Direct Sales – Answering the Question “What Do You Do?”

Whenever we are in a social situation the question “what do you do?” is bound to come up. It’s almost as popular as “how are you?”

I'm sure you too have been the victim of a long drawn out sales pitch, when the question “what do you do?” is asked of someone in direct sales. I've NEVER met anyone who wants to listen to a ten minute sales presentation because an overeager sales person believes they now have a lead.

If someone works retail they say "oh I work at _____". That's it, you know what they do in 5 seconds. If someone owns a business such as an air conditioning business, again you'll know what they do within 5 seconds of asking “what do you do?”

Yet for some reason, those in direct sales seem to not be able to convey what they do in under 30 seconds. I've truly met folks who when asked "what do you do?" they respond with a sales pitch that ends with "please join our conference call". C'mon the "what do you do?" was asked in conversation...this is NOT a lead.

There are just so many things you can say:

1. I sell products on a website.
2. I sell advertising via content rich websites.
3. I sell products for a direct sales company.
4. I represent a direct sales company.
5. I help people learn about _______(fill in one or two words here).

The answer to "what do you do?" should not be a sales pitch but rather a conversation starter. If someone says to me "I work at _________(insert retail store name here) then I can say "oh I've never heard of them before" or I can say "oh wow, I shop there all of the time" or I can say "oh what do you do there?". The one sentence of "I work at _____" began a conversation".

Given the above five suggestions, one might then say to you "oh what do you sell?" or "wow, how long have you been doing that?" or "I've never done that, how did you get started?" Those five above ideas are conversation starters, not full blown sales pitches. You now can see where the conversation leads.

See if you can come up with at least five short answers to “what do you do?” that will begin conversations for you, no matter where you are.

Audrey Okaneko has been in direct sales since 1983. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or you can Become a Tupperware Consultant

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