If You Can?t Answer This Question Your Business is Doomed!

How do you answer the seemingly easy question, "What do youdo?" Do you talk about YOU? Do you talk about yourproducts/services? Do you talk about your industry?Do you explain the process of how your products/serviceswork? If you answered yes to any of these questions youare missing an enormous opportunity.

Every time someone asks you "What do you do?" andevery time someone reads your marketing materials youhave the opportunity to:

* Interest potential clients
* Increase the potential for referrals
* Find out about potential strategic alliances
* Create recognition for yourself and your business
* Position yourself as an expert

Stop right now and take the time to discover how to answerthe question, "What do you do?" in a profitable way.

The bottom line is that in general, people are not reallythat interested in you and what you do (you may have heardthis before, start believing it!) What they really want toknow is what you can do for them. All of the communicationabout what you do must focus on the benefits of yourproducts/services, not the features. Focus on how yourproducts/services benefit the people who use them and theresults they can expect.

Think about the last time you met someone and they told youwhat they do. Do you remember what they told you? If so,would you be able to clearly explain it to someone else?Your goal is that the people who hear or read your marketingmessages remember what you do AND are able to tell someoneelse.

The first step to answering the question, 'What do you do'is to define your ideal client. The more specific you are,the more success you will have in building your businessquickly and positioning yourself as an expert. The next stepis to define what do you do for your clients. How you benefitthem. When you are clear about these two things, and you caneasily communicate what you do, you will feel more confidenttalking about your business. People you talk with will easilysee exactly how you can help them and hopefully remember whatyou do!

Here are some examples to get you started (as you can see,you don't necessarily need to mention your profession!):

- "I work with professional women who want high returns ontheir investments" (Financial Planner)

- "I create delicious, healthy meals for busy executives thathave no time to cook." (Personal Chef)

- "I help busy doctors find more time to spend with theirfamilies" (Life Coach)

- "I rescue stressed out business owners when their computerscrash" (Computer Technician)

- "I help stay-at-home moms feel pampered and relaxed"(Massage Therapist)

Try out this formula: I work with (your niche or ideal clients)who are having trouble with (problems your ideal clients face)and who want (what they want to see happen, the result).

Another way to explain what you do is to relate it to a knownsituation, a common experience. So when someone asks you whatyou do you can say, "Well you probably know how busy doctorsare, what I do is I help them spend more time with theirfamilies." Or, "You know how stay-at-home moms are alwaystaking care of everyone else, well what I do is make THEM feeltaken care of."

You will know you are on the right track when the nextquestion you are asked after you say what you do is:"How do you do that?"

Don't wait another minute. Get started now, grab a pieceof paper and write down what you do and then practice sayingit. You can test it out on friends and colleagues to refineand improve it. Then start using it everywhere (with people,on your website, on your business card) and you will see andfeel the difference this makes in attracting more clients!

(c) 2005 Stephanie Ward

Life & Business Coach Stephanie Ward helps business ownersset their profits on fire! Get your free monthly profittips plus bonus report at: http://www.fireflycoaching.com