How To Answer “What do you do?”

When you’re out networking or talking to your family and they ask you, “What do you do?” or “What is your business all about?” what do you say?

Do you freeze? Stammer?

Or do you apologetically and quietly say, “I’m a VA or I’m a Virtual Assistant.”

And then, you get the blank stare. You know, the deer in the headlights look that says, “I have no idea what that is. I still don’t know what you do. And I don’t think I need that.”

The truth is, saying you are a Virtual Assistant doesn’t mean anything because people still don’t know what you do. Just like there are different types of lawyers, there are different types of VA’s. All have different specialties, expertise and knowledge.

So what you need to do, is really focus on a descriptive one liner that tells people exactly what you do. For example, “I help real estate agents manage their tasks so they can focus on selling properties.”

By having a descriptive sentence like this, you’ve accomplished 3 things:

1. You’ve identified your target market: real estate agents
2. You’ve described what you do and show that you solve a problem: manage tasks so they can focus on selling properties
3. You’ve opened the conversation for more questions about what you do. Targeted questions that will allow you to showcase your expertise.

Whether you work online or offline, one of the keys to your success and having a full practice is networking. In order to network effectively you have to do two things really well: 1) you have to build relationships so that others feel comfortable talking to you and referring your services to their friends, family and colleagues, and 2) you have to market yourself so that people know who you are and what you do – without questions or hesitations.

So, now that you know you shouldn’t just tell people you are a Virtual Assistant- you need to work on your presentation. Some people call it an elevator speech, others call it a 30 second intro. Whatever you call it – make sure it’s descriptive, make sure it’s effective and make sure it’s easy to say. Talk about the problems you solve and the pain you eliminate in a way that a young child would understand. (What would you say if your child asked you , “Mommy, what do you do?” When something is easy to say, it rolls off your tongue and you don’t worry about it. You exude confidence, which tells people you’re ready for business.

And THAT is highly client attractive!