Review of Way of the Wolf by Jordan Belfort

3 min readJan 5, 2018

I’m the Wolf of Wall Street. Remember me? The one who Leonardo DiCaprio played on the silver screen, the one who took thousands of young kids, who could barely walk and chew gum at the same time, and turned them into world-class closers using a seemingly magical sales training system called the Straight Line? The one who tortured all those panic-stricken New Zealanders at the end of the movie because they couldn’t sell me a pen the right way? You remember.

What is the book about?

Way of the Wolf: Become a Master Closer with Straight Line Selling is written by Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall Street.

Jordan Belfort explains his Straight Line Selling system in this book. This is the system that he used when he was making millions at Wall Street. And this is the same system that he is teaching at seminars after his conviction and parole. His explanation is clear for the most part. As a result, I found this book to be incredibly informative and insightful about the sales process.

Way of the Wolf: Straight Line Selling — Master the Art of Persuasion, Influence, and Success

What does this book cover?

Way of the Wolf has twelve chapters.

Jordan Belfort talks about the genesis of his Straight Line System in the first two chapters. He then gets into the specifics over the next ten chapters. Some of these specifics are

The importance of the first impression and how to make it count
The importance of self-belief
Getting into the groove where you are ready to sell
Body language and what works
Sales funnel and qualification
The conversations with the prospect
Sales scripts and how they exponentially improve selling
Art and science of looping i.e. handling objections

What did I like?

Way of the Wolf is the best book on sales that I have read so far.

As far as the content is concerned, Jordan Belfort’s system is well articulated and structured. Every aspect of the system is detailed out with examples. Along with these numerous real life examples, there are plenty of dos and donts.

The presentation of this content is also brilliant. Jordan’s writing draws you and keeps you engaged throughout. The liberal use of his stories also adds to this feeling of engagement.

What did I not like?

This book became a drag when it came to the chapters dealing with NLP and olfactory simulation. I just found some of it to be psychobabble but your mileage may vary.

My Recommendation

I strongly recommend this book. This is a brilliant book on sales. While it will transform you into a great sales-person overnight (only experience can do so), it definitely helps you in appreciating the nuances involved.

If any of you are in sales, I would love to hear your take on this book.