Sales and marketing -- Information

So what exactly is it you do? (In less than 10 seconds)

by Jeff Grover

Have you ever been in the following situation? You meet a person at a party, and they ask you what you do. The conversation goes something like this:

"So, Joe, what is it that you do?"

"Well, Betty, I work in the wholesale distribution business, with a principal focus upon managing the logistics and data interchange that occurs between channel partners."

"Joe, that's, uh, really interesting. It's been very nice meeting you."

Perhaps the above conversation may not be in your experience, or at least you may choose not to admit it. However, my sense is that most of us fall into the trap of describing our work in an extremely boring and tedious manner. Further, not only are you boring the person you are speaking with, but you are also boring yourself.

The danger in this is quite severe. The opportunity to make a first impression and create a new business connection is totally lost when you totally lose the person's interest during the first moments of conversation. Lack of clarity about what you do when asked, and further, the inability to stimulate the other person's interest in learning more, is a lethal combination to shut off potential new business.

So, what do you do about it? My suggestion is that you work on simplifying and injecting an exciting and fun spin into your response/description. When another person asks you what you do, resist the temptation to spill your guts and impress the individual with the latest "business speak," guaranteed to appear unoriginal, phony and totally boring.

Rather, make your first response unique, fun and designed to get the person to ask you more. In other words, resist the temptation to tell everything, instead focusing on getting the person to beg for more.

Let me give you some examples of how I respond to the query of what I do and how I responded in the past.

Past response
"So, Jeff, what is it that you do?"

"Well, Ralph, my company focuses on improving sales productivity and organizational performance through working at both a strategic, and tactical level, where appropriate, to enable our clients to meet or exceed their sales and profitability targets, as well as establishing metrics, expectations, and isolating behaviors leading to performance improvement solutions."

Looks pretty ridiculous, doesn't it?

In fact, the long-winded, boring response does capture many of the things my company provides, however it manages to put the person to unnatural and premature sleep. Further, like a lack of underarm deodorant after a long, hot day, the response drives away anyone within 10 feet who might have an interest, and need, for my company's services.

Now, let's try a concise, under-10-second response designed to get the person to want to learn more:

"So, Jeff, what is it that you do?"

"Ralph, my business's sole focus is keeping salespeople smiling."

By design, this response should have the person respond in the following manner:

"Ralph, my business's sole focus is keeping salespeople smiling."

"Jeff, that seems kind of fun. Tell me what you mean by that?"

There are some things that you should have noticed in my response:

• It's short: under 10 seconds.
• It's easy to remember.
• It is not a typical response the person is used to hearing.
• It piques the person's curiosity.

At this point, I am in a position to tell the person how I keep salespeople smiling, and what differentiates my organization from our competition. It builds on the logic that a person asking you to tell them more, after being initially attracted to your message, offers you a much greater chance to have their focus and sincere interest when getting into your true differentiators.

Going forward, spend a few moments thinking of ways you can capture the essence of your work in 10 seconds or less. Be creative, and think about the messages you react to that make you want to learn more. Then, you can start building the differentiators into your dialogue.

Ready, set, go! (In 10 seconds or less.)

Jeff Grover is founder of The Grover Group LLC, a consulting organization for manufacturers and distributors that want to improve their sales productivity. Services include upper management strategic and tactical consulting, advisory board participation, sales training for select circumstances, live presentations and speaking. For further information, visit www.grovergroupllc.com.