Jordan Belfort's Rules for Qualification

If you haven't read The Way of the Wolf by Jordan Belfort, I'd suggest picking it up. I'm not affiliated with him in any way, however I can confidently say that the ten tips I'm about to share with you, coming directly from his Straight Line System, have made me more money than any other sales training I've ever taken.

So, let's take a look.

I suggest starting with my article The Art of Qualifying.

Rule #1: You are a gold prospector.

Before you get lost in the minutia of rejection, understand this: your job is not to turn everyone into a buyer, nor is it to turn the people who say they aren't interested into people who are interested. Think of a gold prospector, sifting with their sieve through the waters. They aren't trying to turn the dirt they scoop up into gold - they're just sifting through all the dirt to find the pieces of gold (not that I'm comparing the people who aren't interested in your product to dirt, but you get the picture). Don't forget that.

Rule #2: Always ask for persmission to ask questions.

Whenever I explain to salespeople that they should be asking for permission to qualify, they look at me with cross eyes, often asking "isn't that giving them an out? Doesn't that give them the chance to leave the call?" Sure it does. But let's look at this realistically...if someone is looking for a way out of the call, don't you want them off that call as quickly as possible as to not waste your own time? On the flip side, the people who do stay on the call appreciate giving the permission. And in my years of experience qualifying in this way, I've had very few people deny me permission to ask my questions...

Example: "Hey James, couple quick questions so I don't waste your time...is that okay?"

Rule #3: Use a f*&^ing script.

If you don't have a script in place, get one. Write a script. And follow it. Simple as that.

Rule #4: Go from general questions (less invasive) to specific questions (more invasive).

Obviously in order to properly qualify your prospect, you're going to need to learn about some personal aspects about their business. Some of the details you may be learning about your prospects that would be more personal might include credit scores, financial circumstances and anything under the sun that people might not want to speak to a stranger about. The funny thing about this process is that within seconds of making a call, you can get people to open up to you about their most personal matters if you do it right. And the way you do it is to get them into a 'routine' of answering your questions.

Example: "So how long have you been in business?" (very general), moving towards "and with your current financial situation, is everything going as well as you'd like? Or are you struggling a bit?" (very specific, direct question to extract intelligence & painpoints).

Rule #5: Ask questions using the right tonality.

If you start asking people questions with intense, direct, and serious tonality, chances are that they're going to hang up on you. The key to executing this strategy most effectively will be to ask the questions with a very casual tone, as if to suggest "hey, no big deal!" A trick that I use, that I learned from Belfort's training, is to put my hands up in front of me with my palms out. Not only does my body language imply that this isn't a big deal but if I'm speaking to someone on the phone, that will help my tone deliver the same message.

Rule #6: Use body language to deliver the message.

Even if you're on the phone, this point is critical. If you think that people can't see you on the phone, you're wrong. People form a mental image of you even more quickly than if they saw you in person! And they base this completely off of how you sound.

Rule #7: Always follow a logical path.

This is a point that I cannot stress enough - with your qualification, you need to make sure that the question flow in a logical flow. If you start asking questions out of order, you're going to sound like you're reading from a script and, while it's important that you are, it's equally important that it doesn't sound like you are, which is a combination of tonality and a logical flow of questions. Your questions should build off one another, to give you an understanding of how to build that script.

Rule #8: Make mental notes of their challenges; don't solve them right away!

As a salesperson, we're always listening for the "challenge" that our product is designed to solve and, like vultures, our instincts are to jump all over it and say "I CAN HELP YOU! HERE'S HOW!"

Not only is that tacky as hell, but the fact is this: you want your prospect to be aware of, understand, and feel the discomfort or the pain they're currently in. As sadistic as it may sound, this lag between pain & solution is critical in positioning your product as THE solution. So once you have the key pieces of information you need, ask a few more questions and then move into your pitch.

Rule #9: End with a smooth transition.

Speaking of smooth transitions, you want to make sure that the transition between your qualification and intelligence gathering and your pitch is incredibly smooth, as if the prospect wouldn't even know that the pitch is coming. My transition can be found below:

"So listen, based on what you're telling me, I think this is going to be a perfect fit. Now, real quick..."

Rule #10: KILL THE SMALL TALK AND GATHER INTELLIGENCE.

Rookie salespeople identify themselves within seconds of the call beginning. If you're talking about the weather, you're doing something wrong. If you're talking about a fishing trip you and your dad went on, you've done something wrong.

Now, as we all know, your prospect isn't following the same game plan. So what do you do if your prospect starts to pull you into story time? Rule #9 applies beautifully here. Transition back into the purpose of the call.

Prospect: OH my god I LOVE outer space! My dad and I go there all the time! This one time we were on Pluto and (story continues)....

You: Really?! That's amazing! And hey, real quick...(back to your script)

Not only will your prospect have no idea that you've pulled them back into business, but they'll appreciate and respect the fact that you aren't wasting any of their time. And let's face it - you won't be wasting any of YOUR time, either. Salespeople mistake "rapport" building for "small talk." If you're making small talk, you are identifying yourself as a rookie and you aren't helping them at all. If you're gathering intelligence and learning about their business, then you are truly building rapport...as an expert who can help them.

Find your prospect's pain.

Identify your product/service as the solution.

And close :)