What Do You Do? - 3 Steps to Crafting a Great Answer that Sells (VendDigest #3)

From time to time, we are asked: “What do you do?”. This would have been a very simple answer if we keep the regular job. You could have answered, I'm an accountant, I am a physician or a lawyer. But you are not one of those, you are special and unique, therefore you followed your drive and started a business. Thus, providing an answer to the question might not be as straightforward as someone that keeps a regular job.

While there are several ways to answer this question, there is one way provided by the author Allan Dib in his best-seller book “The 1-Page Marketing Plan”. Allan Dib encourages entrepreneurs to seize the opportunity they are asked this question to deliver a simple yet powerful elevator pitch for their business. 

I have personally tried this strategy to help me clarify our business ideas and save us a ton of cash in our marketing endeavours and strategy.

How to Answer

Allan Dib proposes that business owners should take the inquirer through a journey while answering the question, “What do you do?” using the points below.

• What problem are you trying to solve and for whom
• What solution is your business offering and why that solution best solves the problem identified above
• Conclude with a simple example that highlights your solution in action ie the proof

Allan suggests the answer should be delivered in the form of You know [problem]? Well, what we do is [solution]. In fact [proof].

Our Examples

This strategy has worked for us at HORLAR IT SOLUTIONS LIMITED when developing our products and marketing them, here are some examples of our answers to “What do you do”?

Zwiift (USSD on SIMHosting)

You know how most airtime and data vendors had to employ several persons to help them vend airtime and data by manually dialling the codes to vend products resulting in high employee costs and theft? Well, what we do is automate the process and free the business owners to focus more on marketing and sales. In fact, a new client last week just confirmed that we helped me save over N600,000 in just one month with USSD on SIMHosting. He could not believe that running airtime and data business could be simpler.

VoiceOTP

You know how most fintech and startups are losing sales and conversion due to poor OTP delivery rates? Well, what we do is provide an automated voice OTP delivery system that works 99.99% of the time at the fraction of the cost. In fact, one client was able to increase his conversion rate from an abysmal 48% to 94% within one week using our Voice OTP service.

What You Can Do Right Now

You will notice that the above examples identify the problem, the niche (the who/those having the problem) and the solution we provide. You can start by dividing your airtime and data clients into niches. Some might be football fans, social media freaks, tweeps or Instagram users, while others are using the products/services for their work and businesses. Avoid putting all your clients in one basket. If you don’t have answers available, you can directly ask them using a simple survey. Google Forms can be of help. 

Once the people are identified, their pain points (what they are doing with the product/service) can easily be identified. You can then craft your unique elevator pitch. Note that, your business can have multiple elevator pitches depending on the context.

This exercise might also identify products and services you can offer in addition to the existing ones. It can also provide new insight into how you should view your business. Whatever the exercise reveals take steps to implement the changes to maximize your profit. 

Remember SMEVend can help you take care of your MTN SME Data needs as it provides the infrastructure and the system to promptly deliver MTN SME Data for as low as N218.90/GB. You can start to use SMEVend with minimal upfront investment and simple API endpoints.

Till the next episode of VendDigest, may your vending business continue to thrive and grow. All the very best.