What is your biggest meeting today? Think about it. Look at your calendar. Take a minute. What is the most important meeting, most important event that's occurring in your life today? And I'll give you a little more parameters here. Remember, what is a moment of influence, a moment of change that you are trying to affect today? That moment might be change for yourself. It might be change with you and another person, a friend, a family member, a co-worker, a report, your boss, whatever it is. I want you to think about your intended outcome. And you can do this always with. Important moments like this. But I specifically want you to think about the intended outcome. And your current plan. Going into whatever this meeting is. If my assumptions about the average person are correct, then it's very likely that you are thinking that you're going to go into the meeting and share your thoughts. This basic way of approaching. A meeting. Where you walk in and you expect that sharing your thoughts is going to be persuasive. Fundamentally. This is missing a huge. A gap. A huge gap. In what it means to persuade another person. I want to challenge you today. To do something slightly different. I'm gonna give you a simple technique to make your meeting today more persuasive. We're going to talk about that. Right after we talk about today's sponsor square. Today's episode is brought to you by square. There are millions of sellers across the globe. That are using square to run every aspect of their business right now. And they are. Right now looking for custom solutions that are deeply connected. With what they are already building. And easy to use. This is where you as a developer. Come in. You can grow your own business by extending or integrating. With squares free. APIs and SDKs. To build tools for sellers. Learn more by going to. Developer t.com slash square. That's developer t.com slash square. Thanks again to square for sponsoring today's episode of developer t. This technique is so simple. Uh. And. It's going to be a little bit counterintuitive at first. But once you try it. Once you see the actual effects. I can almost guarantee. That you're going to want to continue doing this. In every important meeting that you have. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to think. Of the key questions. The key questions that you can ask. To get the other person. To talk about what you want. To talk about. Now I want to be clear here. Because people can quickly see. When you're trying to use leading questions. Leading questions have obvious answers. Or. They suggest an answer that you want to hear. Uh. They suggest a course of discussion. Without giving options to the person. To actually share what they really think. Instead. I want you to. Uh. Frame these as open questions. Open. Questions. And. More specifically. Open. Powerful questions. These tend to be. Uh. These powerful open questions. Tend to be. Uh. Questions that are a little bit unexpected. Uh. On average. It's not always true. But usually it is. Let's say for example. That you want to talk to your boss. About what it will take. For you to get a promotion. Now. An example of. What you might do by default. You might walk in and say. You know. I've been thinking a lot about my job. And about my future. And I think it's probably time. That. Uh. I get a promotion. And I really like to figure out how to do that. And really you're just telling your boss. What's on your mind. Now. They may glean from this. That they. Uh. Need to provide some kind of information. Or. That you're kind of trying to ask the question. Of. What's necessary for me to get there. But. Uh. It's not a very effective way. To really. Get that clear information. Uh. From your. From your boss. Often the ask needs to be clearer than this. So we'll go one step up. We'll ask a question. But it's not going to be a very powerful or open question. The question might be something like. Don't you think I'm. Getting close to getting a promotion. Right. This is a bad question in many ways. One. It's kind of leading. When you say. Don't you think. You're kind of. Suggesting that they should answer with a yes. Right. This is not a good question. This is not a very good question. Because. It makes that person feel boxed in. They may have more context. They want to provide. You're also asking a yes or no question. That means this is not an open question. Instead. You may want to focus on a question. That sounds a little bit like this. If you could. Fast forward. Three months. And I've gotten this promotion. Compared to today. What would change. This. Question. Is. Kind of putting them. Into a different thinking mode. It's unexpected. Because people don't often think. About an alternate future. Or a specific future. Unless you provide them that context. You're asking an open question. You know. You're saying. What would be different. Right. What. Kinds of questions. Tend to be open questions. So you're asking an open question. You're giving them some kind of guidance. And it's a little bit unexpected. Now. Why does it matter that it's unexpected? This is not necessarily. A critical factor. In asking a powerful question. But the reason. It's. It's. Typical. Of a powerful question. Is that. It tends to snap people. Out of their normal thinking patterns. But if you had to. Think about. What a future. You know. Three months from now. Looks like. That's not a typical thinking pattern. If instead. You ask a more typical. A less powerful question. It still could be open. But it's not as powerful. You might ask. You know. What do I need to do. To get a promotion. Right. And you can kind of hear. The difference. Here. What do I need to do. To get a promotion. Is a very different. Kind of position. To think from. For your boss. Then. What looks different. In three months. Once I've already. Gotten the promotion. At the core. You're trying to get. The same information. With both questions. But you're framing things. In a different way. From one question. To the next. And that framing. Matters. So the exercise. Here is simple. For your most important. Question. To get a promotion. Important meeting. Today. Take five to ten minutes. And write down. Three. Powerful. Open. Questions. Three. Powerful. Open. Questions. That will get. The conversation. Rolling in the direction. That you're hoping. It will roll in. I'd encourage you. As much. As you. Possibly. Can control this. Try to start. The conversation. With one of those questions. Don't do a ton. Of lead up. Don't try to. Couch it. In a bunch of. Kind of. You know. I'm not really sure. What to say about this. But. And then. Share your open question. Instead. Open with. Something that's. Transparent and honest. Say. I have a question. That I'd like to ask you. And it might be. A little bit different. Than the average question. You get. On a day-to-day basis. This kind of. Prepares. The conversation. In a way. Now. Notice. That you're going. To have different questions. Depending on. Who the audience is. And this is. A little bit. Of a shift. From the kind of. Default way. That we would approach. Communication. If we were just sharing. What was on our mind. We might change it. Slightly. Depending on. Who we're talking to. But for the most part. It's going to look. Pretty much the same. From person to person. However. Critical questions. Open questions. Like this. Are very likely. Going to change. Depending on. Who the audience is. Because. And here's the critical thing. I want you to understand. The reason. That they're going to change. Is because. Instead of thinking. About yourself. In this conversation. You're thinking. About your audience. This shift. Will totally change. Your communication. In these critical meetings. You're thinking. About your audience. And more importantly. You're thinking. About what information. Do they have. What kind of. Interest. Do they have. In this discussion. Otherwise. Your questions. Are going to fall flat. And you know. That they're going to fall flat. If you ask. The wrong question. Do the wrong person. So. So. Orienting. Your. Most important. Meaning today. Around these three questions. And you don't have to ask them all. The conversation may evolve naturally. Towards one or the other. Whatever one feels like. It's a good opening question. You can use that. There's no. You know. You're not checking boxes here. The goal is to have you start thinking about. Asking. More questions. More regularly. Here's the important thing. That I don't want you to do. I don't want you to miss here. Just because you've written down these three questions. Doesn't mean. Once you've asked a question. Or two questions. Or three questions. That you're done asking questions. And now you can. Start spilling all of your information. Once you ask a question like. You know. What. What does it look like in three months. When I have this position. What has changed. They may share some information. You may follow that out. That question up with another question. Like. What else? What else has changed? Right. They may share some details. And then. Kind of turn the hose off. And you're asking. Give me more information. Tell me more. Of what you're thinking. What else is there? Is there more. You know. More information. That you haven't shared yet. Or. Is it something that we can go. And get more information on. The goal here. Is to try to ask. As many. Good questions. Not just. Fluff questions. But truly good questions. As you can. In your meeting. Thanks so much for listening. To today's episode. Thank you again. To today's sponsor. Square. If you want to start building tools. For millions of sellers worldwide. Head over to. DeveloperT.com. Slash. Square. 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