You Do What?

When you are making small talk with folks, how often does the question come up.."What do you do? or What's your profession?"  Most people would simply say something like.."I'm a jeweler or I'm a barber or I'm a Car Salesman".   Yes, I used to do the very same thing until my marketing mentor, Jim Ackerman helped change my way of thinking about this. 

You see, even when we're not actually on the job, you are still on the job and you only have a few seconds to make a first impression...right?  I used to say things like, "I'm in the jewelry business or I sell jewelry".  Recently while at a business roundtable, everyone was asked to state their name and what they do.  Here was my answer....I said:

"Hi, my name is Bill Warren and I'm in the business of making lots of women happy......(extremely long pause, then I proceeded onward to say)....with the gift of fine jewelry from my store, The Gold Mine!

Now, how do you think the fellow before me felt with his stock & trade answer to the same question as:  Hi, I'm John Doe and I'm an insurance salesman at  ABC Insurance.  Do you get the picture here?  How you introduce yourself to people really does make a big difference...who do you think the folks in that roundtable discussion remembered most?  The guy selling insurance or the guy who makes lots of women happy with the gift of fine jewelry?  Obviously, I'm biased here, but needless to say, my introduction startled the crowd then brought out huge laughter and then everyone saying..."Gee..I wish I had thought of something like that!"

Let me leave you with a thought today, also inspired by my friend Jim Ackerman and one that set our business on the road to success.  Stop thinking of yourself as a jeweler, florist, clothier, hairdresser, etc.
As owner of the business you took on a special and important mantle...you are the rainmaker...the one who calls down the storm and the one who brings in the customers.  Instead of thinking of myself as a jeweler, I've made the shift to this:  I am a marketer of jewelry and jewelry related services.  This little shift in my thinking made all the difference for me...I think it will for you as well.  We'll explore this topic more later.

'Til Then,

Bill Warren
Warren Marketing Systems
hidden69@charter.net
828-729-1020