What do you do?
What does your company do?
Simple questions, but that doesn’t mean you should give a simplistic answer.
I’m a banker, lawyer, doctor. My company makes widgets, provides legal services, lobbies for women’s empowerment.
You’ve just shared what you do. Congratulations. You are now the equivalent of a can of peas. You’ve just told the world you are a commodity.
There are 1,891 banks just in the county of Los Angeles, 4,495 law firms and 41,240 accountants. There is nothing special about being any of these things.
But I’m certain that you and your business, whatever it is, are extraordinary in some way.
While I don’t advocate an elevator pitch that’s so clever no one has a clue what you do, I do recommend you get beyond the can-of-peas approach.
Start with Why
One way to do this, and to create your entire brand – internal or external – is to Start with Why.
In his best-selling book of the same title, Simon Sinek offers this mantra: “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
If people are willing to choose between brands of water, you can bet they’re going to be discriminating about purchasing your services.
Why don’t we naturally start with why? Because it seems risky. It feels vulnerable.
Talking about what is super safe, but it won’t get you anywhere. How is pretty good, and can get you far. But why is your heart and soul.
Which is exactly why it works.
Why is all about passion, and nothing sells like passion. It’s contagious. It’s inspiring. And it’s just darn fun to be around.
Who Believes What You Believe?
So how to get beyond the fear of rejection that might come with your why?
“Work with people who believe what you believe,” says Sinek.
That’s what I told a writer we tried out one time here at bluefeet. He purposely wrote dull content because it was for a corporate audience. “That’s what they’d be looking for,” he argued. “That’s what they expect.”
Not on my watch.
Even if that’s what they were used to, no client is getting dull copy from us. And if punchy, compelling content that makes a real connection to your audience is too shocking to handle, then we’re not a good match.
Work with people who believe what you believe.
What we believe is that there’s no one else like you and no other business like yours. You have a unique role to play that’s like no other.
Here at bluefeet, our why is: Because the world needs what you have to offer.
We work with people, causes and companies that we believe in, to help them believe in themselves. So they can go out and do what they’re meant to do, and the world will be better because of it.
But if you don’t share what’s extraordinary about you, no one will know. And then you won’t have any what, how or why.
