Can you describe what you do in 10 words or less?

If I were to ask you what you do for a living or what is your business, how would you respond?  Would it be a lengthy dissertation?  Or would it be a succinct response that gives me an exact idea of what you do?

We rarely think of formulating an answer to a question as to what we do.  Perhaps that is why we tend to drone on and on grasping for the best way to explain what we do or how we do it.

I like the elevator chat style of an answer.  Picture this.   You are on an elevator when it stops at a floor to take on another person.  That person looks at you, nods and asks: “So, what do you do?” Five seconds later the elevator door opens and that person gets out.  Were you able to respond to that person’s question during your brief encounter?

Let me try it.  I am in an elevator when it stops at a floor and picks up a person.  The person enters, nods at me and asks: “So, what do you do?”  I respond: “I market financial education products to business owners and professionals.”  The elevator stops, the door opens and the person starts to leave, turns and hands me his business card telling me that he owns a court reporting business on that floor and would like to know more about my business.

Bottom line is you have no more than ten words to market yourself and/or your business.  Give those ten precious words a lot of thought as they can open doors of opportunity for you.  

Think about the ten words I chose for my “elevator chat” (which, by the way, I use many times a day to describe what I do):

“I market”…I did not say “I sell”.  People do not want to be “sold” anything.  People love to “buy”.

“financial education products”…this phrase tells potential buyers that I offer products that will educate or teach them about financial matters.

“to business owners and professionals”…I identify who the typical buyers of my products are.  These market segments tend to be high earners who would want to know more about how to make their money work harder for them.

I once attended a church service were a sermon consisted of only eight words.  Out of all of the times I attended church (every Sunday all of my life) no other sermon has impacted me as have those eight words: “Pray for your enemies because you made them.”  Compare this to a sermon that goes on and on and on.  

We are living in a world dominated by brevity.  (No one has time to listen to what the other person has to say.  Just ask my wife about my listening skills.) A classic, current example of “elevator chat” is the popularity of limiting conversations to 140 character messages on Twitter. 

Can you describe what you do in an “elevator chat”?  As a matter of fact, leave a comment and  convincingly tell us what you do in ten words or less.  Good luck.