Author
Martin John
Cialdini Certified Coach
Founding Member of the Cialdini Institute
Based in the UK
As a Buyer or Purchasing / Procurement specialist, do you sometimes feel that Salespeople have an advantage in their ability to persuade and influence you? How about your stakeholders – are you able to get your ideas adopted, delivering results for them and you? Through training courses, public speaking and writing, Martin uses scientifically backed ethical influence insights to guide you, transforming business relationships to your advantage, so you hear “Yes” more often.
✓ LinkedIn Learning instructor
✓ Trusted ethical influence coach
✓ International training provider to corporations in 6 continents
“Learning ethical influence helped me to think strategically about how I influence others.”
John O’Reilly, Procurement Leader, FTSE 100 company
Testimonials
Learning the ‘Psychology of Ethical Influence’ was truly inspiring and I strongly recommend Martin to those seeking a profound understanding of influence. Martin’s engaging delivery made it a pleasure to learn from him.
Eduardo Chrispim
Head of Procurement Excellence, BAT
Martin recently gave my team two superb training sessions on ethical influence. What we learnt will help us win new clients.
Chris Ridgway
Head of Business Space Lease Advisory, Colliers International
Testimonials
Learning the ‘Psychology of Ethical Influence’ was truly inspiring and I strongly recommend Martin to those seeking a profound understanding of influence. Martin’s engaging delivery made it a pleasure to learn from him.
Eduardo Chrispim
Head of Procurement Excellence, BAT
Martin recently gave my team two superb training sessions on ethical influence. What we learnt will help us win new clients.
Chris Ridgway
Head of Business Space Lease Advisory, Colliers International
About the Author
Martin John
Welsh-born Martin John is a freelance management trainer, speaker and author, now living in the south of England.
Across a 26-year career, he held senior management roles within Procurement and Supply Chain at leading global companies in automotive, packaging and consumer goods sectors.
His live online and in-person training courses see him impart his unique blend of technical expertise, focus on practical application, unparalleled engagement and strong sense of fun to his delegates.
Aside from Procurement topics, Martin’s specialties are negotiation and persuasion, and he considers these as essential skills for life, not just work.
Yet many people lack the confidence and knowledge to negotiate effectively, and don’t know how they could get to hear “yes” more often through following scientifically proven influence techniques.
He teaches Procurement and Sales teams the tools and techniques to negotiate consciously and competently, getting better deals and leaving less value on the negotiating table.
And as a Cialdini Certified Coach, Martin also teaches Dr Robert Cialdini’s 7 Principles of Persuasion and crucially, how to practically apply them, helping others grow their influence to achieve greater business success.
Martin has five Procurement courses on the biggest business-learning platform in the world, LinkedIn Learning, plus courses on Udemy.com that have been taken thousands of people all over the world.
He is married with 2 children, who at the time of writing stubbornly remain on the payroll. He loves keeping fit, horseracing, sailing and he also plays the bass guitar (to a very mediocre standard).
A Personal Message
What I think this book demonstrates brilliantly, is the myriad applications of ethical influence. Once you understand it, you’ll become aware of an abundance of possibilities unfolding before you.
Even in the microcosm of Procurement & Purchasing, the opportunities for you to make a positive impact on your business, your career and your relationships are huge.
I’m honoured to have been part of a group of authors spanning diverse disciplines and geographies, to bring this “field guide” on the effective use of ethical influence to life.
Wishing you tremendous success.
Martin John
My favourite Research
There is so much powerful research that ethical persuasion is based on. Each author of ‘How to Hear YES More Often‘ has their favourites. We’d like to share with you just one that we find inspiring.
B2B
Emotional Involvement
B2C
Emotional Involvement
The emotional connection between buyers and sellers
“We operate in the B2B* world, not B2C**. Our decisions are entirely rational and logical. Emotion doesn’t come into it.”
This claim that B2B decision-making is purely rational is often made towards those of us who are practitioners of ethical influence.
How can this group of people, when they step into their business environment, magically shrug off all the inherent biases and irrationality that comes with being human? The answer is, they can’t. And the reason is because they’re human too, just like the rest of us.
In 21-03, Google and global consultancy, CEB (now Gartner) conducted a key piece of research across 3,000 Purchasers representing 36 B2B brands to find out whether emotional connections affect their purchase decision-making.
The result was astounding. While B2C brands had emotional connections with their customers in between 10% and 40% of cases, the research found that the emotional connection between B2B buyers and sellers played an even bigger role in decision-making than in the B2C world. In some cases an emotional connection between buyer and seller was present more than 50% of the time.
The reason is twofold. Firstly, there’s a lot more at stake when making business purchases, such as promotions or even careers! To overcome this risk, purchasers need to have a significant emotional connection. Secondly, purchasing decisions aren’t necessarily made to optimize the result for the business. As decisions are made by human beings, there’s often a “personal value” element that comes into play, too, such as “what does this decision mean for me?”
So that’s why it pays to understand the psychology behind ethical influence, even if you’re in the B2B world.
*Business to business
** Business to consumer
Ready to Persuade?
In Procurement or Purchasing, you’re also in Sales…
If your default “persuasion” technique is to provide facts, data, then more facts and data, you’ll be less effective in moving others towards you.
Human decision-making can be irrational and isn’t made by logic alone. Effective practitioners of ethical influence know that employing science-backed influence techniques will prevent opportunities to move others towards them, from being lost.
You’re selling ideas, proposals and business cases, inside and outside of your business. You’re uniquely positioned to influence dozens of people towards your way of thinking, bringing you more success and happiness.
Get in touch with me when you want to grow your influence. Of course, it’s up to you.
Services
Ethical Influence certification courses with coaching
Not only do you get a prestigious certification from taking the only official online Cialdini course, but you’ll also be supported through applying what you’ve learnt to overcome your real-life influence challenges.
Tailored workshops on negotiation, practical influence and Procurement
Let me bring my expertise and energy to deliver a practical and immersive workshop, tailored to meet your specific needs, in-person or online.
Bespoke programs
Driving sustainable behaviour change often requires frequent knowledge refreshers, deeper interactions, and challenging delegates to apply their learning. Bespoke programs, designed to address your unique requirements will take your negotiation, persuasion or Procurement capabilities to the next level.
Speaking
Ideal for your conference or team event, my high energy and upbeat talks on negotiation and the psychology of ethical persuasion are entertaining, enlightening and actionable.
Consultancy
When you or your team lacks the knowledge or capability to drive improved Procurement performance, based on my 26 years as a senior Procurement practitioner, you can rely on me to give you the practical insights that deliver value.
Company
Bournemouth, United Kingdom
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