You’re probably familiar with Robert Cialdini as one of the world’s leading academic persuasion researchers…
But he was far from the first.
In fact, all the way back in the 1930s, one of America’s most-respected speech teachers was Allen H. Monroe of Purdue University.
And part of what made Monroe so effective as a speech teacher is that he didn’t just teach tactical aspects of speech — rather, he looked at the deeper principles and strategies for persuasion.
He asked…
“Why is it that some people are extremely motivational, influential, and persuasive… While others aren’t?”
You can have someone who is extremely knowledgeable… Someone who is well-spoken… Someone whose speech delivery is technically flawless…
And still, they fall on their faces.
At least, at the end of their speech, nobody feels inspired. Nobody feels persuaded. Nobody feels motivated to take action.
Monroe analyzed effective speakers — the kind of speakers that rile up an audience and inspire them to act…
He looked not only at what they were saying — the superficial details…
But also at the deeper structure — what they were doing…
He looked for patterns.
And when he found them, he turned them into a model for effective persuasion that’s just as relevant today as it ever has been.
It doesn’t matter the media — or if you’re conveying your message through speaking or writing — following Monroe’s Motivated Sequence will make your message more persuasive…
It’s a simple five-step structure to develop your persuasive message.
It was the result of years spent studying the world’s most persuasive speakers.
And frankly, if you’re a serious student of persuasion (which I know you are, because you’re reading Breakthrough Marketing Secrets), it may even feel a little familiar.
Here are Monroe’s five steps…
- Getting attention…
The first sale you have to make in ANY persuasion situation is that you are worth paying attention to. You have to come out and make it clear that you have something of interest.
Monroe described the average attitude of your audience as “Ho-hum!”
In other words, their default is to not care!
You need to make them care.
For this, he recommended intros including startling statements, illustrations, questions and more.
I’ll add: show them a benefit that they actually care about, that makes it feel like it’s for them, and pique their curiosity. If you do that, you’ll buy a few moments of attention, which you’ll have to continue to earn through the next steps…
- Showing the need: describing the problem…
Monroe said there’s only two real kinds of need that you’re going to appeal to. The first is to urge a change. The second is to demand preservation of the present conditions.
This is all about protecting what you have, and getting what you want.
Which, ultimately is another way to think of fear (of losing what you have) and greed (for what you want).
Yes, maybe those are extremes. And the angles and emotions are more subtle than those black and white distinctions.
But if you think about someone’s problems they want to have solved as either representing something they don’t want to lose, or something they want to gain, you’re really in the right ballpark.
Make that vivid. Make it real. And if you follow my PAISA formula (as outlined many times, including in by newest book, The Ultimate Selling Story), you should know you need to agitate the experience of the problem, and invalidate other potential solutions to make this really effective.
In fact, in Monroe’s work, he went deeper.
He said that to really pull this step off well, you need to…
— Make a clear statement of the need, either pointing out what is wrong with the present conditions or pointing out the danger which threatens the continuance of the present good conditions.
— Illustrate the need with one or more compelling examples.
— Explain the ramifications, using as many additional facts, examples, and quotes as required to make the need convincing and impressive.
— And make it personal to the individuals in the audience, showing them why it’s important to them.
- Satisfying the need: presenting the solution…
Ultimately, if you want to inspire action, you need to give your audience or your prospects something to act on.
Which means you need to present a clear, compelling solution to that problem.
You need to show them what they need to do, or what changes are required. And specifically, how this relates to either getting what they want, or preserving what they have.
You need to be crystal-clear here.
You need to have a practical, logical explanation of how and why your solution will solve their problem.
And you need examples from experience to show its soundness, looping in as much proof and credibility as you can muster to move them to belief.
(Side note: that training linked there could be the most powerful training in the BTMSinsiders library, for those who truly apply it. And I released it without fanfare between Christmas and New Years, and haven’t promoted it nearly enough.)
- Visualizing the results…
If you’ve ever studied Neuro-Linguistic Programming (or NLP), you know that one of its big lessons is around the concept of Future Pacing.
Decades earlier, Monroe worked it into his motivated sequence.
He said the function of this step is to “intensify desire.” To get your audience not just looking at the problem-solution on a logical level, but to get them imagining a future in which your solution is (or is not) implemented, and emotionally experiencing the outcome.
He actually breaks it down into three separate approaches.
— You can be positive. You get them to imagine a future in which your solution has been implemented, and imagine the benefits that result. Get them to picture themselves specifically in the situation, feeling the safety, pleasure, or pride which your solution produced.
— You can be negative. You get them to imagine a future in which your solution HAS NOT been implemented, and imagine the bad effects. Get them to imagine an amplification of everything going wrong in the problem step, only bigger and badder than it is now, and the pain that causes.
— You can contrast the two. I learned this years ago from Clayton Makepeace as “The Crossroads Close.” You paint a picture of the two paths they can take today, with or without your solution. You paint the negative picture first, and the consequences of inaction. Then, you paint the positive picture and all its benefits. Then you bring the contrast of outcomes back to their current moment of decision.
- Requesting action or approval…
Finally, you must be specific in what action you want your audience to take.
In the case of marketing and selling, we’re getting specific about the offer. And what they need to do to move forward.
You must be explicit and emphatic. You must be clear. You must ask them to take a specific action to solve the problem you’ve outlined.
Do this well, and you’ve created a massively-persuasive message!
The reason this lines up with so many other formulas you’ve heard, such as AIDA and PAISA, is that it works. It’s based in human nature. It’s based in what it takes to motivate us.
And, it’s pretty much universal.
Yes, the tactical implementation and techniques can vary.
But on a deeper level, the principles and strategies that go into this are what will move a single person to action, move a room to response, move a market…
If this resonates, and you like this kind of step-by-step approach to structuring a persuasive message…
You absolutely MUST go through my High-Velocity Copywriting training.
I actually sucked as a copywriter before I understood the deeper structure of persuasive sales messages.
I did. But then I learned about how to use outlines and templates to get my sales and persuasion structure right… And everything else fell into place.
In fact, once I truly understood the deep structure of effective direct response — as taught in High-Velocity Copywriting — I broke out on my own as a full-time freelance copywriter within three months and three days. Within 12 months I won AWAI’s $10k Challenge Award as the industry’s top up-and-coming copywriter. And I launched my career as an in-demand direct response copywriter. (And today, I’m using all the same understandings to build my business.)
I still look back on that moment where I discovered the critical importance of structure as the day everything changed.
That’s what I captured and conveyed in High-Velocity Copywriting.
You can start streaming it immediately, when you join BTMSinsiders today.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
