Persuade to Action

How do you motivate someone to action through your words? Monroe’s Motivated Sequence outlines a primal cycle of establishing a need, developing a solution to satisfy that need, and then getting commitment to implement that solution.
Monroe’s Motivated Sequence was developed by Professor Alan Monroe of Purdue University and has been used for the last eight decades to organize persuasive speech. It consists of the following five steps:

1. Attention – Get the attention of your audience that they have an ISSUE using a detailed story, shocking example, dramatic statistic, or anything that makes the audience stop what they’re doing with curiosity and focus.
2. Need – Concisely EXPLAIN how problem is relevant, significant and won’t go away by itself. The description of need must convince your audience to act. Use examples,  statistics, research or any supporting information that builds the case for change.
3. Satisfaction –  You need to let them know that you have the SOLUTION.  Present your plan and show how it will work.  Be sure to offer enough details about the plan to give listeners a clear understanding of it.
4. Visualization – Tell the audience what will happen once your solution is IMPLEMENTED or the negative consequences that will occur if the solution is not implemented. Use vivid imagery to show your listeners how the issue will be solved and how they will benefit from your plan.  Make them see how their condition will be improved once your plan is adopted.
5. Action – You’ve already explained the issue, how to solve the problem, and what things will be like for them once the solution is implemented. Now, you introduce an ACTION the audience can take to implement your solution. Conclude with a stirring appeal that reinforces commitment to act.

These powerfully persuasive steps should be used when you want to create an immediate move to action.