Transcript
Okay, here’s the deal and this is the real deal. You see a lot of a little books that will say “Here’s the Bet, Here’s How To Do It.” But nobody is going to bet you on those. You have to know how to lure the mark into the bet. How do you do it? Sit down next to somebody, introduce yourself.
The first thing you have to do is invade their body space. People have this comfort zone around them.It’s normally only three feet, but if you reach out and shake somebody’s hand, body contact has happened. You’ve broken that personal zone.
Now ask them a question or just start chatting casually to them with questions. You can say something like “I just popped into the bar on the way to the train station. I just thought I would have a couple of drinks before going home. How about you?” Notice how I answered a question. You could say at an airport, “I arrived early from my flight so I’m just sitting at the bar, going to have a bite to eat. I think that’s pretty cool, I am finally early for a flight. Where are you going to?” Always end those opening questions with a question. Always do that, because that forces them to reply.
You’ve broken the body language. They have to reply to you. So now you start to socially mirror them and body mirror them. So body language there have been humongous books written on this. Some companies have spent millions of dollars on this. Don’t fold your arms. Don’t cross your legs.
Stay open to them. They will immediately, at a very subliminal level start to see you as a friendly person. You’ve talked to them. You’ve got their name. Remember their name and use it. People love to hear their name repeated back to them. It’s very big deal with people, especially if they see you being just slightly better than them.
And that’s the key. Be exactly what they are. My nickname from the FBI wasthe Ghost, because I could become anybody. I could become a dentist. I could become a lawyer. I could become a blue collar worker who worked in construction. Whatever their job is, mirror it. Whatever their problems are, you mirror their problems. “I am just here at the bar because my wife shouted at me.”
“Jeeps, I know exactly what you mean. My girlfriend has just done the same thing to me. That’s why I’m stopping here on the way home.” The moment they start to empathize with you, you own them. You see the difference is that they like you. I don’t like them. I just see them as a walking ATM machine. All I want is the contents of their wallet. It’s very important that if you’re going to do these bets, you can’t have no caring for people, whatsoever. You have to be ice cold. It doesn’t mean you don’t have to have a emotional heart or be a nice person, but at that moment you are a ice cold machine, looking at a free ATM machine.
And when somebody walks up to me at the bar or I sit next to them at the bar that’s exactly what I see. Then all we have to know is how much money’s in their wallet. How do you do that? It’s an old con man’s game called Peek the Poke. Peeking the Poke means seeing how much money’s in their wallet. Now I’ve employed girls to do this before called Ropers. And a roper, if you get a good one can look at a guy to 30 paces and tell you to a dollar what they’ve got to their wallet.
My technique, I used to dip the wallet and that means pickpocket, by the way to my untrained friends out there. And I’d would count the money and then I’d drop the wallet on the floor behind them and I’d say to the guy “Oops, it looks like you dropped your wallet.” And they look down and say “Oh, my goodness me,” and they’d pick up their wallet and they’d thank me. Probably buy me a drink.
But you know what happened? A; I know exactly what’s in his wallet. B; he’s now my best friend, because I just saved him from losing his wallet. So once you’ve spotted the mark, social mirror them, body mirror them. If they reach for a drink, you reach for a drink. If they eat a pretzel, you eat a pretzel, even if you hate them, which I do by the way. They light a cigarette, you light a cigarette. You social mirror them, and you become exactly like them, and that’s how you become their friend.
