What do you do?
It’s the question you get from strangers at any number of social gatherings (read: networking opportunities). And how do you answer it?
If you’re like most people, you say:
A. “I’m the [insert job title] at [insert company].” Like, “I’m the Marketing Director for IBM.”
Or:
B. “I do [insert primary and secondary job functions] for a [insert industry] company.” As in, “I manage and create marketing campaigns for a global computer company.”
What’s common in both of these, that’s also a common pitfall in every kind of sales-related content – anything from resumes to product descriptions?
The answer: It doesn’t talk about the most powerful thing for the listener or reader – the benefits.
Now, what would you do if I took both those options off the table? You’d have to find a different way to describe what you do. And talking about the benefits of what you do is the best way to go.
Marketing consultant Veronika Noize uses this fill-in-the-blank tool to help people answer the “What do you do?” question in a compelling way:
“I [WHAT: helping verb] [WHO: target market/ideal customer] [HOW: deliver what the customer wants] [BENEFIT: key benefit or wanted result].”
For example, “I show large enterprises how to save hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Certainly more vague that “I’m a Marketing Director for IBM,” but certainly more intriguing. (Even though I’m just rattling the example off the top of my head. With a little more time and polish, it could be even better.)
And chances are, the person you say this to will ask, “Really? How do you do that?”
Noize has another PDF-based tool to help you respond in a powerful way to this question. Go through it, and practice using it at your next networking opportunity. Sure, it’ll feel awkward the first time or two (doesn’t everything in life?), but as you play with it, you’ll see how this idea can be very useful for you in resumes and interviews, too.
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