Nick Baldock - Persuade : how to persuade anyone about anything

Bob Hayward, a Christian and a father of four and a director of three companies including Be More Effective Ltd, a business growth and employee engagement consultancy.

Bob has designed and delivered numerous mission-critical, internal communication and employee engagement projects for companies like Vodafone, Peugeot, Husqvarna, Somerfield and SEB (a Global Bank) and has run many skill development programmes, including a Sales Training Programme for all 1,500 BMW UK Dealer salespeople. Bob is a highly-experienced consultant, facilitator, trainer and speaker. Feedback on his work is high in levels of both delegate satisfaction and tangible impacts on business results.

Bob has started six businesses from scratch and built five of them to 1M turnover or more. He has a raft of practical knowledge and experience that make him a natural and informative speaker with a complete understanding of the needs of employees and problems facing business owners and managers.

Bob met Nick Baldock in 1999 before Nick ran across America, and there began a profound and unique friendship. Bob and Nick hit the national headlines in 2001 when they ran 33 marathons in just 40 days to get from Lands End to John OGroats in aid of a burns victim called Podge. After this mission was accomplished, they continued to raise money for charities that were close to their hearts by running. They completed a further major test of endurance in October 2005 by running six marathons over six days across one of the hottest places in the world Death Valley this time in aid of Swindon Christian Community Projects, a charity tackling issues of poverty and deprivation.

website: http://www.bemoreeffective.com
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Nick Baldock was an international speaker and sales improvement consultant. He had clients across the globe that he helped to become more efficient at converting sales effort into more profitable sales results.

Following a highly successful sales career which spanned three industries finance, media advertising and recruitment, since 1985 Nick had been delighting audiences across Europe and the USA as a motivational speaker, sales trainer and business development consultant. Organisations such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, SSL International, British Airways, Capital Radio and BMW have testified to the value of his skills and experience. This earned him immense credibility with audiences, along with his commanding presence, enthusiasm and sense of humour which gave him the means to build a bond with a group very quickly and hold their attention throughout a session.

Nick published his first book, Running Across America, in 2000 and his second book, The Value House in 2011. Not long after completing his third book, Persuade, Nick died of a heart attack on 12 July 2014. He collapsed suddenly while talking with his wife, Kirsty, and was gone. This was an untimely and tragic finale for a man who had participated in countless marathons, run 4,000 miles across America, and completed two runs from Lands End to John OGroats, both in under 40 days.

No book can be considered ready to go to press without being scrutinised by an independent editor. It fell to Milton Keynes-based freelance writer and radio presenter, Robert Bob Bluffield, to fulfil this role. As a former advertising agency executive and business owner, he was well placed to become involved with a work on persuasion. Those of us employed in the advertising industry were not known as the persuaders for nothing, so, when Bob Hayward invited me to be editor of this enlightening book, I felt well placed to contribute a level of knowledge and wisdom to move the project on.

North London-born, Robert cut his teeth working for West End advertising agencies and publishing houses. As a qualified professional photographer, he opened a studio during the mid-1970s in Bedfordshire that won contracts in Hong Kong for nine years, but after 38 years Robert felt he was growing too old to lug heavy equipment around factory floors and to crawl on his knees photographing toddlers. Having written two commissioned books on wedding photography and studio management in the 1970s, he became contributing editor of a business and a lifestyle magazine, writing on such diverse subjects as health, travel, cars, aviation, business, politics, food and wine. Turning to his love of commercial aviation, more recently he has penned two further books, both commissioned, on early airline history.

Robert has also worked in cinema management and run a busy private investigation business. Now semi-retired, he continues working as a copywriter, editor and author, finding ghostwriting, editing, and working on my latest book far less physically demanding than being a photographer. However, he said: I empathise with the contents of this book, because throughout my working life not a day went by when I didnt have to use my skills of persuasion and that is not about to change.

Bob Hayward asked Robert to help synchronise the different writing styles that Nick and he had used. That was the final aspect of the book that they were about to start work on. Sadly, a week before their scheduled start Nick passed away. Robert provided an independent and professional perspective to help make that final edit more effective.

website: www.robertbluffieldwriter.uk
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In this section we will discover that while communication seems easy, it is harder to do effectively. To persuade we must communicate effectively. The need to persuade today is greater than ever before and is made more challenging because of the different modes of communication available as well as there often being a difference between what is communicated and what is received.

We all have a need to persuade every day for one reason or another

What is said in my communication is not necessarily what is heard why does it often go wrong?

If I can improve my communication I improve my ability to persuade

Our life experiences shape how we see the world and how we receive communication, affecting how we might be persuaded

People experience change daily, and each person can respond to the same type of change differently to the way others might understanding that will help us in our ability to persuade others

Well, youll only need the skill of persuasion if there are times in your life where others see things or want to do things differently from you. Im sure it wont happen too often at least not every day!

Maybe your local council has changed collecting the rubbish from weekly to once a month to save money, and you dont think it is right?

Maybe your teenagers have started smoking, and you think that is dumb?