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What if you had a magic formula that made sure everyone understood you the first time? Wouldn’t that boost the productivity of every communication you publish?
Readers often say, “Susan, you’re a great writer,” or “you’re really talented.” I’m not so sure. I think it’s this pattern, these magic questions.
And they’re no secret, really. Studies by Dr. Bernice McCarthy in 1979 revealed that each of us prefers one of four learning styles, the style that’s most closely aligned with what motivates us to learn. James Roche in one of his wonderful Insider special reports suggests that you address each of the four types in the order of their ability to tolerate delay—satisfying the most impatient first:
- The Innovative Learner, who needs to know why the information is worth learning;
- The Analytic Learner, who needs details so she can figure out how the information fits with what she already knows;
- The Common Sense Learner, who is very hands-on, needs to learn by experience, and wants a very concrete sense of how something works; and
- The Dynamic Learner, who needs to understand the consequences and often asks, “what if?”
But in my experience, every audience member, every reader brings some portion of all four motivators and learning styles to the learning experience! We all need and want to know:
 What is it?
What value does it offer?
What does it do?
How does it connect to me?
How does it affect me?
Why is it important?
What is the source of its power?
Why can it do what it does?
What if I apply this knowledge?
What will it change?
I’ve bolded the four magic questions. I started thinking of them as magic when I started writing for different marketing agencies and discovered they all use those questions when positioning a company, product or service.
So I recommend you memorize the magic questions. And when you get in the habit of writing paragraphs and topics that answer all four of them, don’t be surprised if your readers start calling you a genius.
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