Have you ever wished that you could get people to listen to what you have to say more? I’ve figured out a trick that gets people out of their default, low attention state into one that’s hanging on every word. It’s actually beautifully simple, and that’s what makes it magical.
Can I ask you a weird question?
That’s it. I have your attention, and if you ask other people, you have their attention too. There’s something human about us wanting to hear weird things. Maybe it’s because we’re stuck in the same old routines all the time and weirdness brings some excitement, or maybe we’re wired to look for things out of place from our normal patterns. Either way, this one particular phrasing has been immensely powerful to me.
To be clear, you don’t have to use the word “weird” (although it works). Pick similar adjectives and get varying degrees of the same thing. Strange, odd, abnormal, uncommon, you get the point.
The best part: it doesn’t have to be a weird question at all. But it’s not really about the question, as much as it’s about breaking the listeners default space and bringing some intrigue. Nine times out of ten when I ask a “weird” question people’s first thing to say is “that’s not weird at all.” Again, that doesn’t matter, because I’m interested to get their attention.
Background
So how’d I figure this out? Well my wife (sorry babe) has a strange bagel order and I’d often find when I ordered it, people would not fully hear me and mess it up (and ultimately it’s on me to deliver the correct order). So I just tried one day, “hey I have a weird order,” and as soon as I said that, the person stopped what they were doing and I realized that I had their full attention; as you guessed it, they got it right.
I imagine we’re all running around all day hearing things and interpreting them, often as quickly as we can to get back to what we’re doing. That means we’re not really listening. So this small trick breaks that spell and gets you better results.
I’m not kidding when I say it’s powerful. I encourage you to try it, you weirdo.