There’s an episode of Seinfeld in which George and his new girlfriend are walking on the beach — and George gets caught in a lie.
The whole time he’s been with the girlfriend, he’s been telling her he’s a marine biologist.
“Then of course with evolution the octopus lost the nostrils,” he says modestly as the girlfriend hangs onto his every word.
Suddenly, the two lovebirds come on a group of people on the beach who are all pointing to something out there among the waves.
It’s a beached whale, who seems to be struggling and maybe even dying.
“Save the whale, George,” says the girlfriend, “for me.”
And so rather than get caught in his lie, what does George do?
He throws off his baseball cap, rolls up his pants, and wades out there among the crashing waves to face the great beast like a true marine biologist.
Because George knows talk is cheap.
All the stories in the world won’t build a bullet-proof sales argument.
Not like one solid demonstration can build.
And that’s why Claude Hopkins, who has been called the father of direct advertising, once wrote:
“The way to sell goods is to sample and demonstrate, and the more attractive you can make your demonstration the better it will be.”
So if you’re looking to close a sale, think of ways your prospects can try out a sample or a demonstration of what you offer.
And if you can’t get them to sample your product directly, then at least make sure they witness a second-hand demonstration, just like George’s girlfriend witnesses him climbing out into the splashing waves to rescue the great fish. Mammal. Whatever.