I’m trying to remember who did that speed dating commercial. Her prospective date asked “so what do you do?” And she answered, printing…shipping…packaging…presentations… The ad jumps to the end, everyone has left, and she’s still listing things that her company does. Do you remember what company that was advertising?
Me neither.
The idea was to convey the breadth of what the company did by listing all its services. Rather than understanding everything they did, however, I’m left with forgetting who they are.
That’s the problem with the “list” response to “what do you do?”
I was recently a guest on the podcast “Your Mental Health Business Mentor” with host Dr. Margo Jacquot. The topic was “Service and Kindness as the Fuel to Your Outreach and Networking.” I share it here because networking is often something that doesn’t come naturally to social workers. A therapist’s goal is to help their clients, not talk about themselves!
Following that theme, what if you reframed the question “what do you do” into “how do you serve.”
The thing is, the question “what do you do” is never actually about you. In fact, I often advise that you keep your name out of your elevator pitch. People don’t listen to your name until they make a connection with you. You have to pique their interest first—and that means sharing something that resonates with THEM.
“Who do you help?” and “how do you help them?”
That is a better frame to consider when you talk about what you do. And there’s no harm in having a practiced response to that question. One, because if you really do practice it on friends and family you will get better at it. And, two, we are (hopefully) finally getting back into the world…and you WILL get asked.
For the aforementioned printer—they help small businesses run like the big guys with full service production and shipping. No need to worry about the details—they take care of it!
Me? I help people who didn’t grow up with technology market their mission driven businesses and life projects. What about you?