Roger Ellerton PhD, CMC is the author of Win-Win Influence: How to Enhance Your Personal and Business Relationships. He describes his book by first quoting Zig Zigler: “You can get anything in the world that you want, if you help somebody else get something they want.”
Roger explains, “Whether you are a parent, son/daughter, friend, employee, manager or salesperson, you are constantly influencing others to accept you, your ideas, products or services. Those who masterfully present themselves and their ideas in a win-win manner, get ahead. Those who do not, may reap short-term gains and eventually fail in their objective.”
He says, “Influence is critical in leadership, negotiation, teamwork and getting others to buy into your ideas. Follow and practice the concepts, tips and processes described in this book and improve your influence results with anyone in a manner that achieves a win-win outcome. The emphasis is on expanding your influence skills and results in everyday situations.”
Here are Roger’s responses to my interview questions:
Patricia: What is your background as an author/writer and in the field of your book?
Roger: In my youth, I never thought being an author was possible. In high school, I dreaded any assignment that involved writing. I barely passed high school English and was fortunate to gain admission to university. At university, I gravitated to the pure sciences to avoid having to write anything substantial. After graduation (with a PhD), I was a tenured University Professor (in Statistics). So all I had to do was put a few words between mathematical formulae.
I moved on from academia and became a certified management consultant. The firm that I joined insisted that all new staff take an in-house course on business writing. This gave me a whole different perspective on how to clearly present my ideas and it has served me very well ever since.
My books are in the area of personal growth and inter- and intrapersonal communication. Growing up and as a young adult, I never felt comfortable in my own skin. It was not until I was in my forties that I started exploring personal development methodologies. One in particular (neurolinguistic programming or NLP) had the most positive impact on me and how I interacted with others. I pursued this discipline and eventually became a certified trainer. I had read a number of books on NLP and, although I recommended several to clients/students, I felt the available books did not clearly present the information in a way that was readily accessible to the beginner. So I wrote my own book, which turned out to be very successful and now I have a total of seven books that are published as paperbacks or ebooks.
Patricia: Why this book at this time?
Roger: My book, Win-Win Influence: How to Enhance Your Personal and Business Relationships (with NLP) is, as the title suggests, about influencing yourself and others in a respectful manner. NLP is one of the best, if not the best, model for understanding and improving your communication with yourself and others. Some authors have written influence/persuasion books, based on NLP, that illustrate processes you can use to take unfair advantage of others. Hence I saw an opportunity to give readers another choice.
As I say in the Preface of my book, “If you are looking for tips and techniques to persuade others to your way of thinking or to buy your idea, product or service without regard for their needs or aspirations, then please look elsewhere.”
Patricia: Tell us a little about your process of writing this book.
Roger: Writing this book was fairly straightforward. To influence someone, it is really about changing their belief about your product, service or idea. Belief-change is a four-step process: Understand their current choice (belief), Raise doubt about current choice, Explore alternatives, Confirm new choice. With this as an outline, I simply added useful techniques, processes and personal experiences to illustrate how to move through the four-step process while respecting and honoring the other person’s needs and values.
Patricia: Who is your audience for this book?
Roger: My audience is fairly diverse. For example, managers, coworkers, job applicants, family members, teachers, coaches, consultants, sales staff who wish to engage others in a respectful win-win manner, and of course NLP students and practitioners who wish to expand their knowledge and use of NLP in a mutually respectful manner.
Patricia: What are you doing to promote this book? Anything interesting?
Roger: I continually have my antennae up for potential book promotion opportunities. For example, earlier this week you sent an email inviting authors/clients to promote their books through your blog. I have no idea of the audience you have or if many are interested in my genre, however it only took me a couple of minutes to reply—well worth my time investment compared to the big $ and time activities some authors get involved with to promote their books.
Blogger’s note: Roger has made two important points here. Authors MUST have a website where they can be contacted to participate in opportunities such as this one. And authors MUST become accustomed to saying, “yes.” You never know what might develop from your participation in even the simplest of activities.
With regard to other promotional activities, my business is multi-dimensional—public speaker, trainer, management consultant, personal and business coach. Hence each activity supports and enhances the other. For example, I have over 500 visitors per day to my main website. http://www.renewal.ca
One activity that has helped book sales at sites such as Amazon is to include keywords in the title and subtitle.
Patricia: Share with us some of your most exciting experiences as the author of this book.
Roger: I have received many positive emails from readers who have said my book has changed how they interact with others. As well, my book has lead to speaking/training/facilitation engagements, which have resulted in increased exposure for all of my books.
Excerpts from my book have been published in a number of magazines. For example, the following http://www.renewal.ca/MPA13%207_RogerEllerton_Client%20Perspective.pdf was published in the Mortgage Professional Australia magazine.
Patricia: Any other books in the pipeline?
Roger: I have two other books in the pipeline. I recently published two ebooks NLP and Personal Growth Thoughts: A Series of Articles by Roger Ellerton Volumes 1 and 2. Each is a collection of fifteen articles that I have written and published in various online and paper-based magazines. A third volume of fifteen articles is in the works, with publication scheduled in early 2014.
As I said earlier, my first book was written to make NLP more accessible to the NLP novice. I now see how the material in my first book can be made even more accessible. This new book will not be another edition nor a competitor to my first book. It will be a complete rewrite with the layperson in mind. I expect to have this completed by mid-2014 and will contact you, Patricia to work your magic with your editing skills.
You’ll find Roger Ellerton’s book, Win-Win Influence: How to Enhance Your Personal and Business Relationships at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple’s iTunes, etc. For additional ordering information, visit the author’s website: http://www.renewal.ca/product.htm
Paperback: $12.99
Ebook: $3.99