The Withhold Dessert Presentation Ploy

Give your next audiences what they want, when they want it

I admit it right up front: I do sometimes order dessert as my appetizer. At the very least, I ask to see the dessert menu to know where I’m headed. That way, I know if I want what’s on the menu, or if I need to save room for two desserts.

Then I can enjoy the main course in full, without racing to get to the Good Part. 

Here’s the thing: Your audience feels the same way, especially since Covid sent us into the Work From Home era. We want to KNOW where we’re headed. We want the good part, now.

My awesome clients have joined me in researching the ways audiences have changed over the last few years. And one of the biggest findings boils down to this: Give (or show them) dessert first.

Have a new logo to reveal? Don’t make us wait 20 minutes while you marketing-message-us-to-death with all the reasons it’s good. Show us the new logo in the second minute, and then tell us how it will power us to a better future.

 Have a new culture initiative for us? Don’t waste my time with 30 minutes of how it will be good for me. Reveal it. Then show me the transformations it will help me achieve. Tell me how it will empower my success.

In so many ways, your data, your strategy – your hard work – are the julienned veggies on the plate. They’re the butterflied leg of lamb. Both took you a lot of prep work, not to mention learning, as well as trial and error to develop.

But any chef who tries to sell us on their hard work has a flop of a restaurant on their hands.  We EXPECT the hard work from you. What we want is the result of the hard work.

Don't make us wait for the good stuff.

When you withhold the big reveal – whatever it is you’re revealing – you're doing the equivalent of making us eat our broccoli while you tell us how much work went into dessert. We get nothing out of the delay.

And neither do you, because I promise you we in the audience are not listening to your blah blah blah . We’re listening for the cue to the reveal.

So START at the reveal, at the Big Idea. Tell us where we're headed. Then back up and tell me why it’s great for me. Maybe a little about how you got there, if the facts are useful to me and not just laudatory of you.

And for all my dessert lovers out there: at least ask for the dessert menu before you order anything. Life’s too short. And you may want to eat dessert twice.