“So, what do you do?”

Err, umm….

Lots of business people find it hard to answer this one. Or hard to answer it effectively.

Even if you do know the secret to an effective answer, it can still be hard to find the right words when applying it to your business.

But that’s where the other secret to an effective answer comes in…

Oh dear, this is all getting pretty secretive. Let me explain.

A story of two mums

The other day, I was at this mother and baby exercise class, and I really noticed the lady next to me. Maybe it was her sparkly green necklace, or her big friendly smile… Or maybe it was the fact that her baby puked all over her right after mine puked all over me. Either way, there was something that drew me to her, and after the class we started talking…

Eventually, the conversation turned to our “other” jobs (before baby).

“So, are you taking some time off work?”, she asked.

“Yeah, sort of… I was working from home anyway,” I explain.

“Oh yeah, what kind of work do you do?”

“I do healing work,” I said. And because it took a while for my brain to kick into gear after my rare spurt of exercise, I eventually added: “…and business consulting.”

Now. That’s not very Mark Silver of me, I thought.

A quick detour  (The Secret to an Effective Answer) -

Mark Silver is my code word to myself for “heart-centred marketing”.

You see, the whole point of being in service in your business is to recognise that you have a gift that other people are longing to receive. And when you clearly introduce them to what you offer in terms of what they need help with (rather than what you do), it’s easer for them to say Yes to what you offer.

Last year, Mark helped me to refine the words I would use – other than “business consulting” – when people ask “what do you do?”

So, to my new friend, I added: “I help small business people who want to do business in a more soul-centred and, well, soul-nourishing way.”

There, I kinda stumbled, but I said it: Who I help, and what problem I help them solve.

The Other Secret

My new friend’s eyes widened. “Oh. Does that mean you could help people who want to start a business, but feel too scared?”

Does it ever. “Sure,” I said. “Is that you?”

It turned out it was, and so we had a good chat about it and decided to meet up to talk about her business “baby” some more.

So what does this mean for you and your business?

There are two important things that happened in this story… Can you guess what they are?

One. I framed what I do in terms of who I help and what problem I help them with. You can do that too. And if you need help, I recommend this book.

Two. I didn’t get it right. I didn’t have to.  I told her my who and what (small business people who want to do business in a more soul-nourishing way). I didn’t say I help people who have a new business idea but are afraid to get started. Although I do. I didn’t say I help people who are half way through writing their website content when they get writers block. Although I do. In fact, there’s a range of other who-whats in my portfolio that I didn’t mention…

But you know, my future clients aren’t stupid. They can put two and two together. Healing. Business consulting. Small business people. Soul-nourishing. It’s enough to point them in the general direction… and they can figure out the rest.

How to use this secret in your business

When people ask what you do, tell them who you help and what you help them with…

It’s a powerful and important tool for generating interest in your business from potential clients… And it can also help others to refer potential clients to you.

But here’s the rules:

* Take your time to work it out beforehand

* If you find a few different ways of saying it, that’s okay. It means you can be flexible in conversation.

* And… don’t stress if you haven’t covered everything. Your future clients aren’t stupid either.

Oh, and one more thing…

Go ahead and post your Who and What here in the comments… Hey, I might just know someone who needs your help!

Or, if you’re having trouble with it, or have some other comment, you can also comment here, and I might be able to help you nut it out.