Would you like to determine whether the next person you meet could become a client or customer without the usual 3rd degree? When people say, "What do you do?" do you find yourself explaining your products or services until your listener says the equivalent of, "Gee I think I hear my mother calling me?"

DEFINING EXACTLY WHAT YOU DO
Defining exactly what you could do for potential clients or customers can be one of your most effective marketing tools, and marketing your business products and services to new people is what you want to do, right? Leading indicators show that E-Commerce is bringing an awareness to marketing that never existed before. Translated, this means new business, new customers, and new clients; and that means new money for you or your firm.

But you must to act quickly and decisively in order to capture market share or you will lose to your more aggressive competitors. You must be able to tell someone exactly what you do, and tell it in one sentence that both informs and entices. Here's how you can make this happen.

BEGIN WITH A SKILLS LIST
Write down everything you do (or want to do) for your customers. List all your products and services. Pretend you're talking to a high-school alumnus you haven't seen in a long time, one who never thought you'd amount to a hill of beans. When you're finished, put the list aside for a day or two then add the things you forgot the first time around.

BUILD PRODUCT/SERVICE GROUPS
Do some things seem to go together? Make up a name for the lumped items. If you own an automotive repair garage you could use: "Bill's Performance Package Number 1". This could include new plugs, air and fuel filters, oil change, timing and labor. Re-write your master list using the new names.

MAKE WORK A FUN PROJECT
Look-over your master list and put a check-mark by those products or services you really like to provide. This is important. If what you do isn't fun, why are you doing it? Money? If this is your only criteria, you're in the wrong business!

SELECT CUSTOMER WANTS & NEEDS
Go through your master list a second time using a circle instead of a check-mark. Circle all the item groups you know your customer or client wants or needs. Add any new services or products you didn't uncover when you first wrote your master list.

MAKE A REALITY CHECK
If you find you've made very few check-marks on your list you might examine why you're in the business you're in. Life is far too short to be doing things you don't like to do! If some of your check-marked items don't also have a circle, you may be happy, but nobody cares to spend money on what you do! Examine your business for appropriateness. Ask yourself questions such as, "Does this business meet my customer's wants and needs?" "Do I truly like doing this kind of work?" and "Is it fun?"

BUILD YOUR MASTER LIST
By now you have at least one bundle of goods and services you can provide. If you're extremely lucky, you may have two or three. Look at the selections and pick the one your heart tells you is "you." You've just found what others only dream of discovering, exactly what you do or want to do!

TELLING OTHERS WHAT YOU DO
While the above exercises will pin-point what you do, you now have to find the words to tell others, and do it in one sentence. Work on saying what you do with the ultimate goal of your listener saying, "That's exactly what I need (or want), tell me more." or "That's interesting, but I don't want or need that at this time." Need an example? Try this: "Our goal is to help businesses, organizations and individuals achieve a higher level of success with results-oriented marketing programs." You know you've arrived when your prospect says, "Oh. How do you do that?"