Don't Just Tell Me About Your Product/Service -- SHOW ME

This past weekend I went to the Delicious Food Fest in Toronto, held at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds.

The Delicious Food Show in Toronto.

A three-day long convention, where foodies munched on zillions of samples of everything from organic burgers, free-range cookies, and wine that won't hurt your liver.

Well, maybe not quite the last two, but everywhere we went, we kept hearing how everything was organic, gluten-free, all natural, free-range, herbal, holistic, and sugar free.

Obviously, these are the trendy buzz words when marketing food stuffs today.

And for the most part, the people peddling these ultra healthy foods looked to be in great shape themselves.

Maybe the show should have been called the Good Food Fest, instead of the Delicious Food Fest? 

Oh, wait, they have that show too. I think it's held later in the year.

My biggest problem with the Delicious Food Fest is one I find common among entrepreneurs -- if you are going to say something -- show it.

Tossing trendy buzz words about is impressive, but show me how your food will make me a healthier person, don't just tell me.

Free-range cookies?

If I cut gluten out of my diet, what will I look like?

Ah -- there lies the problem of saying something without showing it. Unless you have a real medical condition, like celiacs disease, cutting gluten out of your diet doesn't do much for your health.

Gluten is a protein complex in wheat products, and is the only known treatment for celiacs disease, where people lack the enzyme to break down this complex protein.

Despite all the health hype about gluten-free diets, there isn't any scientific, medically sound evidence to support those diets in those that don't have celiacs disease.

Makes it hard to show me how gluten-free cookies, cakes and even pasta will make me a better person.

As most of us our visual people, if we can't be shown something, we won't buy into it, which means we won't whip out our cash and pay for it.

And if people don't pay for your product or service, good luck making any money out of it.

The key is to find something within your products that you can show. I tell people pushing products to me all the time -- don't tell me -- SHOW ME.

Show me how your healthy cookies will cut my waistline. Show me how your new fangled gizmo can save lives. 

Show me -- and then show everyone else.

Because end of day, the companies that excel are the ones showing us how their products and services benefit us in some way.

So don't tell me -- SHOW ME.