I've answered it so many times, but I still feel a little flutter in my stomach every time someone asks, "What's your job? And that reaction usually has to do with how much money they think you're making. There has got to be a better way to answer this question, right? The truth is that there are many products out there that are almost exactly the same as other products that people choose, only with the latter, there are emotional reasons involved (where marketing and branding come into play). In the higher-priced tiers, consumers choose products for functional reasons, like getting an important job done better than the competition. The iPod was a hit because Apple created a product that 100 percent did the functional job better. In a business setting, your goal is to frame the question and answer it differently so that you pique your listener's curiosity and convince this person's interest to keep listening. But I also know that most people are interested in how they can further their own business or career. So, instead of saying I'm a writer, I might say, "I help people and businesses say the right things and get more recognition and customers." The next time someone asks you this tired old question, try out one of these two answers.
As a former member of the the networking organization BNI, and an enthusiast of the membership network WeWork, I often hear the same question: “What do you do?”
If you’re reading this, I’m sure you’ve heard it too.
It’s such a loaded question, isn’t it? I’ve answered it so many times, but I still feel a little flutter in my stomach every time someone asks, “What’s your job? What do you do for a living?”
Because the question they’re really asking is: “Who are you, and why should I care?”
The problem with standard answers
I could reply, “I’m a writer,” or “I’m a content marketer” or “I’m an astronaut.” In fact, that’s the answer I hear 99 percent of the time. Whether the person answering is 18 or 65, he or she almost always says the same thing: “Oh, I’m an intern at such-and-such bank,,” or “I’m retired.”
But when you give those answers, you’re automatically putting yourself in a tiny box. Most people’s reaction is to default to either a polite, “Oh, okay” or “Wow, what’s that like?” And that reaction usually has to do with how much money they think you’re making.
There has got to be a better way to answer this question, right? As it turns out, there is.
Expectations versus reality
People like to compartmentalize and label everything they can. It’s human nature. So, when someone asks you, “What do you do?” nine times out of 10, they don’t genuinely care about your answer. Whether you’re a doctor or a lawyer or an aspiring actor doesn’t matter to them.
What they really want to know is, “How can you help me?”
Keeping this in mind, consider something called Jobs to Be Done theory. It’s a business theory developed at Harvard Business School that has broad implications for everything from product development to marketing.
What job do you get done?
Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) theory posits that customers don’t hire a product because of its bells and whistles and doodads, but because it gets a job done. The quote that sums up JTBD theory best is Theodore Levitt‘s famous “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole!”
So, when the iPod came out, for example, everyone and their mom bought one not just because it was the coolest thing ever at the time, but because, in Apple’s words, you could have “1,000 songs in your pocket.” The iPod completely phased out the Walkman and similar devices because it was much better at getting a specific job done: playing a large, curated selection of music on the go.
Unfortunately, JTBD theory on its own doesn’t explain all consumer behavior. For example, how do people choose…
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