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Persuasive Speaking 101: Monroe's Motivated Sequence
Have You Heard Of Monroe’s Motivated Sequence?
No? Good! Class is in session.
If you’ve taken a course in Public Speaking, or an Intro to Communications class, this term should be familiar to you. Monroe’s motivated sequence was developed by a man named Alan Monroe back in the 1930’s. So, this “motivated sequence” of his has been in existence for a long time now.
What exactly is Monroe’s motivated sequence? It is a technique designed to organize persuasive speeches in order for listeners to take action. Even if you may not be giving a speech in front of hundreds of people, this technique can work well in a sales pitch. It consists of some very simple steps which I’ll outline below.
Did you know public speaking is the number one fear for people around the world?
Attention
Get the attention of your listener!
Reel him/her in with a gripping story, dramatic statistics, quotes, etc.
By effectively grabbing the attention of your listener, they’ll be in for a ride. You now have a captive listener in which your persuasive speaking will be much more effective.
Need
How does your topic appeal to the needs of your listener?
The needs are what motivates action. You’ve got to dig deeper and go beneath the surface of saying that there is a problem. You need to establish the idea that this problem simply will not go away on its own. Convince your listener that he/she has a “personal” need to take action.
Satisfaction
This one’s easy. How will you help solve the problem? What is your solution? Remember to be specific and clear.
Visualization
Work your creative mind here. What’s going to happen if the listener doesn’t take action? Or what’s going to happen if your solution is implemented? This is another area where you’re going to have to be very detailed and descriptive.
Action
What can the listener do to take action and be a part of the solution? Give the listener a set of options to choose from that are feasible and viable in their current situation.
Why is this effective in sales?
Using Monroe’s motivated sequence places the emphasis on the customer and what he/she can do to help solve their problem. Compare this to value selling. You’re not selling the product, you’re selling the value that the customer will get with your product or service and you’re doing this through some persuasive speaking.
For more information, there’s a plethora of topics that you can search for that applies this technique into business. Another method you can search for that is similar to this is the SPIN technique, or “solution selling”, which is an acronym for Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need.
Are You Leveraging Action Oriented Copywriting?
If you’re using these techniques for your online presence to drive leads through your website, leave your experiences in the comments below!
