (total score 10)
Statement Mgmt: Emotional State -> unlock ability/skill
Empowering beliefs – about money (total score 10)
Play offense vs. defense
Vision / Focus (total score 10)
The Why behind the vision
Scouting opportunity
Standard (total score 10)
Low Standard – happy making $75K/year
Champagne vision & Beer vision
Dreamer: bad
Champagne standard & Beer standard
Making money achiever but don’t feel inspired
Outer world
1. Entrepreneurship (total score 15)
How to test business ideas via low downside (not all-in/blow-up) + how to scale up a business
2. Marketing – online + offline (total score 15)
3. Sales (total score 20)
World-class closer 16, JB 20. Average OK after straightline training 10.
4. Multiple sources of income (total score 10)
Four categories of result
90 & plus: Money Magicians, 无中生有 / 东山再起之力
80-89 : bulldozer – achievers but not yet delegated elegantly, i.e. need to worry about business while on vacation
70-79 : grinder
Work hard & not yet results
Limiting belief – don’t work for me
69 & minus: eekers
Running life month to month / i.e. worry about credit card bills etc.
Episode-14: Vision – Standard Consistency
Example {Champaign/Beer} {Vision/Standard} Mismatch
Q&A
What if people say No? Professional sales people don’t try to turn non-buyers into buyers. (Waste of time, lead gen need stronger)
People follow-you by your vision, not your goal
FB ads, organic ads are the best – Ads cheaper if it has high relevance store (10/10)
Don’t sell Gucci T-shirt in local gas station, even if it’s half priced (nobody will buy it) – i.e. wolf of wall street talk about success make money etc.
Video > Pic
Story consistent with video/pic and makes sense
Custom Audience
Ad must connect to landing page (context / headline etc.) should be all same
Consistent testing
Episode-15: Goal-setting
Start with emotionally charged vision
Success is to learn the lessons without blowed out (小成本试错)
Goals need to be a stretch (i.e. 1M subscriber)
What is stretch? If everything goals right, you might achieve it
Irrational goals makes goal-setter hard to believe and defeats its purpose
Daily goal need to be productivity goals – i.e. first layer (efforts) to the funnel
Longer term goal, review and see what’s going right/wrong
Goal needs to have a date
One year ago comparison
Goal – reverse engineer to find what people/skill/group needed
Reverse Engineer
Future pacing to identify needed components
Create plan – bias to action
Analyze results
If have setback (more likely in beginning) – don’t fall into disempowered state – make bad decisions
Make change on step at a time (test driven) – be objective, otherwise you don’t know what went wrong
Fail elegantly
Initially (testing phase) – low overhead
Cashflow first – don’t buy six months of supply, instead get a short term contract and buy it everyday
Fail elegantly -> Succeeding wildly
Switch once results works
Episode 16: Prospecting
People who do prospecting very well won’t be bad in sales
Against opener / closer division
Big quantity in prospecting
Prospecting converts buyer in power to buyer in heat via amplify pain
Episode 17: Overhaul of the program
How JB would vet the sales system
1. Sales/Marketing Cycle
2. Tonality
3. Scripts
4. Overcome Objections (Ppl sitting on the fence)
5. Referral / Affiliate Programs
6. Provide leads to sales or not
Sales process – active listening + tonality to get rapport
Q&A
build leads for RE: open house – ask “btw, are you looking for a house in next 6 months?”
Episode 18 (Serial-number 37): Tonality + Unconscious Communication
In prospecting – each question has it best / canonical tonality
Tonality – create emotion
Control people’s monologue (self-talk)
Example: in opening, client might have monologue with “another salesman” vs. “mind-in-search-mode”
Pattern interrupt: unexpected disrupts defensive people (with good opening)
Two sales going on at same time, sale to conscious mind & sale to unconscious mind
Example: Leo’s “Magnetic Zone” in Wolf-of-wallstreet movie
Presupposing tone (干货!)
take success/failure out of picture, talk about auxiliary benefits
Assuming after air-tight logical case, with product’s primary + secondary selling point: when people on the fence after primary point, use “presupposing tone” to convert
Q&A
If price too different (i.e. $100 vs. $175), Straightline won’t help 🙂
Straightline is more 10-20% edge
Confirm appointment / not
not confirm – if ghosted, people feel guilty but if too many cancellation then do it – this is a trade-off after all
Tonality for dating
Normal vs. Power-whisper “you’re hot”
For women: more important is “not saying stupid shit”
When you encounter objection in your script, how do you debug / optimize the script.
Example problem: Marketing agency have objection from client “I’ve done FB ads before, it’s too expensive!”
Use “a proprietary algorithm” to greatly reduce the cost of FB marketing for business owners
Sales process
Info gathering (until first ask for order) is collaborative; Closing is zero-sum like.
Different product have different levels of difficulty to sell, example of very bad reputation product (i.e. time-share) are harder to sell because of notoriety.
When selling to business owners (i.e. as a marketing agency), got to talk like a business owner to win.
Important metric in EComm : LTV (life time value) of custom and cashflow (i.e. credit card might hold 3 days)
Product Positioning/Branding: make the description sexy: i.e. “proprietary two step push-pull method” instead of “marketing for small business owners”
Designing the program so to help the owners increase cashflow instead of decrease cashflow
Not only increase customer, but also increase LTV of the customer (via upsell/cross-sell)
Wolf learn from “Alex the FB marketer” (who’s world’s top/second FB marketer?)
Organically loop it: step-down sale
Vet network marketing
It’s usually overpriced because the distribution isn’t as efficient as Amazon
You want to see how much of the product ends in the customer’s hands vs. product sits in people’s garages (i.e. tupperware actually ends in peoples’ hands)
Episode-20 (Serial Number 35) Looping
Certainty increase in step-by-step: cannot go from 0 to 100 in one loop.
Some salesperson talk talk talk and tried to do in oneshot. (Bad sales)
Looping as process of elimination (similar to lockpicking pins one by one)
Rapport as a “bank account”
Asking for order will decrease rapport
Say stupid shit will greatly decrease rapport.
Q&A
Objection: lending product to business with super high interest rate encounters objection from business owners
Solution: how to overcome it is in info-gathering, understand the business model of business owners, and give example how more capital will enable them to profit much more.
