Book Babble #10: “Way of the Wolf” by Jordan Belfort

“Straight line selling: Master the art of persuasion, influence, and success”

A contentious one today for several reasons and an interesting character for the Hive/Crypto community ;).

Who is Jordan Belfort?

Better known by his 'moniker' of course - The Wolf of Wall Street. Given that title back in the day following his antics in the famous financial district of New York.

Most will be familiar with the movie, Leonardo DiCaprio playing the lead role and what a delightful romp it was. The film was based on Belfort's book of the same name and made with his input, along with plenty of creative license too. And directed by Martin Scorsese no less. (I did an early Hive post based on Jordan and Leo too - Dancing With Wolves).

The Way of the Wolf is his recent offering and not based around his life, but more his work in sales training. During his time he developed a particular approach to persuasion and negotiation, giving training and speeches the world over, outlining his Straight Line System and has put it in to book form for us all to access.

As well as reading the book, I have also listened to the audio version. Often a good idea for all but especially here as you can hear the way things are said which could be useful. Many times, if the author themselves read the book, they ad-lib on the audio so that can be cool (as well as being a convenient medium for consumption). Jordan doesn't veer from the text but it's worth a mention. It's also worth a mention that the voice of the author may actually be GBH to the ears. I'll let you be the judge of that ;).

I'm currently reading Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss (future BookBabble ;)) and as that is in a similar field, it brought this one to the forefront. There can be some parallels drawn and some differences - one being corporate, the other FBI hostage negotiation. Same same but different. Ultimately, it's about taking the best bits and putting them to work for you.

I first encountered Belfort through YouTube. I didn't know what he was doing these days, I just thought he disappeared into the ether after Leo went to jail to play tennis. The videos I watched were him giving training to a company in London and they were hugely inspiring. There was an energy and directness that just didn't mess about.

Since then, I've watched more and I'm in the balance. There's plenty to take from this kind of character, but at the same time he can come off as a bit 'snakey'. You are also very aware that he's using the techniques he's talking about on you. There's no secret to that, he'll say so himself but sometimes it feels a little disingenuous. He's a tough talking New Yorkan and you could imagine him shouting at you out a cab in downtown Manhattan.

He also has some things to say about Bitcoin. I'll come back to that later ;).

The elephant in the room

This guy is good at what he does. He was unscrupulous in the past and paid the price. He is playing it straight these days and warns strongly against going the wrong way. You could argue that he's still living very well of it all and uses the story to his advantage. That would be true.

However, we're not here to judge. We're looking at the game rather than the player and extracting the wisdom from various folk. To do what he did on Wall Street shows he knows how to sell… although illegally at the time. And building on top of that and using it your advantage is also an admirable quality.

With that out the way, onwards…

What be the Ways of the Wolf?? Classic quotes from the book along with my additional thoughts…

you’re selling or you’re failing.

Everything is sales. Or there is certainly that aspect to all interactions. Obviously in the business world, but in all aspects of life you are selling and idea, a concept and persuading someone to do something, directly or indirectly. And if you fail at this, you can't live a prosperous life. It also means that you are probably being sold, so other people are getting what they want and you are left with what's left over.

“DON’T YOU GUYS GET IT? EVERY SALE IS THE SAME!”

This is what he said to his 'Strattonites' in one sales meeting which birthed the Straight Line System and how he thought about and taught sales from then on. Strattonites was the affectionate (self-given) nickname of the employees at his Stratton Oakmont brokerage firm.

The point here, is that despite all supposed differences in people and circumstances, every single sale in that environment (and most situations) is the same. They follow a pattern. And certain principles applied, would lead to certain results. Simple cause and effect. Knowing human behaviour and applying that knowledge would lead people down a particular path with little deviation.

The Straight Line System itself, is essentially moving the prospect along a straight line from point A (start of conversation) to the promised land (making the sale) with minimum fuss. The perfect sale would go smoothly along that line. Also, along that line you would weed out those who were unqualified and not waste time.

Of course, most sales aren't that simple so there are boundaries that you can go up to which are for intelligence gathering and rapport building.

However, avoid going outside those boundaries else you've lost control of the sale. Rapport building is not spending hours talking shit with someone delighting in the fact you both like tabby cats, it can be much snappier and it's not necessary to spiral off too far. If it does go further, politely and skilfully bring it back to the line.

Then there's looping - this could be where you ask for the sale, get a 'no', and you loop back to an earlier point in the line and take another run at them. I don't want to go too far in to the nuts and bolts of it all, but it's all online and of course in the book!

wealth and success.

I highlighted these 3 words simply due to the fact that influence is crucial to attaining these! A lot of people shy away from it but it is the difference.

We don't want to be 'salesy' but then we go too far the other way and don't promote ourselves/business/idea enough. Everyone would rather avoid these situations but they exist and we will all be involved in them, like it or not. We can at least prepare ourselves or top up our game a little.

a lack of certainty.

Certainty is ultimately what sales is all about. You - the 'salesperson' - being certain about your offering and transferring that across to the prospect so they sign on the dotted line.

Certainty, clarity, confidence, courage and conviction are the '5Cs' which speak for themselves.

In addition to that, there are 3 things that you need to display immediately in an interaction or you're done. That you're:

Sharp as a tack
Enthusiastic as hell
And an expert in your field (also said as a figure of authority)

I won't delve too deeply here as this article will get a bit long but I think they also speak for themselves and can be expanded upon with research.

“When you’re speaking, it’s directed. It’s powerful. Your words have meaning behind them; and the meaning is to create massive certainty in the mind of your prospect as you move him down the straight line, from the open to the close.” I pointed to the arrows again. “That’s why every one of these arrows is compact, and tight, and right on the line—and they’re all pointed straight towards the close.

This is Jordan continuing with his first Straight Line speech to the Strattonites. The meaning of words, the effect of tonality, the creation and transference of certainty, and keeping it all tight and concise.

leave the insults of the past behind and check their emotional baggage at the door;

As in, forget everything that has happened before. It is irrelevant. Stay in the moment, that's what's important, with an eye on future success. Leave all your baggage and garbage at the door.

IN ORDER TO MOVE FORWARD THE PROSPECT NEEDS A HIGH LEVEL OF CERTAINTY

Back to certainty as it's important in the context of this book and in general. The prospect needs a high level of certainty to act and it's your job to make that happen.

By the way, it's not a case of making them buy something they don't need, but rather helping them get certain about buying something they do need or at least improve their lives in some way. You don't want to just take their money and have them regret their purchase or even be upset. You want them contacting you at a later date and thanking you for persuading them!

bottled enthusiasm

This is a nice little term Jordan uses about enthusiasm.

When being enthusiastic, it's not about jumping around like a lunatic, that's actually a little unhinged and people don't generally like it. Enthusiasm is infectious, but too much is annoying and can come off as fake.

Bottled enthusiasm means that it's simmering beneath the surface. It's not overtly showing but there's something bubbling that could go off at any time (in a good way). A quiet excitement.

It's similar to people who have that deep confidence. People displaying too much bravado aren't really all that confident as they're trying to prove something to themselves and those around them. But we've all met those people who just 'have it'. Completely chilled but they own it, and everyone knows it.

“Does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea?”

This is a Belfort phrase when coming towards the end of a sale. It's asking the prospect if overall it sounds good forgetting the cost (or other factors) for now. It's said in a nice upbeat, friendly tone like 'all money aside', and if they do like the idea then other factors can be worked on. Gets them into an agreeable mode and dissociates the price from the overall benefit.

Good Enough Factor

You don't have to be an expert. A relative expert is what you're seeking, for now. Just learning a little on a subject can have huge implications on your results, so it doesn't have to be perfect! Then you will always be improving to take yourself up to 'expert' status, but good enough is, well, good enough.

Thanks Wolfie! Anything else?

I think that about covers it. He certainly isn't a guy for all tastes… but then again most in this series aren't (or anywhere else for that matter). His background and style may put you off… but hey, you may even like it.

I already knew a lot of the info in the book from watching a few of his presentations, but it's nice to have the reference material to hand too. It's another approach to the whole 'sales arena' and there are elements that can be applied to all our lives. In particular, the bits I bolded in the 'certainty' section.

He also talks a lot about tonality - super important, especially on the phone where you can't be physically seen; body language - we all know non-verbal communication makes up the majority of our in-person interactions; and state management - attaining and keeping yourself in a 'peak state' at appropriate times, which obviously gives you the best chance of success and enjoyment. He also discusses the action/pain threshold, that barrier stopping or allowing the crucial action to take place.

As mentioned near the start, he is very much anti-Bitcoin and related cryptocurrency. Saying it's a bubble and going to burst. He doesn't hold back in these views and has appeared giving many interviews on the topic. Here's one such rant for his Facebook followers, also uploaded to YouTube:

Steady on JB, so what do you really think?? He says he believes blockchain technology is great, although he doesn't say too much about its wider scope. And he doesn't talk specifically about Hive, but that's a different kettle of fish and is a tokenised environment which is backed by something (ie. people and their content). So he may even approve of Hive in a sense.

I won't launch in to a discussion on that now as this is just an article based on the book, but I thought it worth mentioning and posting the vid as it's relevant to us.

So, what do you make of it all? In particular; Jordan Belfort, the book and his views on Crypto? And any other great book recs?

Check out the others in the series…