Way of the Wolf: Review, Context, and Approach

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Is Jordan Belfort’s book The Way of the Wolf worth the read? Does Belfort’s Straight Line method work?

The Wolf of Wall Street’s source material, Way of the Wolf, was a book written by Jordan Belfort which combines his personal stories as a salesman with practical sales advice. This book had a very mixed reception both due to Belfort’s sales advice and his personal, criminal background.

Keep reading for a Way of the Wolf review.

Way of the Wolf by Jordan Belfort

Our Way of the Wolf review starts with a background of Belfort’s book. Way of the Wolf explains sales trainer Jordan Belfort’s Straight Line method of selling, which is designed to move a prospect from doubt to certainty about buying. He argues that to close a sale, the seller must create absolute certainty in the prospect’s mind (10 on a 1-10 scale) about three things: the product, salesperson, and company or brand. The book offers techniques for creating these certainties and closing virtually every qualified prospect.

About the Author

Belfort is a motivational speaker and sales trainer, a former stockbroker, and a felon. He pleaded guilty in 1999 to securities fraud and money laundering in connection with operating a stock scheme that defrauded investors of over $200 million. Belfort served 22 months of a four-year prison term, and he was ordered to repay over $110 million to victims; as of 2018, the government said he still owed $97 million.

He wrote two memoirs, The Wolf of Wall Street, published in 2007, and Catching the Wolf of Wall Street in 2009. Both books have been published in more than 40 countries and are international bestsellers. The first, The Wolf of Wall Street, was turned into a Scorcese movie of the same name in 2013, which depicted Belfort’s wild behavior (he crashed a helicopter and sank a yacht), drug use, and free spending. The memoirs and movie helped Belfort launch his post-prison career as a speaker and sales trainer. Since the publication of Way of the Wolf, Belfort has taught its system in workshops and online. Besides training and motivational speaking, he also does business consulting.

Connect with Jordan Belfort

The Book’s Publication

Way of the Wolf, published by Simon and Schuster in 2017, is a condensed version of Belfort’s training courses in the Straight Line System. The book explains the sales methodology Belfort pioneered at his company Stratton Oakmont before getting into legal trouble. In the book, Belfort attributes his downfall to succumbing to greed and temptation because his Straight Line system was so hugely successful at generating wealth. He writes in the prologue that he subsequently eliminated the pressure tactics and refocused his system on ethical persuasion. He also refined and improved his sales method.

Intellectual Context

The Straight Line system, as Belfort describes it in the book, differs from popular sales methodologies, such as The Challenger Sale and SPIN Selling, in several ways:

It prioritizes the seller’s interest in closing expeditiously over the customer’s interest in ensuring the best solution. While it does mention meeting customer needs, most of the book focuses on techniques for moving the customer to a sale.
The Straight Line method, originally designed for telesales, takes a one-method-fits-all-sales approach. Belfort argues that all sales are the same—your objective is to move the customer from Point A to Point B—therefore his approach is universal. However, B2B sales may differ from B2C sales in size, complexity, number of stakeholders, and length of the sales cycle. So, methods like Challenger and SPIN Selling tailor their approach and solutions to the customer.
Compared to other sales methods, the Straight Line system is simple and straightforward.

Way of the Wolf: Review, Context, and Approach