Why "showing" beats "telling" in this economy

I spend my days (and many nights) helping businesses sell to other businesses.

And our team supports clients in SaaS, technology services, manufacturing, recruiting, agencies, telecommunications, and virtually ever other B2B sector.

One thing they all have in common?

Closing new business is not easy in 2024.

Even when there is an abundance of new business calls.

If you're not in this boat, exit out of this article. And go enjoy the fruit of your good fortune.

If you are...

Keep reading.

MY DIAGNOSIS OF THE PROBLEM:

We live in a largely unregulated economy.

Outside of finance and healthcare, there is very little consequence for making intentionally dishonest marketing claims.

And while many brands aren't outright lying, plenty are certainly stretching the boundaries of truth as it relates to their competitive claims.

In this world of exaggerated statements and misleading "facts"...

Most buyers, I think, have just tuned out vendors.

Modern marketing doesn't even bother them...

Because they are just ignoring it!

99.999% of it.

And I'm not just talking about lead gen tactics.

Even when a company uses a creative hook or "offer" to land an intro meeting...

It's often even harder to land Call #2 than it was to land Call #1!

Buyer pain hasn't disappeared.

But their trust in vendors to solve it for them?

It's fast declining. If not already gone in many cases.

"Great, Miles. Thanks for the reminder. B2B marketing is impossible."

Luckily, I don't think the story ends here :)

Because for the brand that can actually substantiate their claims...

Even to an audience that trusts them exactly 0% at the point of contact...

I think B2B marketing can still work like it always has.

Our answer is "show, don't tell."

This means fewer case studies, sponsored research reports, whitepapers, third-party studies, fancy slogans, etc.

And more DISPLAYING, in a self-obvious way, exactly how trustworthy we are on a character level...and how capable we are to help them solve their problems.

Let's look at some real examples:

"We create world-class podcasts" might become "I made a podcast mock-up for you. What do you think?"

"Our lead gen strategies work really well" might become "I generated 3 leads for you. Where should I send them?"

"The software development team we've assembled is second to none" might become "We wrote you some code. Want to take a look?"

"Our telecom service can save you 8% or more" might become "Here are our last 10 projects, before and after, certified by a 3rd party audit firm. Take a look."

"We have the best candidates in the industry" might become "Can I send you 5 resumes for your role, on the house? Also happy to connect you."

Is this harder? Yes and no.

It's more work up front...

But when it comes to the effectiveness of our outreach?

Or to our conversion percentages?

I think it's worth the effort

Obviously, there are cases where "free" work is not feasible...

And often, it can be cheaper to send outreach at scale to figure out who is remotely interested before spending significant effort...

(A lot of our business is helping clients with this, we get it!)

But, ultimately, to get a deal?

I think we have to be able to show our capability. Not just talk about it.

I took my own medicine recently. And it worked!

For our ProfileBuddy ("done for you" content service) outreach...

I've started to send prospects actual LinkedIn post samples, created 1x1 for them.

So, instead of "telling them" that we can quickly learn their brand and voice...

I'm showing them!

I don't have a ton of data yet...

(Call my sample size on this approach about 30).

But, we do already have a new customer sign up!

A second deal about to close.

And a third that we had on the goal line...and are now trying to un-ghost. (proof we did not SHOW enough!)

In a similar vein, we're also doing the same thing when selling our outbound service...

Giving out sample lists.

And writing example copy.

And I'm thinking of even more ways to show...

Like doing live "spam filter" tests with prospects to show them, at random, how well we're doing against Google or Microsoft filters.

Will these be magic bullets?

No, I don't think so.

Modern selling still takes work.

But, will this approach work way better than TELLING people how unique we are?

In our outreaches, materials, and sales pitches?

Yes. It definitely will.

Special thanks to my friend in the trenches, Delano Bartolomei , for his contribution to this article in a recent brainstorming session.

If you need help "showing" through creative branded merchandise, he and brandor? can help.