How to Answer "What Do You Do?" in a Compelling Way

How do you answer “What do you do?” in a compelling way and avoid the mistakes that are often made?

One of the questions that so many people dread answering in their businesses is that dreaded question: ‘So, what do you do?’

We go out to a networking event and everybody seems to ask you this question.

What Do You Do?

Whether we're starting out in business, or we are trying to grow our business, we can put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We think that if we could answer that question in a very compelling way, people would immediately lean in and say: ‘Wow, that's amazing, I want what you got to sell!’

But the reality is - that’s not what is going to happen.

Mistakes That Are Made Answering the Question

Let me point out a few mistakes that are often made.

1. The very classic way to answer that question is that we answer it with the industry label.

Here’s an example:

Someone may ask me what I do. I would immediately answer that I am a coach.
Part of the problem with that answer is that not everybody knows what a coach means. What do we mean then? A life coach? Or a business coach? Health coach of a fitness coach? What type of coach could it be?

When we answer it like that, the other people on the receiving end are starting to make their own assumptions, and frankly, judgments about what that means.

2. The next phase where I've seen people go is to the next level of that...

They've worked out that giving just a label isn't enough, because it doesn't get the full picture. So they go to the really cute and compelling way to say it. They start to dream up cute little titles or start using phrases that are confusing rather than compelling. They might say things like “I am a 6 figure goddess of this…or that” and the person on the receiving end doesn’t know what that means.

How to Answer the 'What Do You Do?" Question

Fundamentally, what's wrong with the answering those questions this way is that you're making it all about you. Just because somebody asks you the question, it does not mean you have to say what you actually do.

In the next video, I will share with you some tips about how to answer this question differently. How to make it more engaging and more authentic.

I guarantee your ideal clients will lean in and listen!