Never Tell Anyone What You Do

You know you've been there: you're surrounded by a handful of strangers, everyone has a drink or a small plate of hors d'oeuvres in their hands and the conversation goes stale. Someone meekly offers a comment about the weather or the local sports team, but there is not much else to talk about. Except: work.

“What do you do?” is generally the third or fourth question out of a person’s mouth upon a first encounter. It’s hard to avoid. Work occupies so much of our time, we are well-versed in the subject and we generally enjoy talking about things we know. It’s at this point that successful business owners turn new friends into customers.
How do they do it? There is no one simple answer. Generating new business person-to-person takes a balance of confidence and humility. That said, here are three steps to turn your cocktail party conversation into sales:

1) Never Tell Anyone What You Do: Wait a second, isn’t that counter to all marketing? Keep your work a secret? I work with a lot of self-employed business owners with no employees (aka “solopreneurs”). These people represent their business in its entirety. If they don’t tell people what they do, how will people find out? Good question, but the answer and the sales strategy encompasses more humility than self-importance. How many times have you been turned off by someone blabbing about what they do? It might be the easiest way to kill a sale.

Consider a situation in which you are introduced to someone new. In the right circumstances, the introducer might refer to your profession. They might even mention how great you are. Easy sale. This direct word-of-mouth is very powerful.

Or consider a situation in which you meet someone without an introduction. If you are able to focus the conversation on something other than your profession, the new friend will walk away thinking how insightful, deep and conversational you are. Next time you come across that person, the relationship is established. We all know people buy relationships, so once again, easy sale.

Now, when people ask you what you do, be prepared to deliver your pitch (see #3). Despite the catchy word “never”, don’t avoid telling people what you do. Just make sure the opportunity presents itself without you forcing it and you need to be prepared to answer.

2) Always Ask What Others Do: Instead of focusing on what you do, focus on what the other person does. Given the chance to talk about oneself, the other person will feel energized and confident. They will enjoy talking with you. Once the conversation turns and they ask you what you do, you will have an open ear and a willing listener. You’ve already created a new friend simply by listening and this person will genuinely listen to you. And when you have an active listener, they will remember you and your brand. Your business card will go in the rolodex, and not the trash.

Another bonus to listening to others speak about what they do is that it gives you the opportunity to see if your business can help them. If you do find someone that could use your product/service, ask pointed questions to identify their needs on the job. This is an extremely easy sale.

3) Refine Your Elevator Pitch: You will get asked “what do you do?” After all, even if you never tell anyone what you do, you cannot avoid the question. So if you don’t have a polished pitch, then get polishing. You must be able to concisely and succinctly communicate what you do or else your product/service will never resonate. Play around with some different pitches. Practice them often. Your pitch may evolve, but keep it as consistent as possible. Marketing is mostly repetition, so the more often you can say your message the more it will impact your audience. Focus your pitch on benefits. You should be able to communicate what you do and the benefit you provide in one or two sentences. This will take some time, but it really is the key to more sales.

Ultimately, if you have established a relationship with someone by following Steps 1 and 2, and you can easily communicate the benefit you provide outlined in Step 3, the sales will build. Your cocktail parties will turn into marketing events, networking will become fruitful and you will turn new friends into customers very easily.