Joel Bauer and the Art of Making People Hate You
I’m stealing from the playbook of Ken Mueller at Inkling Media and posting a video this weekend. I know “Your Business Card is Crap!” went viral over a year ago, but it’s the single best example of slimy salesmanship that I’ve found to date.
The guy in this video, Joel Bauer, later went on record saying this is a “character” he made up for his speaking gigs. But I’m not really buying it. I think chances are better that Bauer was embarrassed by people’s reactions, and now he’s trying to backpedal. But maybe he’s just really, really good at playing the part.
What do you think?
2 Responses to Joel Bauer and the Art of Making People Hate You
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I think he's so right in the last fifteen seconds of the video that I'm inclined to cut him some slack on the rest.
You're right too, though, for a guy who teaches coming from the heart, it's a pretty harsh presentation. He's not very likeable here. He's got some good ideas, but he sensationalizes them. I guess that's part of what gets you a million YouTube views.
Most business cards need improvement. The “what do you do for the customer” message is usually absent. I still see too many without a website, let alone Twitter info. And the people with hotmail email addresses on their cards really need to learn something about building credibility.
I'm not as big on look and feel as Bauer is. I'm inclined to think that if you're going to go to that much trouble and expense, write a book (or have it ghostwritten), and hand that out instead of cards (see smartbear.com for an example). That is good marketing.
I agree with the book idea … what a great way to improve your credibility. Much better than a business card, even a pop-up business card