I’ve recently gotten more into networking offline and it had come to my attention that I didn’t have a good, compelling answer to the universal question “What do you do?” So I decided to work on crafting an effective answer or what is often referred to as an elevator pitch. The term elevator pitch simply refers to the ability to tell someone what you do in the span of an elevator ride. Therefore, your answer needs to be short, catchy, and to the point.

While I was working on coming up with my own elevator pitch, I started searching around for some good tips on what makes one effective. Though I came across all kinds of advice, there were a couple that stood out as being the most important so I would like to share them with you.

Tip 1. Grab the Attention of the Listener
As we all know, people have very short attention spans, so it is of the utmost importance to get them interested immediately.  It’s also clear that many people ask this question out of habit and rarely do they actually care about your answer. That is why if you say something unique, not only will they be more likely to engage in conversation with you, but it will also be more likely that you will stand out in their memory. After all, isn’t that what you want, to be memorable?

Tip 2. Keep it short and simple
This is a variation of the K.I.S.S. method that goes back to the fact that people have short attention spans. If you go droning on about every detail of what you do, you can bet that the person is no longer listening. They are probably having a Charlie Brown moment where all they are hearing is Wah Wah Wah! So try to be short and to the point and stay away from anything complicated or confusing. You want them to focus on the overall picture, not the minute details.

Tip 3. Share the result of what you do
Most people when asked what they do, have a knee jerk reaction to give their job title or tell what company they work for. This is boring. The goal of using an elevator pitch is to start a conversation so you want your answer to be interesting enough that it elicits a response. I heard a story recently and I think that sharing it will help this make more sense.

A woman entered a coffee shop to find a man sitting in what she believed to be her seat. She walks up to him and asks “I see you here all the time, what is it that you do?” His response was “I help rich people sleep better at night.” She laughs and says, “Well you must be either a pharmacist or a financial planner!” He was indeed a financial planner, and you can bet that the next time she sees him she will be sure to remember what he does thanks to his creative answer. So remember to always lead with the result of what you do and stand out from the crowd.

I hope this helps you come up with your own unique answer to “what do you do” so that you can make the most out of your networking efforts.

Happy Marketing!

P.S. Feel free to post your elevator pitches in the comments below so that everyone can see what wonderful ideas you’ve come up with!