Belfort #3. Gathering Intelligence.

Gathering intelligence.

First, you’re identifying their needs – and not just their core needs but also any secondary needs or “problems“the might have

Secondly, you’re identifying any core beliefs they might have that could impact the sale, such as not feeling comfortable working over the phone, or with making quick decisions, and also not trusting sales-people in general.

Thirdly, you want to find out about any post experiences they’ve had with similar products, both good and bad, and now they feel about the salespeople they bought them from.

Fourth, you want to identify their values – meaning what things are most important to them? Are they looking for growth or income, or do they want to set themselves up for retirement, or to give their profits to a certain charity, or a religious institution? It can even be that the prospect is an action junkie and they’re in it for the thrills.

Fifth, you want to identify their financial standards, insofar as what level of wealth and spending ability they heed to have to feel good about themselves. This can be taken into all the varying degrees of what budgets they have to play with etc.

Sixth, where their pain lies – meaning what’s keeping them up at night? What’s that one single financial worry that sits at the very base of their skull and wights them down, like an anchor?

At the end of the day, it’s knowing your prospect’s pain and if necessary amplifying that pain, if they’re currently in denial, that’s going to help you close the tougher sales.

Seventh, you need to identify where they stand financially, in terms of how much money they have to play with right now, how much money they typically invest into an idea they like, and how much they are liquid for overall.