You're listening to Business English Pop, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Welcome to the second in this three-part series on persuasion.
What are the five steps of the persuasive process?
Let's review the Monroe Sequence.
First, get the audience's attention.
Second, establish a need.
Third, satisfy that need.
Fourth, visualize the future and, finally, ask for action.
Last time, we heard a bad example and a good example of persuasion.
Then we covered the first step of the Monroe Sequence.
We learned that to be persuasive, you first need to get the audience's attention by establishing the relevance of the topic.
We also talked about how it's extremely important to relate your proposal directly to your audience's needs.
In today's show we'll be continuing on that theme by looking in detail at the second step in the Monroe sequence, the need step.
This is where you demonstrate to the audience that there is a serious problem with the current situation.
This prepares them psychologically to accept your solution.
Let's continue listening to the good example of persuasion that we started last time.
Remember, Steve has just gotten his audience's attention by pointing out the amount of money that Swift loses every year due to turnover.
He has also posed a problem.
How can we reverse the trend and turn the situation around?
During the listening you'll hear Steve's managers, Glenn and Sally, make occasional comments as Steve presents his idea.
And while you listen, see if you can answer these questions.
You can check your answers in a few days on the website.
First, what is the highest temperature in the welding room?
Second, what does Steve present first, the problem or the solution?
And finally, what kind of strategies does Steve use to paint a vivid picture of the need for a solution?
And bring summer productivity in line with the rest of the year.
Would you be interested?
What do you have in mind, Steve?
Well, the problem starts in the welding room, due to high turnover and low efficiency from replacement workers.
We just don't make as many frames as we do during the rest of the year.
And if we don't have frames, we can't make bikes.
Where's the high turnover come from?
Good question.
Both the high turnover and low efficiency are because of the extreme heat in the welding room.
Temperatures average 6 degrees over the outside temperatures.
During the summer, when the work starts at 8, it's already 31 degrees in the welding room.
By 1130, it's at least 37.
On six days last summer, it hit 41 degrees.
That's hot.
Yes.
And when the temperatures are that high, we may be violating government regulations.
And, as you know, these production workers are always working on moving or carrying frames which weigh as much as 8 kilos.
When temperatures hit 35 degrees, they slow down.
With no relief in sight, many of them quit.
How many was it again last year?
Well, this summer we have already replaced 11 of the 36 employees in the welding room.
Turnover for the whole summer will usually run over 50%.
When someone quits, it takes an average of five days to find and train a replacement.
During that time, the trainee produces nothing.
For another five days, the new person can work at only about half speed.
According to my calculations, we are producing 12300 less units per summer than we would without this turnover.
Wow.
$12,300.
Is it really that much?
Yes.
And figuring a profit of 16 on every bike we sell.
Those 12300 products we aren't making are costing us 200000 in potential earnings.
That's pretty significant.
What will it take to fix the problem?
So far, Steve has not yet said a single word about the solution to his problem, has he?
Up to this point, he has just been focusing on establishing a clear need.
This is a key strategy in the Monroe Sequence.
First, demonstrate a serious problem with the current situation.
When the audience feels a clear need to solve the problem, they'll be ready to accept your proposal.
This form of persuasion, presenting the need before the solution, is often called the indirect method.
When is the indirect method more appropriate than a direct approach?
You'll have to rely on your knowledge of the situation, the culture and the audience to make that judgment.
Generally, the direct method giving the solution first may be more useful when you're dealing with a small problem or when you know the individuals involved very well.
But there is no doubt that indirect persuasion is a powerful tool.
As Monroe would say, by following the natural human decision-making process first we feel a need, then we look for a solution you can more easily overcome all kinds of resistance or opposition to your ideas.
How does Steve establish a need for his proposal?
Let's look at some language he uses.
First, he discusses the origin, or beginning, of the problem.
Well, this issue goes back to a communication breakdown.
The root cause of the problem has to do with lack of supervision and poor training.
We can trace the origin of this issue to poor implementation of risk controls.
Next, Steve explains the background of the problem due to high turnover and low efficiency from replacement workers.
We just don't make as many frames as we do during the rest of the year.
And if we don't have frames, we can't make bikes.
Steve is building up the reasons for the problem here.
He's painting a vivid picture of the causes.
What are some other phrases you can use to do this?
Because of an overall decrease in the numbers of face-to-face meetings.
Our staff just don't get to know each other, so that basic element of trust is lacking.
Owing to high turnover, there are really no qualified mentors in this team.
On top of that, Management has not been conducting sufficient oversight of new hires.
Since every local office had its own vested interests, there was very little willingness to submit to central oversight.
Note again that we haven't said anything yet about the solution.
In the indirect method of persuasion.
We must avoid talking about the solution at all costs until we have established a clear need.
The mistake most often made by beginners and inexperienced persuaders is that they start talking about the solution much too early in their presentations.
Now, let's practice what you've learned so far today.
In a moment, you'll be hearing a series of hints or cues.
First, you'll hear the origin of a problem, then some words explaining the background.
Use the phrases we have just studied to make a short statement on the origin and background of each issue.
For example, if you hear high summer temperatures, Increased use of air conditioners, lack of electricity.
You'll say something like, The root cause of this problem is the high summer temperatures.
Because of increased use of air conditioners, we're facing a lack of electricity.
Feel free to invent details.
Then, after each exercise, you'll hear an example answer that you can compare with your own.
Poor training, poor computer knowledge waste of time.
Answer The root cause of this problem is poor training.
Because we have poor computer knowledge, we end up wasting a lot of time.
Overuse of photocopier Too much personal use.
A lot of paper gets wasted.
Answer.
This issue goes back to the overuse of the photocopier.
Because staff are using it for personal use, a lot of paper gets wasted.
Increased cost.
Excessive prices lose customers.
We can trace the origin of this problem to increased costs.
Owing to excessive prices, we lose a lot of customers.
How did you do?
It's a good idea to go back and try the practice again to build up fluency.
Also, try substituting different language to help build up a range of expressions.
Now, let's get back to the dialogues.
So far, we've studied talking about the origin and background of the problem.
What are some other ways that Nick uses to establish a clear need for his proposal?
For one thing, Nick paints a vivid picture of the conditions in the welding room, as the temperature increases throughout the day.
During the summer, when the work starts at 8, it's already 31 degrees in the welding room.
By 1130, it's at least 37.
On six days last summer, it hit 41 degrees.
This is a kind of detailed example that illustrates the problem.
As he continues demonstrating the problem.
Another way that Steve adds persuasiveness to his presentation is by relating to the audience's own knowledge of the issue.
And, as you know, these production workers are always working on moving or carrying frames which weigh as much as 8 kilos.
As you know is a way of using your listeners' own knowledge as a tool of persuasion.
This is an effective strategy.
What are some other ways to refer to the audience's knowledge?
I know the people in this room would be the first ones to tell me that trust is essential to a harmonious and productive work environment.
As you can all appreciate, excellent training and supervision are essential to our work.
I don't need to tell you that we must have adequate oversight of branch office accounting practices.
Another way that Steve demonstrates need is to use numbers to very good effect.
Though he's careful not to overwhelm his audience with statistics, he does know his figures.
Last time we heard about a 16% drop in productivity, and a $181,000 loss in potential profits.
This time he mentions that the welding room has already replaced 11 of 36 employees and turnover for the summer will often usually run over 50.
Let's listen to one of Steve's particularly effective use of statistics.
According to my calculations, we are producing 12300 less units per summer than we would without this turnover.
According to my calculations is a great way to introduce numbers.
What are some other ways to quote figures?
The latest statistics demonstrate that new workers are taking, on average, 65 longer to become fully trained.
Our numbers show that as much as 5 of earnings are being wasted on excessive tax payments due to outdated accounting procedures.
Let's continue on with the theme of using numbers to add persuasive weight to the problem.
Nothing is more convincing than talking about the bottom line.
The bottom line refers to the last line on a company's profit and loss statement.
It tells us whether we made a profit or a loss.
Idiomatically, bottom line also means the net result or the final analysis.
In the need step, it's a good idea to provide a vivid summary of the business impact of the problem in terms of profit or loss, the bottom line.
Let's listen to how Nick does this.
What are some other ways to talk about the bottom line?
The bottom line is that this lack of trust between business units has resulted in at least a 45 drop in customer retention.
Taking into account this loss in productivity, poor training and lack of oversight have incurred immeasurable costs.
In a nutshell, poor implementation of risk management systems at the local level could be costing us as much as 225 million per year.
To sum up, in your need step, you will make a convincing demonstration of the problem and how it directly affects your audience.
In business, this usually means using figures to paint a vivid picture of a clear business need in terms of profit and loss.
However, depending on the situation and your audience, you may also want to talk about how the problem affects their health happiness, security or other interests.
It's no accident that Steve spends the majority of his time on the need step.
By the end of this step, your listeners should be so concerned about the problem that they're looking searching, even begging, for a solution.
They're now psychologically prepared for your answer to their problem.
That's where the next step comes in, satisfying the need.
We'll be taking a close look at this step, as well as visualizing the future and asking for action in the third and final episode of this series.
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