Sometimes you tell someone something not to inform or convince them, but rather to demonstrate how they can inform or convince someone else.
A wonderful mentor I had back in my sales days explained it like this: sometimes you’re selling something to someone who really, really wants it – imagine selling a sports car to a guy who is very much in favor of getting one. Selling to him is easy – but his wife, who is not with him, is very much opposed to him buying a sports car. You can sell to him all you want, but he’s not going to make the final decision without talking to her. So the real sale is going to be made that night, in that couple’s living room, and you won’t be there.
So you spend the next 15 minutes talking to the guy anyway, going through all the great features of the car – and if you’re smart, you tell him about all the great features that his wife might like. You’re doing this not because he needs to be closed, but to give him the tools to convince his wife when he gets home.
Like any attempt at convincing or transferring information, this doesn’t always work, of course. But it will never work if you’re not aware that’s what you’re doing. Explaining to someone how to work a machine they’re unfamiliar with is a very different task than explaining to someone how to explain to someone how to work said machine. You need to anticipate a different set of difficulties and prepare for different mistakes. You need to do more than deliver your message; you need to grant that message to the other person in a way that will transfer.
The Opportunity Machine 