Monday, February 22, 2010

The "Four Magic Questions" Pattern

The “Four Magic Questions” is a rapport building pattern.

The four questions are asked in the following order.


Question 1. Imagine yourself in a white room. Everything is white. How do you feel?

 
 
Question 2. What is your favorite color? How does it make you feel when you think about it?
 
 

Question 3. What is your favorite animal? What qualities do you see it as having?
 
 

Question 4. Imagine yourself on a beach. Nobody is around, and the ocean is right in front of you. What do you do?
 
You then reframe the subject’s answers to the first 3 questions into statements about who they are as a person on a deep level.


Answer 1. This is how they view death, dying and mortality.

Answer 2. This is how they view themselves.

Answer 3. This is how their friends view them.


They will be surprised to hear things about themselves that they didn't know themselves.

The first 3 questions are generic, easy to reframe, easy to get right, and to get the subject amazed at how uncannily “accurate” your answers are.

They feel you know them at a deeper level. The change in their physiology will be huge (which you can pace to match for greater effect). You would have huge rapport by the time you get to question 4. Because you have been “right” for the last 3 statements, the gate is opened to reframe the last answer with leading assumptions instead of pacing, and they’ll follow.

Answer 4. This is how they view love.

Here is an example to illustrate the pattern.

Magic Question 1

Magic Question 2

Magic Question 3

Magic Question 4

Give it a try, because you will have fun.

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