Don’t you hate that question!  I do.  Yet it is important to engage a person right from the start.

At a simplistic level you can say your job description i.e. I am a plumber, an accountant, a teacher etc.  The answer is perfectly satisfactory, and the response to your answer could be equally perfunctory…  “Oh really, how interesting” – like I am really interested!  Or some sort of response to that effect!

You would like to be able to say something clever like Coco Channel did when asked the same question.  She could have said I sell perfume; however what she did say was “…I sell hope.”

That’s why I have found the question a challenge because there is a need to engage people quickly into what you do, if you are to hold their attention, particularly in a business situation.  The dichotomy is, however, people actually yearn for the familiar.  People like to be able to pigeon hole you.  It makes life simpler and less complicated; we really don’t want to have to think too hard about things all the time, unless of course we are interested.

What people are hoping secretly you might say is, I’m a fashion model, I’m an astronaut, I’m a brain surgeon, I’m a rodent exterminator – whatever, as long as it is not your stereotypical answer.  We would really like to meet people who have a job that is unusual, exotic, or exciting.  We are bored with the mundane, because it reminds us of what we may secretly feel is equally mundane.

Now here is the magic.  Yes, we might be a plumber; an accountant or a teacher, but what do we do really when we stop to think about?  What special essence, capability, or skill do we bring to the job that makes us better or different to other plumbers, accountants, or teachers?

A plumber may say…”If you’re up to your knees in water, I’m your man!”

An accountant may say….”There‘s only two things that are certain in life – death and taxes and I help you with one of them …”

And a teacher may say…”I’m training children for jobs that we don’t know exist!”

They have still stated what they do, but they have given it a healthy twist of interest that has the potential to be far more engaging, eliciting a probable response like …  “Oh really, how interesting – tell me more?” Or some sort of response to that effect!

So next time someone glibly asks you (out of necessity not out of interest possibly) “what do you do” – jerk them out of their reverie with a response that is engaging, amusing, or interesting leaving them wanting to know more about what you do.  And who knows it may lead to potentially new business opportunities.

It is not hard to work out.  It just requires a little bit of time set aside on your part to think it through!

PS.  This blog is dedicated to the patience and persistent questioning by Sandy Burgham (Marketing Director of Max Fashions) – but what do you do Michael?  Her words still ring in my ears today!

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