April 12, 2017

What do you do?

When people ask you what you do, what do you say?

Do you stumble and have trouble answering?
Do you say something flippant or dismissive, like “computer stuff”?
Do you answer differently every time, depending on who’s asking?

Lots of folks come to me for help increasing their profits.

But before we can work on that, we have to figure out what it is they actually do.

It’s harder than it sounds.

You probably define “what you do” in terms of your expertise, deliverables, or activities.

But this is a very “me focused” approach and it’s usually not very effective.

It’s much more effective to be “you focused” by defining what you do in terms of client outcomes.

I’ll give you an example using something outside of the software world: therapeutic massage.

Imagine you meet someone at a barbecue. You ask them what they do.

Which of these answers do you find more powerful?

“I stretch and manipulate deep layers of muscle and connective tissue to the max.”
“I help professional athletes get back in the game after being sidelined by an injury.”

See the difference?

The first focuses on an activity the massage therapist engages in (it’s “me focused”). It forces any potential client to “connect the dots” between the activities you engage in to an outcome they desire.

The second focuses on an outcome that the client desires (it’s “you focused”) and uses language that is from the client’s world (“back in the game”, “sidelined”).

If you want to escape the hamster wheel of trading time for money, you have to start thinking about the outcomes you provide.

Once you identify valuable outcomes that you provide, you can price those instead of the activities you engage in to reach said outcomes.

This is the path to working less and making more (i.e., increasing your profits).