It never ceases to amaze me how the most memorable copywriting lessons often eventuate from the most simple activities.

A month ago, my vacuum cleaner died so I went down to my local shopping centre to buy a new one. I walked inside the store wanting to buy a fairly economical $150 vacuum cleaner. While I was waiting in line I overhead a conversation the sales guy was having with a customer. He was talking about vacuum cleaners with “power-heads” and how great they were.

My mind started ticking as I thought of my angelic (but “dirt magnet”) little boys and how much “gunk” was probably hiding at the base of our carpet.

Anyway, soon it was my turn to be served so I asked the salesperson about the power-head vacuums. He asked me questions about my house and my kids. He talked to me about the options. Next, he demonstrated a vacuum cleaner to me using the famous but still very effective, “vacuuming sand off the carpet” demonstration.

You’ve probably seen this kind of demonstration on television or face-to-face, or at least heard about it. As a reminder, here’s how it worked on the day I went in …

The sales guy poured nearly a kilogram of sand onto a square of carpet. He then ran a normal vacuum cleaner over the carpet a few dozen times (with a good dose of elbow grease, I might ad). It picked up an okay amount of sand but I could see that there was still a heck of a lot left behind.

Next – he got out a Power-headed vacuum cleaner and ran the power-head over the same piece of carpet on the same spot and “lo and behold” - it removed at more than half a kilo of sand from the same, small, already vacuumed carpet square.

Even though I had seen this demonstration half a dozen times before – even though I was wary of vacuum cleaner salespeople - I was impressed - especially when I thought of how much grit and dirt is probably lurking at the bottom of my carpets at home.

Especially too, after the sales guy pointed out how pointless professional carpet cleaning is because most carpet cleaners just clean the surface of the carpet and the gunk stays embedded underneath.

The sales guy knew that I was impressed. He also knew that I, like most people, am familiar with this “vacuuming sand off the carpet” demonstration. And more specifically, how it’s a classic sales tactic associated with door-to-door salespeople.

So here’s what he said to combat my wariness …

He told me that the reason why door-to-door vacuum cleaner salespeople still sell a ton of vacuum cleaners at way over-inflated prices – for thousands of dollars. It was because of that demonstration – because people can see the results and that the product works.

He went on to say that’s why that, even though a lot of door-to-door selling has died down, you’ll still see people selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door, very successfully.

He then went on to talk about how affordable the model that he had showed me was, in comparison, even though it was nearly $700.

In my mind though, I was comparing it with the one or two thousand dollars I’d be paying to a door-to-door salesperson for a similar model.

(That’s the power of implication at work. I’ll address that in a future blog).

So, fears allayed, I bought the vacuum cleaner.

I had walked into the store wanting to spend $150 and walked out having happily spent nearly $700.

I knew I had been sold by the demonstration but I was happy because I could see that the vacuum cleaner sucked dirt like nothing else on the planet. And I knew how much cleaner and more hygienic my home would be as a result of that.

The point is, demonstrations work. When people can see a product in action, and actually see the results that it delivers, more people buy and they are willing to pay more.

Think late night TV featuring the Ginsu knife cutting through shoe leather then slicing a tomato perfectly.

Or the bunny ad where the bunny that ran on “Duracell” (Aus/UK) or Energiser (US) batteries bounced for ages in comparison with the bunny powered by a normal battery. That concept has been so powerful it has featured in over 120 ads since 1989.

Demonstrations have always been the most powerful influencing techniques in any advertising material and they always will be.

We’ve used this technique very successfully over the years … using product samples, paper planes, play dough, panes of glass, carpet, dice, toy cars, “feel tests”, sniff tests”, pain pills, the “put tab A into slot B” demonstration – there are so many creative ways to prove your claims - even if you have a service and even if you don’t have a clear point-of difference.

I remember one campaign, in particular. It was to promote a special style of carpet that could be cut without fraying (when most carpets of this nature frayed easily). What better way to demonstrate that the carpet didn’t fray than to include a sample of the carpet cut in the shape of a CD?

It had such a powerful impact, the campaign produced a 90 something % response rate to a launch invitation!

So – how can you demonstrate the results that your product delivers?

1. Involve your audience’s senses – hearing, sight, touch, smell, taste The more effectively you do that combining two or more se nses, the more powerful the impact will be.

2. Feature a before-and-after example show-casing your product or ser vice against an inferior one.

3. Ensure the demonstration has as few steps as possible. And that each step is as graphic and powerful as possible.

4. Master the art of “showing” not “telling” how great the product is. The key is to have your audience see/feel/hear/taste/smell that it’s more powerful, more effective, more economical, more “whatever”, without the ad actually saying it in the copy. If they experience it, they’ll believe it. If they are told it, they won’t.

If you have some great examples of ads, online sales letters or direct mail pieces demonstrating products in action, I’d love to hear them. And if you’d like some help writing “words that sell”, we’d love to help.