It’s a simple question, “What do you do?” but one that is often difficult for clients to answer. A few months ago I sat down with a company and asked this question. They talked for over an hour and at the end of the conversation I finally understood what they did. Then, a couple of weeks ago I asked a business owner, “what do you do?”, she thought for a moment and gave me a simple, compelling answer. It was perfect.

All companies, no matter how complex, should be able to answer the question of what they do simply. Consider the most profitable company in the world, Apple. They make beautiful computers and software for users. Or consider a company with an extremely complex product offering like Google. What does Google do? They connect users with content. Simple.

So for your company, when someone asks you, “What do you do?” here are some things to consider:

1. Keep your answer to 6 words or less. You can elaborate with a short elevator pitch, but make sure the main statement is short and sweet.
2. Avoid unneeded adjectives. Don’t say you are the best, people assume you think that already. If you didn’t think you were the best you wouldn’t be selling to them.
3. Describe what matters to your client, not what matters to you. You aren’t selling yourself on your company, you are selling them.

For example, here is what we do:

Main Statement: We connect organizations to their clients.

Quick Pitch: We connect organizations to their clients through compelling storytelling. We start with a beautiful website, then consider social, search engines and continued website improvement.

So, what do you do?

photo credit: Ein Gev Fishing Port via photopin (license)