Before Rules: Say Before Show. Show Before Spark.
How To Connect With People: When The Hammer Changes Hands, The Story Changes Owners.
Facts say. Evidence shows. Story sparks.
What If… connection wasn’t the story you tell? What If… connection is the spark they feel?
Year One: The Say.
The large, curved pane of glass landed on the table with a dead, clean weight.
Cold.
Clear.
Waiting.
Needed/Not Needed: It was the 1920s, and a new product had been introduced. A product people needed but didn’t yet know they needed.
The Reluctant Buyer: Across from it sat the men who had heard every pitch, seen every chart, and learned, no skilled, at how to let enthusiasm die against the wall without leaving a mark.
The market was in the room.
And the market did what the market does.
It leaned back.
The salesman had one job: to make them believe by leaving a mark.
Once the buyer believed, sales would follow.
The New Product: It was not exciting. But it was needed. It was a new improvement on an existing, needed product.
The Salesman: At first, he did what most people do when they want to persuade. He explained. He described the windshield. He named the safety benefit. He gave them the data.
A Fact Can Be Heard: The salesman pointed and proudly said, “This glass is safer. It will not shatter into 1000 pieces when broken.”
That was Say.
The Buyer heard the benefit and bought the new safety windshield glass.
He knew thousands of cars would have safer, laminated windshields.
The salesman was good at Saying, and he became the salesman of the year.
The Say Matters: A person cannot engage with what they cannot hold. The name comes first. The claim comes first.
But A Say Is Fleeting: Tell a fact, and it stays.
It stays, at least until another fact replaces it.
The salesman had said a fact. It had been heard.
The First Year Was Now Complete: The Saying was the transactional step.
“Nothing But The Facts.” Facts are facts, and the fact is, facts are cold. Learning requires no loyalty. A transaction requires the other side to simply take your word, your Say, for it.
But, What If? What if there was something…
Beyond The Say: Most people call Say persuasion when all they did was explain.
The next year, the salesman wondered how he could go beyond mere facts. How could he increase his sales?
Year Two: The Show.
Showing: A fact was heard, but a truth is witnessed, like a nail driven flush.
The salesman knew what he would have to do. He would Show.
The salesman entered the buyer’s office. He placed the windshield on the table and stated the facts, as he did last year.
Then the salesman wrapped the windshield in a blanket.
He placed the windshield down.
He lifted the heavy steel hammer.
He struck the glass.
Crack.
Not the sound of failure.
Crack, again.
The salesman lifted the blanket and showed the broken but intact windshield.
It was the sound of evidence.
It was a truth that was witnessed.
This was the Show.
The eyes believed. The nail was now flush with the surface.
The salesman with the broken windshield was good at Showing and, once more, became salesman of the year.
Showing was the transformational step.
But, What If? What if there was something…
Beyond The Show…
Year Three: The Spark.
So for the third year, the salesman wondered how he could go beyond facts... the Say.
How could he go beyond seeing… the Show.
How could he increase his sales?
He needed a Spark. Not an external Spark.
But a Spark that was intrinsic.
A Spark that originated within the buyer.
The salesman had to figure out how to make the buyer feel the product.
Spark: Now he had to take the buyer to the next level - the Spark.
The salesman entered the buyer’s office. And as before, he placed the windshield onto the table.
The salesman wrapped the windshield in a blanket, raised the hammer, and was about to strike the windshield.
The Windshield He Didn’t Break: Then he stopped.
Say And Show End When Participation Begins: He handed the customer the hammer and said, “You break it.”
The buyer was caught off guard. He wasn’t used to participating in a “sales pitch.”
In fact, he didn’t even know he was participating in a “sales pitch.”
The buyer picked up the weight. The wrist tightened. The room went quiet. Then came the swing.
The buyer struck the glass.
Crack.
Not the sound of failure.
“Again,” said the salesperson.
Crack.
The customer hit the windshield. And he smiled.
The Glass Broke, Shattering Doubt And Forging Belief: The windshield did not sell when it survived the hammer. It sold when the buyer swung it, and the proof, the feeling, happened through him.
It Was A Spark: It was the sound of meaning, of experience, of connection, and of satisfaction.
The hammer did not break the windshield. It broke the resistance.
The buyer placed the order.
When the salesman was about to leave the room, he stopped at the door, turned, and walked back to the buyer.
The salesman handed the buyer the hammer and said, “You keep it, it’s your story now.”
The Spark was the transcendent step. Sales die because the customer was allowed to stay a spectator.
Say And Show Are Interest. Ownership Is Commitment: When the hammer changes hands, the story changes owners.
Spark Was Discovered: Show made the claim visible. Spark made it his.
People believe more deeply in what they discover than in what they are told. A claim they hear can be doubted. A proof they perform becomes memory.
Say, Show, Spark: The most powerful persuasion does not corner the mind. It captures the soul.
How To Apply Say, Show, Spark: A say enters the ear. A truth enters the eye. A spark enters life.
To apply, ask three questions:
Say (Transactional): What is the simplest fact they must hear to learn?
Show (Transformational): What visual truth must their eyes see to believe?
Spark (Transcendent): What role can I give the person so that the proof becomes their story?
The Before Rules: Say Before Show. Show Before Spark.
When The Hammer Changes Hands, The Story Changes Owners.
But, What If? What if there was something…
Beyond The Spark…
A label names the glass. A crack proves the glass. A hammer in the hand makes the lesson yours
Spark is the hammer in the hand. (Transcendent. Physical. Transferred agency.)
Say is the label on the glass. (Transactional. Static. Safe.)
Show is the crack in the glass. (Transformational. Visual. Consequential.)
Subscribe to enjoy our next essay, Spark Before Life.
Sing-Alongs Welcomed: The essay provides a framework for your mind. This video (4:05) gives your body the beat. This hammer gives your story its spark.
Everything you need to (know) hear about Say, Show, Spark…
AI-Generated Music © The Before Rules™
You’ve Read The Book, Now See The Movie:
Original Video Courtesy of © The Before Rules™
Your Thoughts May Vary: Thought Improvement welcomes your constructive comments and invites you to share your perspectives and experiences. Together, we can all refine our understanding and application of these concepts.
Click here for our Disclaimers, Disclosures, Disavowals, Discernments, and Declarations (aka - I told you so). https://www.beforerules.com/disclaimers
The Before Rules are three-word systems for achieving real outcomes by putting the right thing first. Built on the sequence Here | Before | There, they clarify what must come first so progress becomes actionable, repeatable, and real. Examples include: Deposits Before Withdrawals, Through Before To, and Obstacle Before Opportunity. Visit BeforeRules.com to learn more.