Throw me to the wolves and I will return leading the pack — unknown

I’ve always been really into sales. Even back in college, my main goal was to earn money through commission. Why? Well, I was a firm believer in the idea that hard work pays off (though I’ve become a bit less hardcore about it lately). I also liked the idea that the more sales I made, the more commission I’d earn, which felt like a direct validation of all my effort.

But here’s the thing: even though I was all about commission-based sales, I have to admit, I didn’t actually have much skill in sales at the time. That all changed when I read “Way of the Wolf.” Seriously, it was like my life was split into two parts: before I read that book and after. It taught me everything I needed to know about sales skills.

Key Insight:

In most cases, you’ll need to ask for the order a few times before your prospect says yes.

Looping is a simple yet powerful strategy for handling objections in sales. It lets you take each objection and turn it into an opportunity to build your prospect’s confidence without losing rapport, and then smoothly move into closing the deal.

What are two types of certainty:

1. Logical Certainty: Leads to responses like “Sounds good, let me think about it” or “Let me do some research and get back to you.”
2. Emotional Certainty: This is what really drives people to buy. They make decisions based on emotions and then justify them with logic.

2 core elements of Straight Line System:

1. Lower the barrier to taking action.
2. Increase the sense of urgency or pain associated with not taking action.

Key concepts from ‘Way of the Wolf’:

Your product or idea must be seen as incredibly valuable. Building trust and connection with the prospect is essential. The prospect must also trust and connect with your company.

4 Second rule:

You have just four seconds to make a good impression.

So what do you do in those 4 seconds:

You have to get three things right in 4 seconds:

1. Present yourself as a problem solver who can help achieve their goals.
2. Be enthusiastic to show you have something great to offer.
3. Establish yourself as an expert in your field right away.

The 4 ‘P’ Strategy:

I consolidated the sales skill into below 4 ‘P’s:

Profiling: Understand what the customer wants.

Presentation: Show how your product meets their needs.

Persuasion: Convince them of the value and benefits.

Personality: Show yourself as the solution.

How to deal with objections?

Step 1: ASK: “I hear what you’re saying, Bill, but let me ask you a question: Does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea?”

Step 2: Wait for the answer. Usually answer is ‘Yeah I like this idea.’ with hesitation.

Step 3: Reply with “Exactly — it really is a great buy down here! In fact, one of the true beauties here is …” And then quickly move into presentation again with introduction of feature of the product