How I got Bill Gates to return my call

Corporate pitchman Joel Bauer's job is to deliver lessons on how to persuade, and how this can help people succeed in any given profession.

Based in the United States, the 52-year-old had perviously served leading Fortune 500 companies, including Apple, IBM and Toshiba, in generating crowds and sales opportunities.

My Paper spoke to Mr Bauer, who co-authored the book, How To Persuade People Who Don't Want To Be Persuaded, last month. He was in Singapore to conduct a two-day seminar.

Why is it important to learn the art and science of persuasion?

If we don't learn to communicate with clarity and frame our ideas - from the heart - and minute those ideas, we cannot take care of our children, our families, and have those (additional) thrills along the way.

Knowing the how-to of persuasion means that people can ask for a job promotion or salary raise, and accelerate their careers. They can develop multiple streams of income.

I believe that people need to please themselves by having a significantly higher keep so they can do what it is that they believe in.

A lot of people feel miserable with what they're doing, they feel that they are compromised. I can literally rewire them to shift their mindsets so they find joy in the jobs they have, develop other streams of passive revenue where money comes in while they sleep, and they don't have to leave their jobs. I show them ways of fulfilling their dreams in a way that is rational, transferable, and completely sustainable.

How can someone successfully persuade others to do what he or she wants?

First, wrap the package. People need to dress impeccably. Among the most effective colours to wear is white on white, and royal blue on white. To reduce it down to the safest of all colour combinations, it's black and white - balance.

If people are dressed well, they're going to find a tremendous sense of empowerment. The way they dress determines whether they get the job, and whether they accelerate in it.

People also need to approach (an opportunity) knowing that they have value. If you don't value yourself when you're going for a job interview, for instance, why would you expect them to hire you?

You could send out a video e-mail to someone which will generate an entirely different response from writing an e-mail because we don't write the way we speak.

The video should capture your character traits, and how you feel about what it is you have to offer. This is a technique that costs nothing, but has a staggering effect. It generated a call from Bill Gates for me, even when others told me he would never call me back.

How do you persuade your critics?

I ignore them. I don't feel the fire, and I don't try to win them over. The moment you address your critics, which is what they want you to do, it goes back and forth.

It's like martial arts - it's not about fighting, it's about discipline. If someone is throwing negative energy at me, I divert it, and I can also use it to empower me.

So I look at this in a very positive light, because ultimately those critics will become my biggest fans. Time has always allowed me to win them over by continually moving forward.

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