From Business Cards to Business Relationships: Personal Branding and Profitable Networking Made Easy, 2nd Edition

Step 1: Your 5-Second Spot

Determine your core deliverable. In a nutshell, what do you do?

What do you do? It's easy to want to sugarcoat this answer to create some poetic response to what should be a simple answer. What you do may sound boring, but it's what you do. What makes you appealing is your personality, your value, and how you present yourself, not phrases that make your work sound more exciting than it is.

Lines such as “It's tough to explain” or “I help people make their dreams come true” or “I help people find the light in the darkness” are too abstract and difficult to understand at functions and make it difficult for others to take you seriously. Put yourself in the other person's shoes. What are comments like that supposed to mean? Are you a top-secret agent? Do you work for Disney? Are you an electrician?

Depending on your personality and what your job is, you may be able to get away with an abstract summary about what you do, but for most of us, it's best to be up front and honest. Whatever your profession, you'll appear more successful if you are clear and confident as you communicate what you do. Hiding behind fluffy phrases will project a sense that you're withholding something, ashamed of what you do, or unprofessional. As an investment advisor, you need to educate contacts that you're an investment advisor. Not clearly communicating this fact will make it difficult for people who need an investment advisor to choose you or refer you to others who do. The ...