How to use Jordan Belfort’s sales system to close big deals

Jordan Belfort:

We’ve been conditioned to essentially act a certain way we believe that we’re in the presence of an expert. So the idea is that in those first few seconds of a conversation, you must be perceived a certain way. And the way you end up doing that is through tonality and body language, not for the words that you say. You have a product and you believe in it, that you know it’s awesome, it’s great, it’s going to help the prospect. They don’t know that. How do you get them to understand how great your product is in a way that seems genuine, that doesn’t break before? That’s really what the Straight Line does.

Jordan Belfort:

Thank you.

Jordan Belfort:

Sure. So the Straight Line System is basically what I used back in the day, old me starting 30 years ago, to take all those young kids who were not natural born salespeople and turn them into world-class closers selling high-ticket items. The average trade investment was 500,000 to a million dollars, and these were from people that we never met before, speaking on the phone, strictly no in video chat back then. And it was a very effective way of essentially transferring certainty that you have about something to someone else. In other words, the idea is that you’re the salesperson. You’re very, very certain that your product or service is the best fit for them, and they’re just not as certain. They don’t know all the features, benefits, and whatnot.

So the Straight Line System allows you in a way that doesn’t break rapport, doesn’t piss people off. It allows you to get them very, very certain that your product, good, or service is the best.

Jordan Belfort:

So the thing about the Straight Line it’s really it’s an end-to-end solution from literally the first word out of your mouth, from the time the conversation, the encounter starts, all the way to even after the sale and how you leverage off of a sale to get referrals, create customers for like and so forth. So there’s different strategies that apply to different parts of the sale, but the basic philosophy is that human beings as a species, we know when we’re in the presence of an expert intuitively, we know very quickly, and when we’re in the presence of a novice.

Now what happens is when we’re in the presence of someone that we perceive to be an expert, we tend to defer to that person and allow them to control the flow of the encounter. Conversely, if we’re in a conversation or a sales encounter with someone that we believe is a novice or beneath us or not as schooled in this subject as we are, then we will try to control the flow of the encounter. It’s a natural inclination to take control.

So what I noticed way back in the day when I was first inventing the system is that there was this huge discrepancy between my closing rate and one guy that I trained, this guy Danny, the junior partner from Stratton in the movie, the Donny character, right? And everyone else at my firm, I was at a 50% close rate. Danny had one in the high 30s, and my kids were closing zero. Yet they were saying the same words, pitching the same people, the same stock. I’m like, “Why the discrepancy? What was it? What was that x factor?” And it started with this moment of clarity I have like, “Wait a second.” In those first few seconds of the conversation, I was being perceived a certain way. And because of that, it essentially induced people to allow me to control the flow of the encounter.

So well, I was able to then run a strategy, because once you’re in control, once you’re the one calling the shots, you can ask questions, you can establish certain things versus if the other part is in control, you’re like just you’re like covering up by, they’re asking you questions or interrupting you. So it’s almost impossible to close at a high level if the other party is in control of the encounter. So the first basic tenet of the Straight Line System is that you must take immediate control of the sale. The million dollar question is how, like how do you do that, right?

Jordan Belfort:

Of course, right, because, and I think that the problem with a lot of sales systems is that though they might say, “Oh, you have to control the encounter,” and they never tell you exactly how to do that. But the thing with the Straight Line System is very granular in the sense that it shows you exactly how you take control of any sale, what are the things that you say, what is the way you say it, what body language can you? So essentially those first few seconds of a sale when you’re being essentially ripped apart, put back together, compartmentalized by the prospect, and they either put you in one bucket which is that you’re sharp, you’re on the ball, number two that you’re enthusiastic about what you’re doing, and number three most important of all that you’re an expert in your field.

So if you end up in that bucket, expert, sharp, on the ball, enthusiastic, your prospect will defer to. They’ll allow you to control the sale because what they’re thinking is this is a person worth listening to. And even one higher level still is because they can help me achieve my goals, they can help me get what I want. We always seek out experts to help us solve our problems, to eliminate our pain. That has been conditioned into us since we’re babies. Our parents took us to the doctors when we were sick or five years old, right?

Jordan Belfort:

And you know what? That even your own parents, they would defer to this expert doctor who went to school and everything there was to know. And when the doctor asked you questions, you didn’t interrupt the doctor or cut the doctor off. Your parents didn’t say, “Excuse me doctor, why are you asking that?” How about how the doctor asks you a question, you answer them honestly, you answer them forthrightly. The same thing happens when you’re in the presence of a great lawyer. You get in trouble with the law or the police, you hire an attorney. The lawyer asks you questions. You don’t cut the lawyer off, you don’t interrupt the lawyer. We’ve been conditioned to essentially act a certain way we believe that we’re in the presence of an expert.

So the idea is that in those first few seconds of a conversation, you must be perceived a certain way. And the way you end up doing that is through tonality and body language, not the words that you say. The words are very simple, there’s what you can really … If it happens in five, four, five seconds, what could you possibly say to someone in four seconds. “Hey Bill, I’m… I swear, I’m an expert,” and they’d say, “What the fuck,” and they wouldn’t believe you, right?

Words don’t really exist. Now obviously you’re not going to say, “Hi, I’m a moron, nice to meet you.” The words are the words. They’re very basic, they’re simple. It’s more about how you say them, how you carry yourself, how you make eye contact, all right? And these, and the human brain is incredibly perceptive like this, and we have this instant gut reaction, expert, novice. If you fall to the expert category, what happens, it opens up a universe of possibilities, and that’s when the rest of the Straight Line kicks in. So without that first step there is no Straight Line. Straight Line is you moving the sale forward along the predetermined path which you believe is the path of least resistance, but you can’t do that if you’re in control.

Jordan Belfort:

Yeah. It’s actually in … It was 32 years ago.

Jordan Belfort:

And what happened was it was just so shocking what happened when I first hit on it. These kids went from not being able to close sales to becoming the top brokers on Wall Street making millions and millions a year. I was making 50 million plus a year. And since then, when the firm closed in 1997, everyone spread out and they brought versions, diluted versions of the system to all different industries, automobile, insurance, every type of sales you could think of, jets or a jet sale, I mean art, you name it. And then eventually when I made the movie and then I became famous, I got involved and released a very, very sort of authoritative version of the official version of the system which really goes into it in a very, very deep way. And then I wrote a book about it, and that of course became a huge bestseller and people use it all over the world. It’s very, very powerful. It’s very, very effective. I always say people could love me or hate it, but they never say my system doesn’t work.

Jordan Belfort:

Has it changed a lot? I mean the core of it hasn’t changed much. What’s changed about it is that the ethics and integrity surrounding the system, in other words, the ability to close is a very powerful tool, it’s like a crucial tool to succeed in life. And like anything that has power, that power can be used for good or ill. And when I was very young, I mean I had this, I developed this system, it was very powerful, but I didn’t really embed it at the sort of the ethics and integrity side, like not to use it to just basically rip people’s eyeballs out and make them send you money because you can.

With the Straight Line system you can get people to do things they shouldn’t do, buy things they shouldn’t buy. And I urge people not to do that. I don’t teach it that way. I teach a very … I teach you need to give you more power but it’s much more powerful now than it was back then, because I’ve had 30 years to improve it and just make it absolutely, but it’s also much … It’s entirely ethical and it’s all about getting people to take actions they should be taking and not lying, not exaggerating, but really being able to essentially transfer the certainty.

I go back to this idea of certainty that you have a product and you believe in it, that you know it’s awesome, it’s great, it’s going to help the prospect. They don’t know that. How do you get them to understand how great your product is in a way that seems genuine, that doesn’t break rapport? That’s really what the Straight Line does.

Jordan Belfort:

It doesn’t change much in the sense that that’s more about strategy and sales cycle. What happens is you’re still going to go through. Okay, what’s the difference between a sale that’s … Forget about when someone goes into the deli and they get to pick ham or roast beef you sell. “Oh, try the roast beef.” That’s not what I’m doing.

Jordan Belfort:

That’s transactional sales. I’m talking about like someone influences where someone’s going to … Let’s say someone’s going to go buy an online course, and it’s $2,000. And it’s a decision they make on that day or not at all, right?

Jordan Belfort:

In that case there’s one strategy about how you would go using the Straight Line System, maybe about that there’s an open, there’s a close, and either it ends in a close or you’ll probably never speak to them again. It’s not going to be about a series of selling them on the next step. What happens in long sale cycles, there’s a close in every single sale. Every single conversation has a close. But the first initial contact might be closing them on even accepting your information because they can find out more. So how do you get someone to take the first step in the process? So in a longer sales cycle, the sales would be divided up at the steps, there might be multiple decision makers involved, but each and every contact has the same core elements going on. You have to get them sold on that whatever you’re talking about at that moment, it’s got value, they can trust you, they connect with you, they can trust the company that stands behind the product, and then moving them on to the next step in the process.

So the idea is that there’s always a sale made on every single call. The sale might be that you’re selling them on the idea that I’m going to ask you questions and I’d like you to answer me honestly and forthrightly because it’s in your best interest to do so. I’m going to sell you on giving me your email address, I’m going to sell you on setting up an in-person appointment, I’m going to sell you one bringing this up to the next level. There’s always a sale made. It’s just simply no one understands that it occurs over a longer period of time and ultimately it’s that one final sale where someone says, “Yes, we’re going to do it,” but there were 10 other closes that went in before that.

Jordan Belfort:

Right. Obviously one of the big things, and I do a lot of consulting where I work with a company individually. And one of the biggest things that you could do, one of the most important things is collapsing their sales cycle down. So if someone, if a sale’s taking nine months, you can take that sale and make it six months. What are some of the things that you can do?

Well, number one is first understanding what’s happening. Why is the sale taking such a long time? Is it because there’s multiple decision makers? Is it going to be because they have to do other integrations along the way like they can’t make it? Is it because there’s a budgetary issue where they only spend money over a certain time? Because every sale somewhat has its own unique parameters on what’s driving it to take so long. So number one, the first thing that you do is look at the sale and say, “Well, okay, what are all the differences … ” Right now I’m using, it’s a five touch until I can close, or what can I … Very often you can combine two of the touches into one because what happens, see, let’s go back a step.

Sales is all about the transference of certainty, that the product has to be absolutely positively certain that the product is the best, it’s the best fit for them, most cost-effective, cost-benefit ratio. So each step in the sales cycle is designed to make them more certain. It might take an initial call to pique their curiosity. Then you would send them information that has your deck or your brochure. Then you set up a second call and you go through more of the features and benefits, and then you get up to the … So depending on what’s going on, you’re always selling them on the next step in the process.

Very often what weaker salespeople do is they will divide it up into too many steps. You can usually accomplish two steps or even three steps in one. Just for example finding out how many decision makers there really are and trying to get those decision makers on an earlier call versus going through five different calls and running it up the chain and trying to get to the right person on the line straight away. That’s a big one right there.

Another one is also how do you go out there and like … One of the biggest mistakes I see is when someone’s trying to get an appointment with a large company and they’ll say, “Okay, when would you like to meet,” and the person will say … Let’s say right now we’re at the end of May, end of April. “I could have an opening on June 15th.” And you’re like, “Great, let’s pencil it in for June 15th,” versus saying, “Oh, I see you guys are up in Sydney. I’m actually going to be in the area next week both on Tuesday and Thursday. I’d just love to stop by. Like I’m already here. What’s a better day for you Tuesday?” Just something simple like that of telling them like I’m already in the area, I’d love to stop by, versus I’m going to make a special trip, just first, you get a higher conversion rate of saying you’re already in the area, but not leaving it up to like months between cycles, that’s number one.

And then there’s also things that you could do with your marketing materials that help support you. Each time you’re on the phone or you’re in person, you’re moving the sale towards the close. But in between that, they’re looking at things, they’re doing their background checks by having the materials that you send them be the right materials. With almost answering objections in that, you can actually get moving along quicker by sending my materials as well. So what happens both, one, you’re selling, and also just, well, you’re in the process of sending out your marketing materials.

Jordan Belfort:

Well, it’s like yes. Again, every sale is different like that, in the sense that what are the unique factors that are causing the sales cycle to extend out.

Jordan Belfort:

Yes, I’m not going to … If I’m selling the product that I know is a complex product that needs to integrate into a multitude of the company’s operations, that it would be ridiculous when you try to pressure someone to buy it before they’ve had all the other people look at it and make sure it’s going to be a perfect fit, you’re just going to kill, you’re going to shoot yourself in the foot every time. So the idea is to know what you’re selling and what’s the reality. Every product has its own best sales cycle. And the idea is you want to collapse into that best sales cycle. It’s different for every product. Some products by their nature, they’re going to require their complex integrations involved, they’re massive expenditures, they’re going to take longer. But there’s things that you can do to get to that point quicker. You’re not going to get a one year sales cycle and do it in one call, but you might collapse a year into six months.

Jordan Belfort:

Or you might structure your payment plan so they can get it now and pay when the budget renews. There’s a lot of things you can do strategically like that as well.

Jordan Belfort:

I think number one is that one thing I never want to do is compete on price. I mean, I think people competing on price is like a dead end. If you’re just trying to be the cheapest guy in town, there’s always … Then you’re really leaving yourself open to undercutting you, and it’s always like you never know if you have a deal. It’s sort of the classic thing where everyone’s undercutting everybody, so if you’re trying to sell your solar system based on price, it’s really, really frustrating. Versus outlining what’s your unique value proposition, okay, and separating that out from other people, so basically having something that other people simply can’t compete with. So I focus on the actual product, the value proposition, the unique offering about. That’s what I would do. And I always do that. I try to find a market that cannot be duplicated. Sometimes it just can’t be, and there’s no way to find them, but I always do my best to try to find out what that unique proposition is and focus on that as my main benefit.

Jordan Belfort:

One of the biggest things is the salesperson that tries to get into rapport with someone by, “Oh my god, you like fishing? I like fishing,” then you spend an hour talking about fishing, the over schmoozer, the disingenuous salespeople that basically whatever the prospect likes, they like, and you start talking about it for an inordinate period of time. It has nothing to do with the conversation that’s germane to the sale. That’s a major telltale sign that you’re not doing business with an expert. You’re doing business with a desperate novice who will do anything, say anything, talk about anything to get the sale done. That’s one thing.

Another big thing is not asking enough questions especially in a bigger sale. It’s like I made this mistake sometimes in my earlier days where I would go in there and I would think, you assume you know what the prospect wants without really asking the questions. That’s a big mistake that gets made a lot. You assume that you understand what their outcome is. You assume that you know what their highest pain point is. And very often there might be multiple pain points that you’re trying to resolve, but there’s one that’s the biggest pain point, and that’s the one that’s going to get especially the tougher sales over the line.

And I think what salespeople often do is they use their own map of the world and assume everyone is thinking and feeling like they are, when you have no idea what this person might be thinking or what they really want. So the only way to really effectively avoid that is to ask questions, to ask enough questions, to ask them in the right order.

Alex Cleanthous:

Yeah, great. They’re fabulous points. Let’s jump to salespeople, yeah? So can anybody sell or do you need certain talents?

Alex Cleanthous:

And the business environment is so much more expensive than the sporting arena where it’s like a very limited competition and the best is obviously the best. But in the sales business it’s …

Alex Cleanthous:

So then, if you’re looking to hire some awesome salespeople as part of your sales team, what do you look for? What are some of the things where there’s going to be 1000 applications or 100 applications and now you have to start sifting and now you have to start to find out in order to create your team? So what are the characteristics of the people that you want to hire?

Alex Cleanthous:

So is there anything in the interview after those parts have been confirmed, but are there any characteristics, are there any personality traits, is there anything which you look for that’s going to be like, “All right, this person probably will perform a little bit better than the average because of these reasons”?

Alex Cleanthous:

For these larger deals let’s say. Let’s say for example with the-

Alex Cleanthous:

So what do you think are the most important things to get right in those first three months of a new hire?

Alex Cleanthous:

Training which part, like which part of your training?

Alex Cleanthous:

Okay. Okay, let’s jump to leading sales teams now. If you’re a sales leader, what are the most important things to get right to ensure that the sales team is a high performance sales team?

Alex Cleanthous:

How important is script writing?

Alex Cleanthous:

Okay.

Alex Cleanthous:

Okay. And the final part of the sales process is around metrics. What are some of the metrics that you track a sales team on aside from sales obviously?

Alex Cleanthous:

Fantastic. Thanks Jordan for the discussion on the sales side of things. Let’s jump to the investment side of things because I know that you’ve been quite active in it. Has the investment game changed much in the last 20 to 30 years, and if so, how?

Alex Cleanthous:

And do you think that that can actually last against the big guys?

Alex Cleanthous:

The big end of town?

Alex Cleanthous:

Okay. And what about the blockchain space because I know that you’ve been quite active in that? What are your thoughts on it between …

Alex Cleanthous:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Alex Cleanthous:

Yeah.

Alex Cleanthous:

So why do you like those types of projects? What is it about those?

Alex Cleanthous:

If you’re investing in the bitcoin and Ethereum space, you’re eventually trying to invest into the currency and the commodity space. But there’s other smaller projects that are more like the stock market, that there’s a company. The company has some fundamentals. The company has a business, and that’s what you’re trying to find. Is that right?

Alex Cleanthous:

Okay. Okay. Cool. Where do you see it going in the future? Yeah, like …

Alex Cleanthous:

But the whole industry I mean, the whole of the blockchain industry. Is this something that’s here to stay? Is this something-

Alex Cleanthous:

Great. Jordan, thank you so much for talking today on The Great Manifesto podcast. If there was one thing that you wanted the listeners of this podcast to do, a site to visit, a book to buy, some action to take, what would you like them to do?

Alex Cleanthous:

And if you haven’t already consumed some of his content in terms of the book or the course, it’s highly recommended. That stuff is awesome. That stuff has changed so many people’s … the sales performance of so many organizations I know even personally. So this stuff actually works. I’m super grateful that you’re on the podcast. I thank you so much for taking the time, and we’ll talk soon Jordan.

Alex Cleanthous:

Thanks very much. Thanks for listening to The Growth Manifesto podcast. If you enjoyed the episode, please give us a five star rating on iTunes. For more episodes, please visit growthmanifesto.com/podcast. And if you need help driving growth for your company, please get in touch with us at webprofits.io.