Being clear on what you do

Last week I sat down with a lady who wanted me to refer business to her. She was really lovely and we spent about an hour chatting away. But, although I would have liked to have referred business to her, I walked away from that meeting not really understanding what she did or how she could have helped people.

Our conversation went something like this:

She explained what she did. I replied with what I thought she did. She said no, she didn’t quite do that. So, we tried again…and again…and again – to a point where she was getting frustrated with me for not understanding and well, to be quite honest I’d given up.

Here’s the thing though. If you’re not clear on what you do, how can you expect anyone to refer other people to you or even buy your products or services? Believe me, I was patient with this lady, but most people at a networking event would have just made the excuse of going to get a drink to get away from her as quickly as possible.

When you’re trying to explain what you do, remember that most of us like to relate what you’re saying with something we already know. Our brains are naturally geared to trying to fit people into categories. We all want to understand what someone else is saying and so that’s what we’ll try and do – even if we get it wrong.

Therefore, if you describe what you do and I think you’re a coach, then that’s how my brain will try and describe you and your business – even if that’s not right in your head.

So, if you’re not clear on what you do, either I’ll walk away from you not really understanding what you do or I’ll walk away with the wrong business in my head. Not a satisfactory conclusion either way.

The moral of this is know what you do, be clear what you do and try and relate it if at all possible to something that the rest of us have at least heard of. That way, it will be much easier to refer you and to actually buy your products or services!