Would you like to feel like James Bond – indestructible, calculating everything a step ahead and incredibly charming? You can do it… at work.
Jason Hanson worked as a CIA special agent for seven years, and then he founded a company to teach self-defense strategies. He noticed: the same skills help an intelligence officer kidnap a drug lord and an entrepreneur build a successful company.
Spies know how to plan, persuade, set challenging goals and find ways to achieve them. In Agent of Influence, Hanson tells how to use all of this in business. He also shares real life stories of spies. Fascinating.
Agent of influence
The SADR Cycle, or Most Effective Sales Technique
The SADR cycle, or intelligence cycle, is used by intelligence agencies of all countries. It consists of four stages: identification, analysis, development and recruitment. If you reduce it to its main components, you get the most effective sales technique in the world.
The first stage is to understand what the final result should be. Any entrepreneur will tell you that revenue is what keeps a company afloat. But let’s dig deeper. What does it take to start getting it as early as possible? The support of influential people? A purchasing department? The availability of investors?
Hansen is a frequent guest on TV shows, and also serves as a security expert for leading media outlets: The Wall Street Journal, Fox News and The Huffington Post – Source
If you don’t want to go from penny to penny for years waiting for your business to flourish, determine in advance how you will find clients and sell. What three steps will help you reach your goals as quickly as possible?
The method of “hourglass
”
How to get valuable information out of the man, without arousing suspicion? Method of “hourglass” will help.
Start the conversation with a broad general topic, then narrow it down to a specific one that interests you, and then bring the conversation back to a general point. For example, first you start a conversation about children, then switch to work, and then ask where the person likes to vacation or what their favorite meal is.
Examples of phrases to help start an unobtrusive conversation
People usually remember the beginning and end of a conversation, but not the middle. Using the hourglass method, you can tease out the level of interest in a product, the needs and expectations of customers, and even their plans to move on to a competitor.
Scouting tips
There are many techniques and tactics in the book to help you network more effectively. Here are some scouting tips.
Unusual Handshake.
To impress someone, shake their hand in an unusual way, such as covering it with your other hand for a second. But do it naturally, otherwise the gesture will have the opposite effect. If you do not go overboard, such a handshake will show a desire for close friendship.
Catch key words.
Pay attention to what words the interlocutor uses, and then say them too. Let’s say your client uses the word “all the time.” The next time they meet, you can say it too – a simple form of mirroring will help establish rapport.
Don’t try to please everyone.
There will always be those who don’t need your services. Don’t waste your time and energy on them. If you have a niche business, don’t be afraid to keep a small audience.
Remember: the agent is not immortal
Ethan Hunt from the movie “Mission Impossible” can do everything: and climbs a mountain without insurance, and on the wing of a flying plane hangs. It looks spectacular in the movies, but in intelligence and business, risk must be justified. For the mission to go constructively, don’t consider yourself invulnerable.
Intelligence officers are taught to outdo themselves, but they must realize that human capabilities are not limitless. A sober assessment of one’s capabilities is the key to success.
–
Still from Mission Impossible: Tribe of Outcasts, source
Don’t set unachievable goals. Ambition is good, but arrogance and ego can make you overestimate your goals. And overconfidence in both intelligence and business is deadly.
What else
”
The experience of an intelligence officer has become my most effective secret weapon in the business world,” Hanson writes. – “I will explain how to succeed with proven methods, no matter what business you are in.
Here’s what awaits you in the book
- Identification: how to find the people who help you succeed
- Recruiting: how to always get what you want
- Simple tactics that can change business
- Getting rid of, not hoarding: the success of an operation with a minimum of money
- How to assemble a team of honest people
At the end of the day, agent training boils down to one thing: You already have everything you need to achieve your goals. Scouts are the most self-sufficient people in the world. So are businessmen. A deep confidence in their abilities propels a company forward. The rest is a matter of technique.
Based on the book Agent of Influence
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