Espresso Shot: Ever Ask a Question and Nothing Happens?

Speaker A: M Ever ask someone a question and nothing happens? The conversation goes nowhere. It just sits there. No movement, no urgency. Let's talk about that. I'm Marc Jacobs. This episode is called Espresso Shots, where in the time it takes to drink a solo espresso, I'm going to spill the beans on something I find useful. Questions, questions, questions. There's all types of questions. Open ended questions, closed ended questions, probing, leading questions. Most of them are just noise, annoying, forgettable, blah blah, blah questions. But there's one type of question that moves people. It's better than the rest. Like to think of it as the Beyonce, the Jay Z, uh, questions. The they are called consequence questions and they're the most powerful you'll ever ask. They get people thinking about what happens. Nothing changes. Instead of asking what the problem is, consequent questions dig into why the problems matter. They make the cost of doing nothing feel real. Not by telling, but, uh, by guiding people to say it out loud. You ask a good consequence question and you create emotional ownership. That's what creates urgency. These are examples of consequence questions. This problem continues. What's the impact on your business? What's the downside of staying with the current approach if we keep saying yes to everything, what happens to quality if we keep ignoring this, what's the over under on morale dropping? Consequence questions are obviously usually useful in sales, but they're useful outside of sales too. In fact, they're one of those hidden superpowers that can make you a better manager, better problem solver, or just a better conversationalist. These questions cut through the noise because they shift the focus from describing the problem to feeling the consequence. You're not pushing, you're helping people see the cost of standing still. So next time when you're in a conversation, skip the boring filler questions. Help them feel the consequence.