How to Persuade People Who Don't Want to be Persuaded: Get What You Want -- Every Time!

by Joel Bauer

The art of persuasion as taught by one of the world's most sought-after speakers and pitchmen
In this daring book, Joel Bauer teaches you how to persuade by making your messages entertaining. Learn the secrets behind "The Fright Challenge," "The Transformation Mechanism," and other persuasion tactics used by pitchmen, carneys, and conjurors to convince people to their way of thinking. Along with coauthor Mark Levy, Bauer has taken these ethical, entertainment-based techniques, and has made them practical for everyday use-capable of influencing one person or a thousand, in business and in life.
Joel Bauer (Los Angeles, CA) is an expert in performance-based live marketing who The Wall Street Journal online referred to as "undoubtedly the chairman of the board" of corporate tradeshow rain-making. Mark Levy (Chester, NJ) has written for the New York Times, has authored or coauthored three books, and is the founder of Levy Innovation, a consulting firm that makes individuals and companies memorable.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Leadership, Social, Communication

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 17, 2004

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

You have a magician who now does trade show booth selling. His insights are very different and their is real imagination with his approach to getting and holding attention. Plus he has defined what he is doing so most of what he does, you can do.

He talks about gifting people so they remember you. One the cheapest yet most effective ways to do this is to do origami. I went out and bought a starter kit at my local hobby store for ten bucks. I got paper and an instruction book. I have folded a few boxes and just left them on my desk. When people come by and ask me about them I hand them one. The smiles I get from a two cent piece of paper and about a minute of fold time is priceless.

Thanks for the tip Joel!

One drawback I have the black and white kindle and the pictures in the book don't come out clear. So there is some origami step pictures he shows that aren't in my starter kit and I can't do them because of the picture.

Overall you should read this book just to learn how to be more memorable.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utilize entertainment principles to differentiate and position your brand.
If you want to persuade people, you're going to have to figure out ways of letting them sample your
service; otherwise, they'll doubt you, and that doubt may keep them from acting on your wishes.
Transformation Mechanism - a demonstration that gains the audience's attention, lowers their
defenses, and serves as a metaphor for your message. It's a trick that makes a major point.
Before starting a big planning session: Coax lively words and imagery from people to activate their
imaginations and hearts, get them to see in 3D (sensory details), and speak about their thoughts in ways that shift their perspective. Repeat back to them what you've heard in their own language and add some of your own to heighten the moment. Put everyone into the future. Ask them to see things after they've completed their goal. Once they're in a different psychological place, the moment has changed, and they'll become goal -focused rather than problem-focused. The difference in their minds translates into a difference of quality in their planning.
Factors most highly associated with getting attention: personalized message that evokes an emotional response, coming from a trustworthy or respected sender that is concise. Messages that both evoke emotion and are personalized were 2x more likely to be attended to than those without.
Stop downplaying your importance in the world (hype yourself up). Use a person's favored imagery as a
means of changing the moment for them. Ask a question that sends people into their past, their future, or flips their perspective (e.g., "tell me about a time when you.." or "what's the most significant lesson you've learned in the past year or two?"). Appeal to the extremes with your questions (e.g., "if you reached your goal three months early, what would you do with that extra time?" or "where will you be this time next year, if you continue to do X?") and get people out of the present by flipping their
perspective (e.g., "what would have to happen for your most agonizing problem to be solved today?" or
"imagine you had to do this with half your resources, how would you make it work?"). Do something out
of the norm.
Mechanism development - pick two items and determine how they are related: slip off a shoe and study it; how is it like your thorniest business problem (if you're struggling, break it down into components)? Look at the ground, how is it like your life? Listen, how are the sounds like a business goal? How is an item in your wallet like the sunrise? How is your computer keyboard like tomorrow?
Transformation Mechanisms - use props of an odd object, a conventional object in an odd context, or a
conventional object that you do something odd with, Body Mechanism - uses the body or bodies; Paper
Mechanisms - use paper to make cartoons or diagrams.
Sales pitch - open with a zing, uncover and intensify the problem, offer the solution, segue into facts
and benefits, and demonstrate it. Open for questions and end with a closer. Break people from their
minutiae and get them to examine the big picture.
Interesting descriptions and revelations of "magic" tricks and sleight of hand techniques to use at your
will. Although, this would feel kind of silly and unprofessional in many situations. I bet for trade shows, it's great. But trying to sell a consulting project might make it seem like you're a conman.
An elevator pitch says - where you work, for whom you work for, the experience of what it's like to see
you work, and the payoff for those who hire you. To build your own: who are your clients? Why do your
clients hire you or purchase your product? What processes do you use to generate results for your
clients (the ordinary can be extraordinary)? How might your clients' clients be affected by your job?
Who are your competitors, and how are you better? Have you won any awards, been cited in the media,
or garnered praise from a recognized source? How do you guarantee your work? What are your
business success stories? Can you create a metaphor or simile around you, your business, or your process?
When trying to influence someone ask: what am I trying to accomplish? What does the other person
want? How can I give the other person what they want while I get what I want? What conditions are
stopping me from making this happen? Are these conditions valid? How would I normally go about
getting what I want in this situation? How else can I go about getting what I want? Now, what am I going
to do to make this happen?
"Why don't you tell me about what you do, and then lIl tell you how what I do applies to you."
Distill your concepts into catchy slogans and use those slogans repeatedly within your messages. They will lodge into your audience's mind, repetition is crucial. Slogans can be used as an outline to your
pitch. Slogans can be: a feature, benefit, question, challenge, or structure. It can be: exciting, boastful,
self-referential, tongue-in-cheek, inspiring, or painful. Mnemonics also help with slogans and make them more sticky - configure the steps in your process to a memorable word. Other ways to make a
memorable slogan: use a phrase whose parts are in parallel construction (e.g., float like a butterfly, sting
like a bee), give your phrase an internal rhyme (e.g., if the glove don't fit, you must acquit), form your
phrase by stringing together rhyming components (e.g., taste, not waist), repeat your slogans in a way appropriate to the situation (with further elaboration).
Considerations for creating a sample offering: ask what process you want to demo to your audience,
take a piece of that process to develop into a sample, customize your sample per audience target,
remember people are skeptical about what you're selling, but they ultimately want to believe you.
If you want to be persuasive, learn how to give people something that's both valuable and free. The key to using freebies as an attraction device is to make sure your audience fully understands the value of what you're handing them. Offering something for free isn't enough, you have to fashion it around
something the audience values. When we receive, we feel indebted to the other person and look to pay
back our debt, Consider these when developing a freebie: who am I trying to influence? What am I trying to influence them about? Do I have any relevant information that I can give them freely, that they'd find valuable? Do I have any relevant physical items I can give them freely, that they'd find valuable? What can I say or do that would get them to fully appreciate the value of the information or item? When is the best time to give them the information or items to help my case?
Client testimonials: first, describe the problem that got your client to hire you; talk about you and your
solution; show how the client benefitted from your solution. Reverse testimonials: "I have hired several
so-called experts to help me straighten out my business. They usually have a few decent ideas, but
nothing to warrant their expense or my time. So, when I saw X, I was intrigued by their insights but was hesitant to call, Finally, though, I relented, Thank goodness I did..." Addresses the suspicion and doubt of the consumer. When an endorser opens with doubt, it puts him and the reader in the same place.
If you're a member of an association or organization pertinent to your field, parade it around on your
business card, website, and in your marketing materials. You can borrow their perceived respectability, Specific and tangible language creates a picture in people's minds and has facts that can be
corroborated, People get suspicious when you speak in generalities.
When you present, don't admit mistakes. Take your mistake and make it work.
Make your goals clear and specific. Details help you see. Getting specific about a concept pushes you to
experience that concept. Once you "make it real," you can act upon it. If you don't fit your passion into
your life, you'll regret it. You get depressed when all your efforts come from duty and reflex. Don't think
survival when you could be thinking about creating a kingdom. Ask yourself: what projects do you want
to take on? Who do you want to work with? Where do you want to work? What do you want for your
family life? Financial life? What would you like to see and experience? How do you see yourself
contributing to the world? Why you want something is unnecessary. Life is about action. What's in your
head doesn't help anyone unless you take that thought, make it physical, and show it to the world.
People spend far too much time on whys as a means of putting off action. They think as long as they're
thinking about the why, they're doing productive work. It's simply being afraid to start.
Positioning makes it clear that a company is realistic - they're not trying to rule the world, they're happy
to claim a piece of it. It helps people understand your organization better. Positioning helps distinguish
you from a crowded field. Positioning works because it follows the way our mind naturally functions: we
pigeonhole, reduce, and distort to put people into conceptual boxes.
Positioning can be achieved by: getting clear about who you're trying to persuad en dbaout what
you're trying to persuade them; finding out what your audience values when it comes to your offering;
taking an attribute from your offering, one that your audience would clearly associate what they value;
making sure no one else in your field is definitively associated with that attribute, and if they are, finding
a way to alter the attribute so it's unique to you; pushing that attribute/position for all it's worth by
building presentations, mechanisms, and marketing materials around it.
An objection just means the prospect needs more information. For the most part, that's true. The
person you're trying to persuade may not think they're asking for more information, or for a different
perspective on what you've said, but that's how you handle it. Their resistance is just part of the
conversation, and it's no more important than any other part of the conversation.
When meeting continued resistance: pretend you don't understand the objection; ask them what they
really want to know; refer to one of your clients who had the same objection (feel/felt/found technique
-I know you feel. Some of my other clients originally felt that way. But when they used my service, they
found...); make the objection into a joint objective ("so our objective is to make our service affordable
for you?" - a yes means they've accepted your offering and you two can reach that objective, if no,
move forward to uncover the real reason); make the objection the very reason to make the deal (you
won't buy this air conditioner because it's noisy? It's noisy because it houses the most powerful engine
on the market); agree with the objection and reaffirm your main benefits; get them to see the
consequences of not testing your services.
Looking professional reduces barriers. People judge books by their cover. Being well-kept sets a context
for success. If you look polished, you'll be more likely to be given a chance to prove yourself. Tips for
good dress: dress better than everyone else; always dress as if you're going to a wedding; two thousand
dollars makes you sharp enough for prime time; wear black and gray, light-colored shirts and blouses,
dark ties and ascots, different textures and hues, finest shoes you can afford; don't let accessories
detract from your hands and face, which is where you want people to look; make off-the-rack seem
handmade; have a consultant or befriend a sales clerk for advice; look good out of your luggage; be
immaculately groomed.
Build, Hold, Move - get their attention, talk about their problems and your solutions, tell them how to
benefit immediately from your solutions. Build value with your audience, don't just plop information in
front of them, offer them solutions to common problems. Be clear about the result you're looking for - contact info, purchase, agreement, etc. Emphasize the cost of them ignoring your message, explain how
they would be worse off. Be prepared to expand or contract your presentation based on the tone of the
room. Involve your audience, but don't let them take over. When you pitch, think of yourself as a
director - it's your job to tell people what to do, not in an abusive way but firmly. If using slides, only
project a new slide after you've started talking about it - keep it short in terms of text, use a big, colorful
photo, or simple graph - if you talk about the slide too early, you split focus. Public speaking is only
stressful if you have unrealistic expectations (e.g., perfection), get over this by speaking often to teach
yourself how simple it can be.

[Celz Lin · Rating 1 out of 5]

The descriptions in the book is not written well. This should be better demonstrated in a video because the magic could not be described in the book. I tried to look at some videos about the author but I’m not impressed.

[Ketil Moland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professional pitchmen use metaphors, storytelling, sampling and other mechanisms to influence people and make them receptive to their ideas. In a quite persuasive way, authors Joel Bauer and Mark Levy explains how you can apply these techniques, too. If you are doing trade shows, product demos, or sales for a living, this book will be an interesting read.

[Jacob Ngatuvai · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a book written for business people it was really interesting to me, and I am in ninth grade. This book is a great way to learn new tricks and ways to get people to both do what you want, and put them in a mood that they might consider what you are saying. The men that wrote the book go into a great amount of detail and use the things they teach in the book on you. When I was reading this book in school I was learning about persuasion and different tactics, and in the book I was able to read about how you can use all three that I learned at the same time.
One of the most heavily taught tactics is called the Transformation Model, a lot of time is spent on the transformation model but that time is imperative to learn all the different ways that work for you. In the book they also give plenty of examples that you can also use, whether or not you use to persuade or just to show off to your friends is up to you. This book is full of Magic tricks and Mentalism that are cool just to know and are useful when trying to persuade, I have used it in both scenarios.
I would highly recommend this to anybody who feels up to the challenge, some of the things in this book are not for everyone so just know that this book was meant for adults, business men, and sales people. So if you feel you are not up to the challenge turn back, anyone left step on up, its a fun book.

[Andrew Lisi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This feels like a crazy mashup of old-school direct response marketing and literal stage magic.

The authors basically teach you how to grab people by the collar, metaphorically speaking, and shatter their defense mechanisms.

Honestly, some of the psychological tactics are nothing new, but are still relevant and I've seen them used over and over by some of Bauer most notable students, like R. Brunson, and his most recent incarnation, A. Hormozi.

That being said, you’ve got to take a lot of this stuff with a massive grain of salt.

A few of the methods lean way too hard into aggressive showmanship and borderline cheesy 90s car-salesman vibes.
If you tried using their literal physical stunts in a serious boardroom today, you’d probably get laughed out of the room.

[Fabrizio Stucchi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing of interest and unusuful, one of the few books I regret to have bought.

[Army Alghifari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku ini banyak bercerita tentang bagaimana teknik persuasi dengan gaya baru, tapi lama, laiknya seorang tukang obat yang mempromosikan obat dengan penuh heroisme. Sesuatu yang dikupas dalam buku ini adalah bahwa persuasi merupakan ilmu yang sudah lama diterapkan oleh beberapa kalangan, khususnya para pesulap, magician, atau illusionist.

Dalam buku ini digambarkan secara detail tentang bagaimana mempersuasi seseorang dengan sebuah "inception", pengaruh alam bawah sadar dengan kegiatan-kegiatan kecil yang outstanding menurut saya.

Secara umum, akhirnya buku ini berhasil memperkaya wawasan saya tentang teknik-teknik diplomasi dan persuasi yang sudah ada saat ini.

[Roxane Lapa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is written by a former carney turned pitchman so there is probably nobody more qualified to write it. I loved his easy writing style and was entertained, but most importantly, I learned a lot from the book. At the end, I had made more notes from this book than I had in while from any other similar book. I didn't find the transformation mechanisms particularly practical but they did get me thinking out of the box. If I had to sum it up in a sentence, I'd say "Dale Carnegie gone dark side with a sense of humour".

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are truly interested in getting your message across to others it would be a shame to miss reading this book.

Mr. Bauer gives you concrete methods on how to change peoples state so that they will listen to your message. This can be applied to non-profits, for profits and in your daily life.

I would LOVE to meet and see Mr. Bauer in action and can only hope that he will write another book soon for those of us who are interested in communicating deeply with others.

[Rich Urban · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! I watched him speak in Chicago last year. This guy is EVERYTHING that he says he is!

[Julian Haigh]

ok, it covers some real basics that are often overlooked.

[Sam Witteveen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good thoughts and tips , but you have to read between the lines. I have seen live and he was much better at his platform selling course.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book illustrates the power of using metaphors and magic tricks to put people in a mental state that is open to suggestions.

[Bryan]

Not recommended - this is basically a guide to using carnival tricks to pull the wool over people's eyes.

[Stephen Hughes · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Plan 9 From Outer Space of business books. Avoid.

[John Boettcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People would probably do you more good.