“What do you do?”

Does your answer to this question stop the conversation cold or does it take the conversation to the next level? Whether you are looking for more clients or searching for a new job, the way you answer this question is vitally important for getting the other person to talk to you.

As a small business owner who is looking for more clients, you want your answer to engage the listener so they can determine whether or not your product or service can help solve their problems.  Most of the time, however, our answers make the hearer feel like you are trying to sell them something. That will turn them off quickly!

If you are looking for a job, your answer to this question will determine whether the listener helps you uncover job leads or whether they offer you sympathy for looking for work in a time of unprecedented high unemployment. You don’t want sympathy!  What you want is a hot lead to a position that will provide satisfactory work and a good salary.

Here are a few tips for answering the question, “what do you do?” These tips will help you keep the conversation moving forward rather than stop it dead in its tracks.

1. Pepper your answer with action words. Since the question is “what do you DO?” your answer needs to be verb heavy.  Don’t give a title (“I’m as insurance sales person” “I’m an accountant”).  Right or wrong, titles place you in a box in the other person’s mind. Action words, on the other hand, will allow the listener to put themselves in the place of a person who may need your products or services. Action words will allow the other person to say, “that’s interesting. Please tell me more.”
2. Strike a familiar chord. Use language that meets the needs of your perfect client or prospective boss. We too often use the technical language of our field. That’s great if we are talking to professionals who do what we do. It’s rotten if we are trying to pique the interest of someone who needs what we have to offer. Use the language of your clients to explain what you do.  It will open many doors!
3. Focus on the problem, not the solution. Our clients all have a problem that needs to be fixed. However, most of them do not know exactly what the problem is, let alone how to fix it. If you jump to the solution too quickly you run the risk of shutting down the conversation. Remember, people don’t really care what you know until they know that you care about them. Focusing on the problem keeps you from sounding like a used care salesman.

The next time someone asks you “what you do”, I hope you will be able to keep the conversation moving forward. Work on these three tips and you will get some amazing responses!  I guarantee it!

And for those of you who wonder what I do, well . . . my job is to help you answer the “what do you do” question. I help people discover, develop and promote their personal brand so they can find more terrific clients or land the perfect job.

Yep, that’s what I do. What do YOU do?

Happy Hunting, friends!

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