Philip Morley is an Aarhus/-based change messaging specialist
Whenever you meet someone new, there’s one question you will almost certainly be asked.
‘What do you do?’
Richard Saul Wurman - the creator of TED talks - believes this is ‘the most profound question the business world will ever answer’. And that most businesses are ‘abysmal at answering it’.
At first, this sounds a little over the top. But I think he chose the words ‘profound’ and ‘abysmal’ with good reason.
Telling someone what you or your business does can deeply affect what your listener thinks or believes. Not because the words are fancy but because they have consequences.
A good answer can open doors to investment, sales, jobs, collaborations. A messy one can shut that door in your face.
A clear description can let others know how to connect with you, work with you or even trust you. A muddy response can destroy that all-important first impression.
Of course, these are all extreme examples. Often you are being asked what you do simply as an ice-breaker or a conversation starter. The only consequence might be that you are regarded as being very interesting. Or not.
However, I believe that you What Do You Do (WDYD for short) sentence is the foundational message for everything your business goes on to communicate.
I respect Simon Sinek and his theory on your ‘Why’ but I think people only understand your purpose if they know what you actually do.
If Steve Jobs had been approached by someone at a Californian BBQ and asked what he did, I’m sure his answer would not have begun with ‘Everything we do, we do to challenge the status quo’.
All the fundamental key messages that a business has - vision, mission, purpose, values - all benefit from being preceded by a WDYD line. It provides context that can’t easily be added later on.
WDYD seems like a perfectly simple question but the answer is often spoiled by trying to make the answer a sales pitch. When, in fact, it’s a knock on the door of opportunity.
It doesn’t matter if someone else does something similar. You can explain what makes you different once you have captured someone’s attention. First things first.
Next, you are not being asked to explain why you are better at doing what you do. That is marketing or promotion and also comes later.
Also, this is about clarity, not poetry. Telling someone you are a colour distribution specialist will get attention but for the wrong reasons. Just tell them you’re a painter and decorator.
You should also avoid the ‘S’ word. Whenever you see a business that uses the word ‘solutions’ you can bet they can’t explain what they do. It’s meant to sound impressive but it’s useless.
In case these points sound challenging, I have some advice that could make creating a good WDYD much easier: imagine that your mum was asking the question.
Your mum wants to be proud of you. She wants to tell her friends what you do, so that they will understand her pride. But she won’t tolerate any of your jargon or fancy talk when you tell her what your firm does. She wants your WDYD plain and simple, so that she can pass it on.
Like your angel investor, your intern, the person you sit opposite on the train or the one with the glass of Merlot at the speed networking event, she just wants to know one thing.
What do you do?
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