i'm jordan belfort and this is sales school there are three things that you must be perceived as in those first four seconds right let me tell you exactly what they are in the first four seconds you and you probably all you straight lines you know this stuff is basic right number one you must be perceived as being sharp as attack number two enthusiastic as hell and number three an expert in your field sharpest attack enthusiastic selling expert you feel now no matter how many times i tell us to i'll never stop telling it to you
because this is the holy grail of influence because here's the deal what these three things chunk up to in the prospect's mind is that you are a person worth listening to you're a person worth listening to in other words they should take time out of their busy day their busy life because you're someone who's sharp enough you're meaning that you're on the ball you're a problem solver you're not going to waste your time of theirs you're sharp right versus being a dullard waste their time enthusiasm it must be good what you have must be good
now what i'm not talking about here is that bogus over the top oh my god am i proud of me i don't mean that that's not what i'm i'm not talking about that type of enthusiasm i'm talking about something very different talking about bottled enthusiasm which is an entirely different thing bottle of enthusiasm sits below the surface and it's like deceiving volcano you speak a certain way where they just know wow that guy's he's really he must really believe when he has it could be a whisper almost when you speak with real enthusiasm it's undeniable
it's palpable and people get like wow what he has what she has must be good it hits them in the gut meaning unconsciously they say whatever this guy has he must it must be yours that's why he's so excited about it now you might say well jordan come on it doesn't really work let me tell you something it does i'm not saying someone's going to buy from you just because you sound enthusiastic it's not what i mean at all what i'm saying is that enthusiasm opens up the possibility because they want to listen and most
of all you're an expert in your field meaning you're a figure of authority or you're so like you can get the job done we have been conditioned since we're yay big okay to seek out experts to resolve our problems take care of our pain and help us get things done when scarlett johansson wants to get her hair cut or hair styled for the oscars who is she going to go to someone who just graduated from beauty school seriously right or the person that's been styling hair in hollywood for the last 20 years making celebrities look
fabulous who is she gonna seek out the expert when roger federer was having his slump in 2015 who did he seek out did he go to a local country club tennis bro or did he go to stefan edberg a former number one player himself who'd been there done it at the highest level who knew how to talk to someone like raja and what happened raj went on to win another three or four majors and he's still playing today number two or three in the world he's an adam i'm he's a legend right and by the
way roger slump is like everyone else's best day but the point is is that who would he seek out we all seek out experts we've been conditioned since the yea big to seek those people out to help us solve our problems cure our pains right start with our parents taking us to the doctor and so forth those were experts when we were younger like wow the doctor he's been through schooling he had a diploma he had a license all this sort of stuff his stethoscope we felt better just by laying eyes on the guy right
let's get now practical about this all right this is about practical knowledge here in those first four seconds you are being judged they are ripping you apart compartmentalizing each piece judging them and putting them together based on how you're perceived if you are perceived the right way meaning sharpest attack enthusiastic sound expert in your field if you were perceived the right way you set yourself up for massive greatness if you're perceived the wrong way good luck trying to close the sale see what happens is when your prospect perceives you that way sharp on the ball
expert right they defer to you they allow you to take control of the conversation you take control because the prospect allows you to take it you can't take control by force you take control by force of will because your process you know this is a person worth listening to and they defer to you because we've been conditioned to defer to experts since we were yay big you get it so that is an undeniable truth that's been studied at the by harvard university did a study on this recently right where they said you know if they
said it's seven seconds but but they well i don't know it's five or seven i i beat them like 30 years to the punch i said this in 2008 but the point i was in 1998 wait no 1988 am i old 1988 good lord i'm old all right anyway i came up with this in 1988 i was still a baby right the point is is that harvard 30 or 27 years later came out with the same story but they said it's seven seconds it doesn't matter either way you're screwed if you make the wrong first
impression according to harvard it takes seven subsequent meetings for someone to perceive you a different way seven you know i don't know about you but honestly i don't get seven chances i got one so i better be make that first impression the exact right way you
