How to Coach Yourself and Others Beware of Manipulation | Page 160

52.2 Monroe’s Motivated Sequence of Persuasion Steps
In the 1930s, John Monroe developed a series of steps that he believed were the keys to persuading
another individual.
The steps are:
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Attention
Need
Satisfaction
Visualization
Action

1 Attention
To get someone to listen to your argument, you
need to get their attention. You have about five
seconds when talking to someone to engage their
attention before they will lose focus. You can do
this in several ways.
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Use their name with a tone that conveys urgency or importance
Use emotion to demonstrate your position – smile, frown, be exasperated – whatever emotion
conveys the strength of your position
Physically touch them if you have the level of rapport where this is appropriate. Put your hand
on their forearm or shoulder to draw their attention.
Bring up a topic that you know they are passionate about and segue into your argument – but
be sure there is a valid connection so you don’t seem to be changing the topic too quickly
Start with a statement that conveys the benefit of your position for the other person

2 Need
Once you have the other person’s attention, work to keep it. You can lose their attention as quickly as
you have it if the other person doesn’t see the need to continue listening. To keep the other person’s
attention, you have to be familiar with what is important to them. What do they want? What do they
value? Why should they care about your side of the argument? Once you can answer these questions,
you are ready to ‘hook’ the listener by focusing on v