The Wolf Goes Straight
‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Jordan Belfort keeps returning to ethics in his book "Way of the Wolf - Straight Line Selling: Master the Art of Persuasion, Influence, and Success." But salespeople might not find the book’s advice as groundbreaking as the cover cla
Jordan Belfort – better known as the “Wolf of Wall Street – wants salesmen to stay on the straight and narrow in his book “Way of the
Wolf - Straight Line
Selling: Master the Art of Persuasion, Influence, and Success.” The book lays out Belfort’s “straight line” sales system, developed originally at his nowinfamous firm Stratton Oakmont, Inc., to sell penny stocks to wealthy investors. The system can be adapted to any sales context, however, not just financial services.
Belfort refers to his 22-month stint in federal prison often throughout the book. In 1999, he plead guilty to fraud and other crimes in connection with stockmarket manipulation and running a boiler room as part of a penny-stock scam. Belfort’s jail time, the end of a long saga immortalized in Martin Scorcese’s film, “The
Wolf of Wall Street,” is a recurring scare-tactic used on would-be Straight Line sellers who might be reading the book looking for get-rich-quick advice.
“I will never use the strategy I’m about to learn to manipulate my prospects into acting against their own selfinterest. If I do, then I deserve the same ten years of pain and suffering that Jordan had to endure,” Belfort writes, including a signature line below for readers with paper copies of the book.
For fans of the movie, “Way of the Wolf,” contains few surprises. Readers will come into the book knowing Belfort made his money selling penny stocks to wealthy investors and later went to prison. They also will start the book knowing the basics of the Straight Line sales system Belfort pioneered and now sells via books and seminars world-wide. That said, even experienced sales professionals might learn a new trick or two (although the reincarnated, ethical Belfort might dispute using that term).
Two things underpin the Straight Line system and make up the bulk of “Way of the Wolf’s” pages – the
“intelligence gathering” stage of a sale, and the tones of voice Belfort claims can influence prospects. The tones of voice also come with links to demonstrations on Belfort’s website.
Intelligence gathering – or qualifying in traditional sales speak – is where Belfort really pushes salespeople to focus. Sales leads should be thoroughly vetted to prevent wasted time with “tire kickers,” people who cannot use or afford the product, or parties who would clearly not be interested.
“Instead, we want to weed these people out as quickly as possible,” he writes.
As for Belfort’s advice on tone of voice, likely it helps, although it is hard to shake the image of a smarmy looking Leonardo DiCaprio on the phone with clueless investors in “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Belfort does recommend sincerity in sales, but only to the point where prospects do not drift from the “straight line,” meaning away from the sale. And only genuine sincerity, he writes, because anything less shows a lack of integrity.
“After all, success in the absence of ethics and integrity is not success at all,” Belfort writes. “I had to learn that the hard way, but you don’t – especially with this book as your guide.”
Way of the Wolf: Straight Line Selling: Master the Art of Persuasion, Influence, and Success by Jordan Belfort.