Increasing The Value of Your Information Products

xiaophil · 03-15-2009, 07:30 AM

Hello All,

While recently reading a book on presentation skills I found some information which is extremely pertinent to any kind of information product you are looking to create.

It's to do with Bernice McCarthy's 4MAT system which looks at how people have different preferred and predominant learning styles. Apparently there are four different modes: "Why?", "What?", "How?" and "What if?".

* "Why?" people want to know the reason for doing something before they take any action.

* "What?" people like getting lots of data and information to record and collect.

* "How?" people like the hands-on approach and learn best by being given exercises and doing things themselves.

* "What if?" people like to discover things for themselves and will tweak and change things to find out what happens.

They are approximately evenly divided among the population.

This was all something of a revelation for me as I could clearly see where I and those around me fit into the model above. Do you see anything familiar up there?

Having sampled a fair quantity of infoproducts in my time I know a lot of material claiming to be "how-to" is in fact only "what-to" with many "how" details left out.

Even worse, it would appear that launching straight into the "What?" without any "Why?" would immediately leave a quarter of your customers tuned-out as they are still looking for a reason to begin!

This could be a source of considerable frustration for both vendors and consumers as quality information could be being rejected because of what is effectively a formatting issue.

And it applies equally to ebooks, audios, videos, teleseminars, presentations or indeed any method you use to present your information.

So what's the solution?

The solution is to package and format the information so that the learning styles of all the different people are addressed and in the right order.

Here's a recommended format:

1) A very brief what as an overview of the topic.

2) Give the reasons why you are covering the topic so the why people get involved.

3) The meat of the subject. All of the details and factual data.

4) Examples or even better demonstrations of how this can be implemented.

5) Options and alternatives to explore how the method may be modified. If the setup is live it's a great time to solicit feedback ( "What if?" people love to ask questions! )

So there we have it. Everyone has been attended to and all the learning styles has been covered.

Your information product is now addressing 100% of the population.

Hope someone finds this useful, I sure did!

All the Best,

Phil

KatHudson · 03-15-2009, 08:18 AM

hey that was an awesome post! thanks for sharing!

kat

artwebster · 03-15-2009, 08:28 AM

Hi, xiaophil,

That is the formula I have used but it seems that in the world of IM it is more important to obfuscate than to provide value.

I am learning some very bitter lessons at the moment.

dave147 · 03-15-2009, 10:17 AM

thanks for this post - I am creating a new product and will be up in about 2 weeks - this post was helpful

03-15-2009, 07:30 AM	#1
xiaophil Took The Red Pill War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Here and Now Posts: 374 Thanks: 124 Thanked 106 Times in 64 Posts Contact Info	Increasing The Value of Your Information Products Hello All, While recently reading a book on presentation skills I found some information which is extremely pertinent to any kind of information product you are looking to create. It's to do with Bernice McCarthy's 4MAT system which looks at how people have different preferred and predominant learning styles. Apparently there are four different modes: "Why?", "What?", "How?" and "What if?". * "Why?" people want to know the reason for doing something before they take any action. * "What?" people like getting lots of data and information to record and collect. * "How?" people like the hands-on approach and learn best by being given exercises and doing things themselves. * "What if?" people like to discover things for themselves and will tweak and change things to find out what happens. They are approximately evenly divided among the population. This was all something of a revelation for me as I could clearly see where I and those around me fit into the model above. Do you see anything familiar up there? Having sampled a fair quantity of infoproducts in my time I know a lot of material claiming to be "how-to" is in fact only "what-to" with many "how" details left out. Even worse, it would appear that launching straight into the "What?" without any "Why?" would immediately leave a quarter of your customers tuned-out as they are still looking for a reason to begin! This could be a source of considerable frustration for both vendors and consumers as quality information could be being rejected because of what is effectively a formatting issue. And it applies equally to ebooks, audios, videos, teleseminars, presentations or indeed any method you use to present your information. So what's the solution? The solution is to package and format the information so that the learning styles of all the different people are addressed and in the right order. Here's a recommended format: 1) A very brief what as an overview of the topic. 2) Give the reasons why you are covering the topic so the why people get involved. 3) The meat of the subject. All of the details and factual data. 4) Examples or even better demonstrations of how this can be implemented. 5) Options and alternatives to explore how the method may be modified. If the setup is live it's a great time to solicit feedback ( "What if?" people love to ask questions! ) So there we have it. Everyone has been attended to and all the learning styles has been covered. Your information product is now addressing 100% of the population. Hope someone finds this useful, I sure did! All the Best, Phil

03-15-2009, 08:18 AM	#2
KatHudson Warrior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 14 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Increasing The Value of Your Information Products hey that was an awesome post! thanks for sharing! kat

03-15-2009, 08:28 AM	#3
artwebster Brutal honesty's me Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Coín, Spain Posts: 1,032 Blog Entries: 4 Thanks: 33 Thanked 251 Times in 138 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Increasing The Value of Your Information Products Hi, xiaophil, That is the formula I have used but it seems that in the world of IM it is more important to obfuscate than to provide value. I am learning some very bitter lessons at the moment.
	You might not like what I say - but I believe it. Build it, make money, then build some more Some old school smarts would help - and here's to Rob Toth for his help. Bloody good stuff, even the freebies!

03-15-2009, 10:17 AM	#4
dave147 Platinum Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: AU Posts: 2,729 Thanks: 475 Thanked 332 Times in 270 Posts	Re: Increasing The Value of Your Information Products thanks for this post - I am creating a new product and will be up in about 2 weeks - this post was helpful
	How To Explode Your Online Income x 67 Times! You Are About to Experience the VIRAL EFFECT!!! Get Your Ad Sent to 250,000 People RIGHT HERE Who The Heck Else Wants 10,000 FREE Top Banner Impressions?