Today’s Quote: You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. Zig Ziglar
Welcome to another episode of the podcast that teaches you how to be a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
Today we are going to talk about how to talk about what you do. This is a big sticking point for a lot of VAs, and it actually keeps them from networking.
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Connect with Tracey D’Aviero, VA Coach and Trainer
Episode Notes:
Today we are talking about how to talk about what you do.
This comes up when you are networking, but it also comes up anytime someone asks you what you do.
I still struggle with answering this question well sometimes.
Why? Because a lot of the people who ask me what I do are personal connections – and the topic seems very big. I have to tell them I teach virtual assistants. What if they don’t know what a virtual assistant is? They aren’t going to be a virtual assistant so why should I bore them with the description of what a VA does?
I’m sure you have been in exactly the same situation.
So what happens? You either stammer out a few words that don’t really sound like you know what you are talking about, or the opposite – you get that verbal diarrhea and just keeping talking as you try to poorly describe what you do for your clients. Their eyes glaze over, and you are certain they are thinking they wish they didn’t ask you the question to begin with.
We also sometimes get fixated on making what we do sound interesting and that sometimes doesn’t work out the way we want it to either.
Talking about ourselves is hard for a lot of us. I’d rather talk about someone else all day long than pump my own tires, and I’m guessing you feel the same way.
So when someone asks us what do you do? It can feel like we need to brush it aside in favour of a more comfortable subject.
But we shouldn’t! What we do is very important, and actually very interesting to a lot of people.
They do have questions, and many of them are genuinely curious to know how it all works.
Let’s get into how to answer that question better.
First let’s talk about elevator pitches.
I very much dislike the standard elevator pitch. I even have a training called Ditch the Elevator Pitch and Get More Clients!
They have their place, but so many people just simply do them wrong and it makesit painful for everyone around them.
The good news is if you hate them too, I’ll teach you a better way!
The reason I think elevator pitches just don’t work is that anyone who learns how to ‘write’ one or ‘recite’ one is taught to hit on all the points they want their audience to know, in a short sentence.
And so we try to pack our name, title, company name, and everything we can possibly do into one run on sentence. it doesn’t sound natural or interesting.
The time limit to recite it is usually one minute, or sometimes 2 minutes. That makes it a whole minute long run on sentence, and the audience is left trying to follow your whole thought just to keep up.
It’s uncomfortable for everyone. The person reciting it, trying to make sure they don’t miss anything, and the person listening, who is trying to make sure they understand it.
Further to that, if the audience in not full of their target client (or if they don’t have a target client) then the VA sometimes blurts out something too general, and it wont’ land with anyone.
Hi my name is Tracey D’Aviero and my company is called XYZ VAs. I am a virtual assistant who specializes in helping small business owners with their marketing tasks like newsletters and blog posts, so they can get more visibility for their business using a variety of online platforms. Working with a VA will save you time and money.
Okay so that’s way number 1 to NOT answer the question what do you do?
Here’s the other one: I’m a Virtual Assistant.
I can’t tell you how many VAs answer the question what do you do with those four words.
In my opinion, both of these are just plain wrong.
When you are speaking with someone (anyone) about what you do, think one word: conversation.
You don’t need to cover everything in one big breath.
Break it up, make it interesting, and above all make it conversational.
When someone asks what you do, say this:
I am a virtual assistant who helps health professionals (or whatever you target market is) market their businesses (or whatever one of your services is).
Then stop. Or, then add ‘what do you do?’
Either way you are inviting conversation about a very simple topic.
I usually use exactly this tactic if I am meeting someone for the first time. I am a virtual assistant coach and trainer that helps women set up their own business. What do you do?
If I know the person I say I am a virtual assistant coach and trainer that helps women set up and market their own business.
Sometimes that starts a conversation, sometimes it doesn’t.
But for sure, It’s enough as an answer.
We need to remember that not everyone is looking to purchase our services, and as a result, they don’t all need to hear everything that we do in our business.
Sometimes they are just being curious.
In a business networking situation, they are probably being more than curious, but still they may not be in need of a VA right then.
So enter the conversation. Questions. Answers. Back and forth. You learn a little something about them, they learn a little something about you. That’s networking.
Can you help them with their business?
Can they help you with yours?
That’s all you are really to figure out!
And yes, that leads us back to today’s quote.
Zig Ziglar was a master of sales. I worked at a sales job for a small courier company many years ago and we were very well trained. We were strategic, we worked target markets, and we closed sales. It was a fun job despite the fact that we needed to sell our service, every single day.
And I remember we followed Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglar. They were huge in the 90s. Sales trainings!
But despite the fact that Zig was definitely a salesman, this quote describes our service industry so well.
You can have everything in life you want if you just help enough other people get what they want.
Helping others. It’s what we do! It’s the very basic principle of being a VA.
So to get what we want, we need to help as many clients as we can (or want to)
How do we know if we can help someone?
Conversations!
Learn to describe what you do so it makes sense to people. Invite them to have conversations with you.
Can you help them? Yes. Then start helping them.
Can they help you? Maybe! If they can’t be your client, can they refer other people who you can help?
If you can’t help them, can you refer someone else who can? Then you are helping 2 people.
Take it from Zig … and me.
Answer the question ‘what do you do’ better, and it will change your business!
Need Some Help?
This is exactly what I help VAs do. As a VA coach and trainer, I help you find the words that describe what you do, and help you find the people that you should be talking to. And, when we work together, I will help you reach out those people so you an get clients.
I’ll help you get clarity around it all, and cheer you on as you walk through the steps to do it.
I’ve helped hundreds of VAs through their challenges and got them on their way to growing their business and the lifestyle that they dream of.
I’d love to do the same for you.
You can work with me privately, or you can join The Virtual Circle, my mastermind group for Virtual Assistants. Check it out at www.YourVAMentor.com/TVC (the virtual circle) – I bet it’s exactly what you need to start running the VA business you dreamed of.
Reach out to me if you are interested in starting your journey today.
That’s all I’ve got for you this week, see you next time!