First Impressions drive everything.
And how you introduce yourself will be other people’s First Impression of you.
Do you give enough thought to what this First Impression will be?
In response to “what do you do?”, what do you say?
Most people say their job title: “I’m an Accountant”
Now Accountants are lovely things – I used to be one. But “I’m an Accountant” is NOT a good Conversation Starter.
Instead, you want your intro to be the 2Is – INTRIGUING and INCOMPLETE.
INTRIGUING means it captures their interest. INCOMPLETE means they want to know more.
The simplest way to achieve both?
Focus on your AFTERs – why people are better-off AFTER you’ve done your work.
Example: my intro is “I help companies sell more than they thought they could.”
It’s INTRIGUING (people are interested) and INCOMPLETE (because I haven’t said how I do it).
This means their next question is “how do you do that?”
And then the conversation flows.
Much better than the alternative “I’m a Consultant”.
Which leads people to reply “Between jobs, are you?”
Action Point
Identify why people are better-off AFTER you’ve done your thing. And incorporate this into a one-sentence summary of your job. This helps people (and you!) see how valuable you are.