"What Do You Do?" How to Answer the Toughest Question in All of Business

"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers." - H.L. Mencken

"What do you do?" It's a simple question, yet its mere asking skips a lot of trains off the track. Consultants stumble, don't know how to describe their complex services, talk on and on, and make a host of other mistakes. Simple as it might sound, the first step in succeeding with your answer is to not crash and burn from the get-go.

You can start by avoiding these six common derailers:

1. The I talked but I didn't say anything trap: "We offer efficient and effective consulting solutions to Fortune 500 and emerging growth companies, helping them to uncover and capitalize on hidden opportunities to provide value to their customers and increase shareholder value. We're unique because..."

2. The tell your entire life story trap: "It all started when I was 5 and my mom got me my first book on EPA compliance...by the time I was 13, I had capped my first brown field...then in the third year after starting the firm, we launched our emissions testing division..."

3. The ain't that cute trap:

• "We're the smiley-faced law firm."
• "We make our clients' financials sing."
• "We're the leading-with-integrity company."

4. The laundry list trap: "We are a law firm, and we focus on admiralty law, alternative dispute resolution, antitrust, bankruptcy, appellate litigation, complex litigation, debt financing, environmental law, foreign corrupt practices, government relations, ice cream patent and trademark, koala bear adoption, llama surrogate pregnancy litigation..."

5. The I have no idea how to explain it trap: "Well, um, you see in capital-intense businesses there sometimes is a situation where the capitalization structure needs to be re-engineered because...well, there's really a lot to it. OK, from a big picture perspective we tend to focus on smokestack businesses, but only where their capital structure..."

And there's one more biggie to avoid that is the most common pitfall of all:

6. The I have a scripted elevator pitch that I use every time someone asks me this question trap.

Know Your Audience

Anyone who has studied communication with the written word knows that "Write to your audience" is lesson numero uno. The same goes for answering, "What do you do?"

Lack of consideration for the listener is perhaps the most common mistake. It's also the great fallacy of the elevator pitch concept. Because so many people practice elevator pitches for rote, they often come out stilted and usually word for word the same every time. Using the same elevator pitch for every situation is a simple but wrong solution to a complex issue.

You'll want to give a different answer at an industry conference than you do to your cousin Rocco at the family barbecue than you do when you sit down to lunch with a prospect.

There is no one stock answer.

That is not to say you need to recreate the wheel every time someone asks you this question. In fact, you should have a general sense of what you want to say and you should practice your delivery, but it should not be written in stone.

Think of it like guiding a hike up a mountain. There are many ways to get to the top, but depending on the skill level of who's in your group, their age, preferences, abilities, and athleticism you will choose a path that best fits them.

When answering the question of "What do you do?" you want to consider who you are talking to so you can pick the best path. What do they really want know? Are they a prospect? A client? A potential employee? A referral source? Or just a friend or family member interested in what you're up to these days?

You want to customize your answer for each of these groups of people and describe it within a context they will understand.

The 6 Building Blocks to a Successful Answer

To successfully respond to the "what do you do?" question, there are six building blocks you want to consider in your answer:

1. Clients: Who do you serve? What makes for an ideal client in regards to industry, location, size, type, etc.?
2. Need/Business Problem: What types of needs and business problems do you address?
3. Value of Solving Need: What are the financial and other benefits of solving the need?
4. Your Offering: What's your approach to delivering your services, running your company, solving problems, and working with clients?
5. Proof of Concept: How can you demonstrate that your approach has worked to solve similar problems for others?
6. Genuine and Distinct: Why is your offering preferable to other options for solving the need?

Do you use each one every time? No. That's the idea behind building blocks. You pick and choose based on the particular situation.

For example, you are a marketing and brand consultant talking to your cousin Rocco, who happens to be a school teacher. You might say something like, "In private schools, how do you think they get all of their students? Generally families might look at and evaluate 2, 3, 5 schools before choosing one. But what do you think causes some schools to have thriving enrollment and wait lists while others struggle to get new students? Large organizations have to ask themselves these same questions-except rather than talking about student enrollment, they are talking about consumers buying their products. Why do you choose Colgate over Crest?  I basically help large organizations answer these types of questions for their business."

However, if you were talking to a prospect you might say something like, "I help large packaged goods companies understand why consumers decide to buy one brand over another. For example just last week I presented findings to a client where we uncovered X, Y, Z. It's really interesting stuff that will likely to lead to $200 million in new sales over the next three years if they implement our recommended changes."

Same building blocks, but customized for the audience you are speaking to.

So the next time someone asks you, "What do you do?" what are you going to say?