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In the first two shows in this three-part series on persuasion, we saw how getting your audience's attention and demonstrating a clear need were essential to the persuasive process.
We learned that in the indirect method of persuasion you should demonstrate the problem before you offer a solution.
This mirrors the psychological process of decision making.
First, we feel a need.
Then we look for a way to satisfy that need.
That's why you'll spend the majority of your speech clearly describing the need and how it directly affects your audience's interests.
In business.
Usually this means giving one or two vivid examples of the problem where you quote figures, and it means making a convincing statement of how the problem affects the company's profit.
By the end of this step, your audience should be so concerned about the problem that they're ready to accept your solution.
Then, and only then, should you start talking about your proposal.
This is the satisfaction step.
After you've briefly described your proposal or the solution to the problem, you will then paint a picture of the future.
This is the visualization step.
Talk about how accepting your proposal will have positive future outcomes, or maybe how not accepting it will have negative outcomes.
Finally, you need to make a concrete, specific call to action what the audience can do right now to implement your proposal.
Let's finish listening to Steve give his proposal to Swift Management.
See if you can identify the satisfaction, visualization, and action steps in his speech.
Also, while you listen, try to answer the following questions.
First, how long will it take Swift to get back the investment in air conditioning?
Second, how much extra profit can SWIFT make per year by adopting Nick's proposal?
Third, what specific action does Steve ask his managers to take?
What will it take to fix the problem?
Well, bringing down the temperature to 30 degrees will require an investment of around 500000 to insulate and air condition the welding room.
Extra energy costs for the air conditioning will run about another $30,000 a year.
We get our investment back in under three years.
By then we'll be making at least an extra 200000 per year, all without buying more equipment or hiring more workers.
So what would you like us to do?
Well, by installing the insulation and air conditioning this fall, we can take advantage of lower off-season rates.
Please authorize the purchasing department to request bids for the system.
Then, next summer, our productivity will be the highest ever.
Sounds like a go to me.
Yes.
Why haven't we done this before?
From Steve's manager's reactions, we can see that his proposal has been successful.
Steve's success is mainly due to the vivid and convincing demonstration of need that he made in Episode 2.
But to complete the persuasive process he must satisfy that need, paint a vivid picture of the future impact and ask for concrete action.
Let's go through the end of Steve's speech in detail to see how he accomplishes all these three steps.
After spending more than 60 of his presentation on describing the need, Steve's description of his actual proposal.
The satisfaction step is forceful and concise.
He doesn't need to say a lot, because his audience is already so concerned about the problem that they're almost begging for a solution.
Well, bringing down the temperature to 30 degrees will require an investment of around 500000 to insulate and air condition the welding room.
Extra energy costs for the air conditioning will run about another $30,000 a year.
We get our investment back in under three years.
One of the main points to note here is that Steve is well prepared.
He knows how much his proposal costs, he knows how long it will take to get the money back and he knows how it will impact the company's profits.
Basically, the satisfaction step is a statement of benefit to the audience.
Grammatically, there are many ways to do this.
For example, we can say something like, Doing A will give us B benefit.
A ensures that we can do B, or A will help us to do B.
Let's listen to some more examples of strong, concise satisfaction step statements.
I propose establishing a mentoring system to deal with this problem.
Making regular visits to local sites will help us to create an effective supervision regime.
After you've satisfied the audience's need, the next step in the Monroe Sequence is to visualize the future.
Visualize means to make a mental picture of something.
Again, visualization mirrors the next stage in the psychological process of making a decision.
First, we feel a need.
Then, we think of a solution.
Then, we imagine how it will feel to implement that solution.
The visualization step helps make your audience more emotionally committed to your plan.
How does Steve do this?
He's just said that in three years Swift will have made the money back that they invested in air conditioning.
By then we'll be making at least an extra 200000 per year, all without buying more equipment or hiring more workers.
Steve keeps the visualization step short and sweet.
Generally, briefer is better.
Think of the mental picture you want to leave with your audience.
Give it to them, then move on to the action step.
Let's listen to some more examples of language we could use for the visualization step.
Under this plan, Swift is going to be a better place to work, with employees enjoying harmonious relationships and greater job satisfaction.
Within two years, we could see as much as a 27% increase in productivity.
Imagine this.
With an effective mentor program, not only will we increase retention of high potential employees, we will also see our production line working like a well-oiled machine.
By implementing this plan immediately, the company will see tangible results by the end of the month.
So far in our examples, we've visualized a positive future, good things that will happen if your audience accepts your proposal or solution.
It is, however, also possible to imagine a negative outcome.
Bad things will happen if the audience does not accept the proposal.
If we don't adopt this proposal, there's no telling what could happen.
Without quick action, the situation is going to get worse and worse.
Inaction will just cause us to lose more money.
If we don't do anything, the situation is just going to deteriorate.
Finally, you can use a contrastive method, where you compare the negative outcome, if your solution is not accepted, to the positive outcome, if it is.
If we don't take decisive action, our losses for 2007 will be unrecoverable.
But by implementing rigorous oversight now, we can recover any potential losses before they occur.
Of course, the method you choose depends on the proposal and the people involved.
After you've finished visualizing the future, the last step in the persuasive process is the action step.
This is where you'll make a clear call to action.
Tell your audience what you want them to do right now.
Make your request specific and make it as easy as possible for them to act.
Let's listen to Steve again.
Please authorize the purchasing department to request bids for the system.
Then...
Next summer, our productivity will be the highest ever.
Steve's call to action is please authorize the purchasing department to request bids for the system.
Notice also that before he ends his talk, he leaves his audience with a quick final visualization of a very positive future outcome.
Next summer, our productivity will be the highest ever.
Let's hear some more ways to make calls to action.
To sum up, we need quick action and we need it now.
So I'd appreciate everyone's support for this proposal.
Please authorize a purchase order for a new computer system.
The first thing we need to do is meet with all the parties involved.
I suggest next Thursday.
I need all of your help to understand the problem better.
That's why I'm asking you all to send me an email any time you observe something unusual.
It's not good enough just to meet our targets.
I challenge all of you to exceed them by at least 5%, starting today.
Now it's your turn to practice.
Imagine you're making a cost-saving proposal.
Like Steve, you've suggested air conditioning the production center, which will save the company 200000 per year.
Within three years, you get the investment back.
You've just finished the satisfaction step and now you need to visualize the future and ask for action.
First use one of the phrases to visualize a negative outcome, such as Inaction will just cause us to lose more money.
Or, if we don't do anything, the situation is just going to deteriorate.
Then, visualize the future benefit to the company.
And finally, ask for action.
What do you want the management team to do?
Are you ready?
First, take a few seconds to think, then start speaking after the beep.
If we don't do anything about these high temperatures, the situation is just going to deteriorate.
Inaction will just cause us to lose more money.
But by installing air conditioning this fall, we can start saving $200,000 per year.
Within three years, we will have made our money back.
Please authorize a purchase request immediately.
How did you do?
Of course, there are many possible good answers.
Another way to practice is to take one of your own company's problems and take it through the different steps of the Monroe Sequence.
Use the language we've just learned in this and the previous two episodes to create a persuasive proposal.
What were the five steps of the persuasive process?
Before we finish the series, let's review.
First, get the audience's attention.
Second, establish a need.
Third, satisfy that need.
Four, visualize the future.
And finally, ask for action.
One of the reasons that the Monroe Sequence is so effective is that it mirrors the natural human decision-making process.
First, we have a problem.
Then, we look for a solution to that problem.
Of course, in some situations, perhaps for small things or when you know the people involved quite well, it may be better to use a direct approach, where you state the solution, then justify the solution afterwards.
However, many inexperienced presenters make the mistake of ignoring the power and usefulness of the indirect approach that we've studied in this series.
Getting your audience's attention ensures that they're listening.
Establishing a clear need helps you overcome opposition to your solution.
If done correctly, the need step should leave your audience so concerned about the problem that they're almost begging for a solution.
After you've shown them how to satisfy that need by adopting your proposal.
Visualizing the future helps them become more emotionally committed to your solution.
Finally, a clear call to action is essential to get real results.
We're confident that this three-part series on the persuasive process has introduced you to useful strategies and language that will make you more successful in persuading others of your ideas and proposals.
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