Monroe’s Motivated Sequence is a persuasive communication structure that was developed by Alan Monroe, an American psychologist, author, and pioneer in the discipline of communication, in the 1930s.

It consists of 5 steps, which closely resemble the structure of what we now call a Pitch.

The steps are:

1. The Attention Step: Also known as “the hook”, this is the equivalent to the introduction of a pitch. You can open with a rhetorical question, a quote from someone famous or respected, a story (preferably true), or a startling statistic. The hook gives your audience a reason to listen to the rest of what you have to say.

2. The Need Step: In this step, you clearly show the problem you are speaking about exis

In my last post about pitching (blog/types-of-pitches-elevator-business-and-investor), I detailed the elements of the three main types of pitches, Elevator, Business, and Investor. That post focused on the differences between these pitches. This post explains what is shared between them, what I refer to as The Heart of the Pitch.

The heart of your pitch is composed of two parts. The first part is the problem you solve. The second part is the solution you offer. One of the mistakes I often notice when I listen to pitches is that people go too quickly to the solution. Sometimes, they go there immediately. I get why people do that. It’s normal and natural to want

In the universe of pitching, there are several different types of pitches. In this post, I’m going to define the primary three types: Elevator, Business, and Investor.

The infamous “Elevator Pitch” is purported to be what you can tell someone about yourself and what you do in the length of an elevator ride. Technically, the length of an Elevator Pitch depends on the height of the building, but we generally consider these Pitches to be anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds in length.

Features of an Elevator Pitch

• Short - 30 to 90 seconds
• Delivered either one-to-one or to a group but with no slides
• A conversation starter (meaning you want to be interrupted, so build in some pauses)

The difference between a Business Pitc

What is a Pitch?

When you think of the word “Pitch" what comes to mind? I ask this of groups when I teach pitching. I get words like "short," "to the point," "introduction," "raising money."  I also get "salesy," "sleazy," and "pushy." A colleague recently told me that he completely avoids the word "pitch" because it "...sounds like it's shrink-wrapped." He called it an "unassessed presentation."

I think these negative takes on the word “Pitch" come from shows like Shark Tank. The term "Pitch" recalls the much-maligned Used Car Salesman of old. A pitch is simply a form of communication. It is indeed a highly persuasive form of communication that is synonymous with selling. But is that a bad thing?

You might think that pitching is so

Do you think that pitching is something that only applies to entrepreneurs on Shark Tank? Not at all! In truth, we all pitch. Business owners and consultants pitch the product or service they offer, managers pitch ideas and projects to the C-Suite, non-profit leaders pitch their cause. We pitch to get new clients, find new partners and access resources.

If you need to up your pitching game, join me for the 5-Day Perfect Pitch Challenge where you will:

✅ Distinguish essential pitch content

✅ Identify and create your “key word list”

✅ Structure your message using a “reverse engineering” technique

✅ Determine the right story to tell and make it engaging

✅ Employ techniques that will compel your audience to take act