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Module 1: Establish Authority

Ask the Golden Question

In this lesson, you’ll get one more powerful technique to help you tune into what your readers are thinking, feeling, and saying so you can give them exactly what they want and need. It’s called the Golden Question.

Ask the Golden Question (12:29)

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Resources

Here’s a template you can use as a starting point for a message to your own email list. You’ll want to rework this to sound more like you so it doesn’t sound out of character for how you typically write.

First, here are a few potential subject lines:

  • Do me a quick favor?
  • Can I get your advice?
  • I have one question for you.
  • Got a minute?
  • Because I value your opinion…
  • Can you help me out?
  • Can you do me a favor?

Hi friend – I’m so excited you’ve joined us at _______ and I have a quick favor to ask. Because I want to make sure that everything I write on the site is helpful and useful – not to people in general, but to YOU.

 

And here’s how you can help:

 

Will you take just two minutes and answer this question:

 

What is your biggest challenge right now with ______?

 

Seriously – just hit “reply” to this email and let me know. I promise to read your email and think of ways I can help through the site. And you never know – there may be hundreds of other people just like you who this will help, just because you took the time to answer this simple question. 🙂

 

I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

 

Talk soon!
<your name>

Checklist: Your Golden Question

  • Is your Problem Statement at 80% certainty?
    • Your Golden Question will build on that, so if your Problem Statement isn’t feeling solid yet, the Golden Question won’t yield the best possible results for you.
  • Does your Golden Question align with the “need” of your Problem Statement?
  • Is your Golden Question broader in scope than your Problem Statement?
    • This is so that your Golden Question can “test” the hypothesis of your Problem Statement. The goal is to be specific enough to resonate with your target market but open-ended enough so you don’t limit the kinds of answers you’ll get. Often, the answers you get will help you make your Problem Statement even more solid!
  • Is your Golden Question free of adjectives and adverbs?
    • This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule. However, those describing words can limit the responses you get because they tend to represent assumptions that may not be true about your target market.

Steps to success…

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