Standard copywriting advice you’ll get regarding selling pain is to never sell prevention; always sell a solution to an immediate problem. The reason being that people are more motivated by the pain they’re in now rather than some future possible pain.
In this case, mentioning the consequences of not taking action won’t work. “What’s the worst that can happen?” won’t get them moving.
But there are selling situations where the only thing you can do is tell people about the consequences. Businesses like life insurance and security come to mind.
Fortunately, there is a language pattern you can wield like a dentist’s drill to get them to step into pain and make them budge from their lethargy.
Here’s the pattern/frame:
You (SOMETHING THAT TOOK A LOT OF TIME, EFFORT, OR MONEY). In minutes (WHAT COULD TAKE THAT ALL AWAY)!
OR
You (SOMETHING THAT TOOK A LOT OF TIME, EFFORT, OR MONEY). Don’t (COMMAND).
Some examples:
“You spent years saving and budgeting for your beautiful home. In minutes a fire can destroy it!”
“You spent years saving and budgeting for your car. Don’t let thieves get their hands on it.”
This one is from my website content service:
“You spent a long time creating, working on, and developing your website. Don’t let it join the millions of other sad websites that are just floating along unnoticed in cyberspace. . .not getting any visitors. . .not making any money – just discouraging their owners day by the day.”
You can expand the above by adding more details. Don’t dwell on it though. You don’t want to keep your readers/listeners in pain. Move on to the more positive aspects of your offer.