Have you ever read books like Blink, The Tipping Point, or Outliers?
Malcom Gladwell, the author of these best sellers, is a master storyteller—and more importantly, a master at applying one of the most powerful communication tools in sales and marketing: “show, don’t tell.”
Whether you’re pitching clients, selling a product, presenting to a room, fundraising, or leading a team meeting, this principle can transform how people understand—and buy into—what you’re offering.
Why "Show, Don't Tell" Works
Let’s take Blink as an example. The core thesis of the book can be summed up in one sentence:
“Sometimes, Intuition is better than logic when making decisions.”
But would you read 254 pages for that? Probably not. I doubt Malcolm’s publisher would have appreciated a one-sentence book. So instead of explaining the idea, Malcolm shows readers what it’s all about. Let me give you an example:
In one chapter, he writes about an experiment from the University of Iowa. Researchers from the school presented participants with four decks of cards – two red and two blue.
Each card either won the participant a sum of money or cost them money. What they didn’t know was that the red decks were stacked with losing cards.
After turning over about 50 cards, most of the participants started to realize that choosing from the red decks was a bad idea. After 80 cards, they had figured out the game and could explain what was going on.
Now here’s the interesting part … the scientists also hooked each participant up to a machine that measured stress responses (like sweaty palms, pulse, brain waves…).
They found that participants started generating stress responses to the red decks by the 10th card! That’s 40 cards before they consciously decided not to choose from those decks.
This experiment illustrates the simple thesis behind the book (intuition is stronger than logic). And the whole book is chock full of examples, stories and experiments like this one.
The Wrong Way to Market
Now let’s look at an example that doesn’t follow the “show, don’t tell rule.” I don’t have to search hard to find one. In fact, one arrived in my mailbox this week.
It was a flyer promoting gym membership. The ad copy highlighted things like “10,000 square feet, “yoga studio,” “Pilates equipment,” “personal training,” “group fitness classes.”
That’s all wonderful, but these have nothing to do with why people join gyms. An effective flyer would follow the “show, don’t tell” rule and paint a picture (with words or using a real picture) of how the person would benefit from a gym membership.
Depending on your target market, that could be something like:
“Imagine waking up full of energy and confidence, optimistic about the day ahead. As you brush your teeth, you can’t help but stare at yourself in the mirror.
You look great! The love handles, thunder thighs, potbelly… they’ve all disappeared. All that remains is a chiseled, toned, beautiful body.
Even better, the dark circles under your eyes have disappeared and you have more energy than you know what to do with.
But the best part is the astonishment of your friends and family who haven’t seen you in a while! Hearing how great you look just never gets old.
This is how you market a gym. It creates a mental image of what life will be like if the person becomes a member. And I’d argue that will be more effective than “yoga studio.”
As I mentioned earlier, you can put “show, don’t tell” to use whether you’re selling, speaking, rallying support or bootstrapping.
All you have to do is get a prospective customer, client, investor… to believe what you already know to be true; that your product or service can help them.
For instance, if you’re a money manager, don’t just tell people that your investment advice regularly yields 20 percent returns. Instead, share the story of Mike and Jill, your clients who made $320,000 last year, bought a sailboat and are now sailing around the world.
A famous copywriter, Clayton Makepeace, once wrote, “If a picture is worth a thousand words, an example is worth at least a hundred.”
I think he was being conservative.
That’s why I try to incorporate examples, studies, stories, even metaphors whenever I’m trying to get a point across.
So How About You?
In your marketing, sales calls, presentations, internal meetings … are you telling people about your product/service, or are you showing them how it will improve their lives?
Author: Adam Katzen
Adam Katzen is a marketer, writer, and development executive with a penchant for adrenaline-fueled adventures and making the world a better place. He helps businesses grow, builds trust-based corporate cultures, and coaches C-level leaders in mindfulness-based leadership.
Adam teaches meditation, founded the nonprofit Dharma Project, and plays professional beach volleyball.
Reach him at: adam@360consulting.co