Agent of Influence: How to Use Spy Skills to Persuade Anyone, Sell Anything, and Build a Successful Business PDF
Preview Agent of Influence: How to Use Spy Skills to Persuade Anyone, Sell Anything, and Build a Successful Business
Dedication To all entrepreneurs and salesmen. The unsung heroes who help make America the greatest country on earth. And, to the incredibly brave men and women of the CIA who are the best salespeople on earth. Epigraph Opportunities will present themselves. Recognize them, act on them. —Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Supremacy Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Epigraph Introduction: Spy Skills Are Great Business Skills Chapter 1: The Confidence Reflex Part One: The SADR Cycle, or the World’s Most Effective Sales Technique Chapter 2: Spotting: How to Quickly Identify the People Who Will Help Your Business Succeed Chapter 3: Assessing: How to Tell Quickly If Someone Will Be Your Next Best Customer or Valued Contact Chapter 4: Developing: The Power of Strategic Alliances Chapter 5: Recruiting: Going in for the Kill and Winning Every Time Chapter 6: The SADR Cycle Part Five, Aka (T): How to Transfer or Terminate a Relationship for Maximum Productivity Chapter 7: Putting It All Together: How I Used the SADR Cycle to Create Million-Dollar Marketing Campaigns Part Two: Spy Skills Equal Common Sense on Steroids: How Enhanced Common Sense Will Take Your Business to New Heights Chapter 8: Next-Level Loyalty Chapter 9: Extreme Preparation: Prepare and Prepare Again Chapter 10: Always Be Teachable Chapter 11: Active Awareness: The Simple Tactic That Can Transform Your Business Chapter 12: Eliminate, don’t Accumulate: How to Run a Successful Operation with Less Part Three: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Spy-Level Deception Detection and Security Measures Chapter 13: The Integrity Test: How to Fill Your Team with Honest People Chapter 14: Cyber Security: Easy Ways to Stay Safe Bonus Section The Ultimate Primer for Transforming Yourself into a Media Personality to Earn a Small Fortune for Your Business Author’s Note Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright About the Publisher Introduction Spy Skills Are Great Business Skills From the very first day an intelligence officer begins his training, he is primed on how to become the best salesperson in the world. Spies aren’t selling an ordinary product, however. The product they’re selling is treason. If an intelligence officer doesn’t close a deal, he might end up getting killed or spending the rest of his life inside a foreign prison. Treason, which is generally defined as betraying one’s country, is a pretty tough item to sell, particularly because the punishment for it is unforgiving. In the United States, when Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted of conspiring to share U.S. atomic secrets with the Soviet Union in the 1950s, they were executed in the electric chair. Punishments for treason throughout the world have also included being hanged, beheaded, burned at the stake, or, more commonly today, life imprisonment. Committing treason is a massive risk that comes with huge consequences, but intelligence officers are specifically trained to get people to take that risk—and to let them think it was their idea to do so. Intelligence officers are trained to: Be sufficiently confident to get a person to fulfill any request, no matter how odd or crazy it might be, within an incredibly short amount of time. Become viewed as a confidant—someone everyone wants to confide in, who is trusted with people’s secrets, concerns, and even their darkest fears. Mirror the behavior of others subtly, to create an appearance of having common interests with targets. Exude empathy and genuinely care for their targets. Empathy is a big key to success. Analyze large amounts of information to get clues about what can help or hurt a mission. Practice discipline at the highest level. Intelligence officers are methodical, dedicated, and committed, and they work hard to remain in top physical condition. Be flexible and collaborative. Things go wrong all the time, but that cannot allow a mission to fall apart. What I’m about to teach you in this book can change the way you sell your product to others—be it a brand, a business, or an idea. If there’s one trait that differentiates spies from “average people,” it’s our ability to confidently act, react, and adapt. Until now, my books have been focused on various tactics that can keep you and your family safe; and while I will always be committed to sharing information about personal safety and survival, I’ve realized that my professional training has supplied me with additional benefits that can be put to great use in the business world or to improve everyday life. Let me assure you: This isn’t another run-of-the-mill self-help book about boosting confidence and becoming more successful as a result. There have been a million books written about that, and I’m not going to add another to the hefty pile. In this book I’m going to teach you about the ultra-secret weapon every intelligence officer carries in their arsenal: the operative mind- set. When you are trained as an intelligence officer, you are learning much more than how to defend yourself or shoot a gun at a bad guy. Being a good intelligence officer who is prepared to defend the citizens of the United States against enemies who wish the nation harm isn’t just about physical survival, it’s also about something much more subtle and complex. The operative mind-set includes that elusive and appealing combination of traits—likability, empathy, confidence, and intelligence—that enable a person to effortlessly succeed at anything. Another way to look at the operative mind-set? It’s ultimately really good salesmanship. When I began my training as an intelligence officer, I never imagined that a few years down the road the skills I would acquire in the CIA would put me in the ideal position to thrive as an entrepreneur. But in 2010, after seven years of working for the agency, I was ready to move on. I wanted to build something from scratch and work on my own terms, and I envisioned a company where I would share safety and survival tactics with everyone from stay-at-home moms and college students to high-net-worth individuals and celebrities. At the time, even my own father thought I was crazy. He couldn’t believe I would leave such a steady job, especially after all the crazy hoops I had jumped through to get accepted into the CIA in the first place. It was a big change, and I was taking a major risk, especially considering only 20 percent of new businesses survive past their first year of operation. I’ll admit it, I was scared. Fast-forward just nine years later, and I’m proud to say I’m the owner of a very successful, multimillion-dollar business, Spy Escape & Evasion, that I created (with the help of my wife and some incredible team members, of course). It turns out those very skills I learned in my training as an intelligence officer had prepared me for the challenges of building, running, and growing a small business. In this book, I’m going to show you exactly how I used the operative mind-set to build the business I run today. I’ll be the first person to admit I’m an introvert—I’m a quiet guy who worked as a police officer in Virginia and eventually as a CIA officer—and no one was more surprised than I was when I won a deal on ABC’s hit show Shark Tank, or when I landed a regular guest spot alongside Rachael Ray or Harry Connick Jr. on their national television shows. Writing one book— much less three—wasn’t in my plans either. Nor was a stint doing a Las Vegas stage show at a big casino. I’m incredibly grateful to have had these opportunities, and they’ve certainly helped me take my business to a higher level—but I would never have gotten them down without the framework of the operative mind-set. Ultimately, this book isn’t about getting on TV shows or performing in Las Vegas (unless that’s what you really want to do, then go for it), but it’s about utilizing the operative mind-set to scale unexpected new heights as an entrepreneur or salesperson. Maybe you want to increase the amount of business you do so that you can hire a few employees. Perhaps it’s your goal to expand your business internationally. Whatever the vision for your next big step, the operative mind-set can help you get there. My background as an intelligence officer has proven to be a most welcome secret weapon when it comes to navigating the business world, and I’m going to show you how to use these proven tactics to achieve greater and long-lasting success, no matter what business you’re in.
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