Authentic Marketing: How to Respond to, "What do you do?"

Stop multi-tasking for one moment and grab a paper and a pen. Don't over process. Think from the gut.

Now, answer this question:

What is it that you would like to see changed in the world?

Write down your answer. Only give yourself 10-15 seconds.

If you had a difficult time answering the question, that is the reason your business is struggling. You have to be the change you wish to see in the world. How can you grow a business around that change if you don't even know what your mission is?

When someone says, "What do you do?" do you respond with, "Oh, I'm a life coach Reiki healer energy worker underwater basket weaver..."?

If this sounds familiar, no one knows what it is you really do. They don't care what your title is.

When you respond with your title (e.g. life coach, business coach, a Reiki master, etc.) you aren't explaining the pain you solve for people. What solution do you offer?

When someone asks me, "What is it you do?" here's what I tell people:

"I work with service professionals to make more money, help more people, and have massive impact."

I don't talk about the fact that I'm coach. I don't talk about how I was trained. Most people talk about the process of their work as opposed to the progress and results they offer. People really don't care what your title or your training is.

Occasionally some people will ask for your credentials or why you're able to do what you do, but for the most part, they just want to know, "Here's my problem, here's my pain, and how can you help me solve it?"

The second piece of this is, it's got to be you. How often are you putting yourself out there and how often are you telling your story?

When I first started my business, I was sharing my movement. I was talking to people about how I could remove, heal, and help them through their pain on a daily basis. My goal was always to talk to 100 people a week.

You may be saying, "I don't know who to talk to." That's an excuse. You do know how to reach people. You do know how to talk to people.

One of the first things that I suggest you do – I call it my one-mile radius rule, unless you live deep in the country and then you might need to do a ten-mile radius. Get in your car, put on a CD, and drive all over within a one-mile radius of your house. Look at everything through the lens of, "How could I share my message?" Not how can I get a client? There is a difference. Focusing on sharing your movement.

All of the sudden, the high school becomes an opportunity to do an expo or to teach at their adult education school. The diner with the Rotary Club sign becomes a place to speak. Businesses in your community become places to contact. The church, the community center, I could go on and on.

Everything you need to build a multiple six-figure business is within a one-mile radius of your home. You can have all the websites in the world, you can have the marketing materials, you can have all of that, but if you are not talking to at least 100 people a week, then you are not reaching enough people.

Once you are talking to people or reaching them in other ways, there is a possibility that you don't know how to convert, which means you have a selling problem. You may be too salesy or you're not selling at all.

The process for converting people into clients is called my "I CARE" system. It's a five-step process.

"I CARE" stands for:

- Inspire
- Clarify
- Ask
- Receive
- Embrace

If you are talking to enough people and still not making sales, you have an authenticity problem. This means you're not bringing enough of you into it. When you don't bring enough of you into it, you either are scared to death to sell at all, or you're overselling and not being your authentic self.