I heard about this book through the grape vine and decided to pick up a copy. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book on in-person sales.

I think the last one was How to Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins, which first got me interested in sales. That was a ways back. Also the book Sell or Be Sold by Grant Cardone.

Slowly, I’m coming to realize that the majority of my business progress in the last 5 years has been due directly to either my writing or speaking in a sales context. That could be persuading customers to buy products, services, books, or even doing simple things.

There are tech-driven companies out there like Facebook, Google, Airbnb etc. They subscribe to Paul Graham’s philosophy and have a negative view of sales, marketing, and all things that reek of traditional business.

Then, there are marketing and sales-driven companies which prize these skills first above all others. The technology is simply a method of delivering the product.

Most small businesses fall into the second category. You gotta be good a sales if you want to make money, grow revenue, and increase your income.

As an entrepreneur, your job is to manage employees, raise capital, and sell. As an employee, you might get paid more for having an in-demand skillset like medical knowledge or the ability to help with accounting.

If I work hard, I know that I can really master sales and transform my income. I’m already doing pretty well. If I really focused on it, I could do incredible.

Overall, I found that this book really clarified the steps that go into selling a product or a service and broke it down in terms of the tonality, wording, and also emotional component of persuasion. It was a good compliment to Grand Cardone’s Sell or Be Sold.

I’d pick up a copy if you wanna get better at sales.

Book Notes

The Three tens

1 – 10

uncertainty to absolute certainty

1. Product idea or concept

Fills needs, eliminates any pain they have, good value for money. Love your product.

5 = Please influence me now. I can’t make up my mind so help me.

If prospect below 5, no chance of closing.

“They buy things that they think will make their lives better. However, the operative word here is think. You see, just because someone has positive intent doesn’t necessarily mean that the resulting decisions will end up having a positive impact on them. In fact, with many people, it often doesn’t. Their lives are punctuated by a series of self-defeating decisions.”

“Even these serial bad decision makers believe their decision were good when they made them. That’s the definition of positive intent.

If your prospect doesn’t trust you, then there’s absolutely no way they are going to buy from you. They will find someone else.

Likeable, trustworthy, expert, customer needs first, customer service .

3. Trust and connect with company.

Two types of certainty. Logical and emotional certainty.

“They feel confident in their ability to tell the story to someone else and if needed, convince that person they are 100 justified to feel the way they do.” Can connect dots in logical order without finding holes.

Emotion – gut feeling. Painting picture of the future where they’ve bought product and can see themselves using it and feeling good as a result.

Logical is the bullshit detector

“We do not make a full-blown sales presentation to someone who is not interested in buying what we’re selling.”

It’s not our job to turn no into yes. It’s our job to turn a “let me think about it” into a yes. Objections are smoke screens for uncertainty of one or all of three tens.

200 cards = 10 qualified leads = 2 accounts = 2 million per year.

They were getting too many objections. Not closing. Goal is to increase certainty for all of three tens.

Gathering intelligence – Identifying need, problems, identifying beliefs, past experience with similar products good and bad, how they feel about sales people. Identify their values. What is important to them. Identify financial standards. Where their pain lies. What weighs them down? Where they are financially.

“Knowing your prospect’s pain and, if necessary, amplifying that pain.

1. take control of sale
2. engage in massive intelligence gathering while building rapport
3. smoothly transition into a presentation to build building blocks.

Five course elements of straight line.

1. Prospect must love your product
2. Prospect must trust and connect with you
3. Prospect must trust and connect with your company.
4. Lower action threshold
5. Raise pain threshold.

Most prospects give 3-4 objections. Lay downs are rare.

Use looping after objection to increase certainty in that area.

“Sum of individual beliefs they have about buying, about making decisions in general, and about trusting other people, especially those trying to sell them things.”

Everyone has a different threshold of certainty that must be crossed before comfortable enough to buy.

Crack code to buying combination.

Pain creates urgency. Understand it, uncover it. Position product as remedy for pain and paint a picture of the future of how they will feel.

mental speed and agility, fast decision-making, unique pace of delivery that impresses prospect and builds trust.

Enthusiastic – must have something great to offer them (subliminal)

You’re worth listening to. You can help them achieve their goals.

Human communication is 90 percent tonality and body language.

Don’t need to be an expert to see results.

Enunciate words with clarity and intensity. Bubbling enthusiasm.

People are always screening: Can this person help me achieve my goals, can they help me get what I want in life, can they help me resolve the pain I have? If answer is no, they tune out. If yes, they listen.

Words create a logical case. Tonality and body language create an emotional case.

Future pacing creates confidence in yourself. Act as if rich, wealthy, confidence, etc.

In empowered state, you can access your internal resources. Reverse for disempowered.

Four C’s of state management:

• Certainty, clarity, confidence, and courage.

You can manage your state by directing your focus and altering your psychology/body language.

We naturally feel closer to people who express a sincere caring for our well-being.

Verbal, tonal, and informational scarcity = secret.

Absolute certainty, sincerity, and reasonable man. Implied obviousness. Money aside, do you like the idea?

When get objection – do you like the idea? Looping patterns.

If upon answering your questions, the prospect needs what you’re selling and can afford to pay for it, then they are qualified. Answer series of questions.

Don’t sell things to people who don’t want or need them. Waste of time.

Turn a company’s goods and services into cash.

Marketing generates leads for the sales people to turn into customers.

Buyer archetypes: Buyers in heat (afford/buying now). 10 – 20% of prospects

Buyers in power: aren’t feeling major pain from unfulfilled need, which causes them not to have the urgency of buyers in heat. Will keep shopping around until absolutely certain. 30 – 40%

Lookie-loos: Act like buyers in power, but have no intention of buying. (30%)

Look-looks: ask questions they know the answer to, kick the tires, oohs and aah to seem ninterested, vague or very overconfident when asked about finances.

Turn buyers in power to buyers in heat by amplifying their pain. Remove kookie-loos

You are a sifter – finding the buyers. Can’t turn the kookie-loo into buyer not alchemist. Ask for permission to ask questions “so I don’t waste your time” “So I can best serve you.” “So I can see exactly what your needs are.”

Always use a script. Less invasive to more invasive. Use tonality. “What’s your biggest fear with ___.”

Don’t resolve their pain. Amplify it. Pain = something is wrong in their life that they need to take action to fix. Future pace the pain. They must understand the ramifications of not taking action to resolve their pain and feel it in their gut.

Transition – based on what you’ve told me, this is a perfect fit for you. Let me tell you why…

Rapport comes from caring and that you are just like them.

Rapport goes up and down in sale based on “how your prospect things and feels about the last point you made and his belief as to whether or not you are on the same page as him.”

If fall out of rapport, get back in rapport.

Bill clinton made it seem like he cared about you and also understood you and felt your pain.

Systemize sales force by ensuring they are saying same thing

Every single movie that made you feel, get invested, binge watch is scripted.

Don’t mention all benefits. Save for when hit with objection.

Energy in, energy out equation. Effort required vs benefits.

Massive amount of benefits and the energy they have to expend is considerably lower.

Buying signals = questions from prospect on price, when will get results, etc.

Never just say the cost or price. Always state the 3 benefits along with it.

Always keep 3 tens high. Reinforce that prospect made right decision.

How to create certainty (order)

1. Product. 2. You. 3. Company

Build logical case first, then emotional case second. Logical case frees up person’s bullshit detector which allows them to be moved by emotion.

Make sure you get the prospect to talk about their pain, as this is what makes them think about it. Open their mind to receiving information and they will measure it against that pain.

“How long been going on?” “Will it get better or worse?” “How do you see yourself in two years?” “How has it affected your health or your family?”

“What would be your ideal program if you could design it?”

“Of all the factors we discussed, which is most important to you?”

Based on what you’ve told me ____ is a perfect fit for you.

Sale is only started once you get hit with first objection.

Objection is smoke screen for uncertainty.

“I hear what you’re saying, but let me ask you… do does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea?” money aside tonality

Enthusiasm – three ten measurement at back half of sale

loop and increase certainty

certainty combo is different for each person

20% who hit with initial objection if you get over it will close.

Increase level of certainty, lower action threshold, or increase pain threshold.

We run parallel movies in our minds (upside if works vs downside if product doesn’t work). Best case and worst case.

Lower action threshold (money back guarantee, cooling off period, paint a picture that runs counters to worries and concerns like long-term relationships or hold hand, etc. Run through the negative case and minimize.

Pain threshold – people who feel significant pain tend to act quickly. People who are in denial of pain act slowly. Identify where pain lies (intelligence gathering) and then amplify that pain. Listen to presentation from perspective of pain.

Use future pacing to tie product to pain free picture of future where you can see using it and getting benefits.