Why does my answer come out as rambling?
Rambling happens because you're answering from inside your own process, where everything is connected and nothing is more important than anything else. You know the whole engagement: the discovery, the workshops, the analysis, the recommendations, the handover. The person asking wants one sentence.
The women I talk to describe it in almost identical words. They say they don't know how to talk about what they do in the best way possible, or that when they explain it they feel like they're rambling. That's a structural problem, and it comes from having no agreed first sentence to fall back on.
Two things create the ramble:
- No decision about which client you mean, so the sentence tries to cover several at once. Deciding that comes first, and choosing your ideal client is the page for it.
- No decision about which level you're answering on. Tactics, outcomes and value are three different answers, and picking one before you open your mouth is most of the fix.
What are the three levels of messaging?
The three levels are tactics and activities, outcomes and benefits, and value, and they climb from what you do toward what it means. Each one is true. They land very differently on somebody who has thirty seconds for you.
| Level | What it describes | How it sounds |
|---|
| Tactics and activities | What you do and how you do it, including deliverables | "I do digital marketing" |
| Outcomes and benefits | What clients get, and how their business is different | "I help businesses build their newsletter list and sell more products" |
| Value | The end state, meaning what it ultimately means for the business | "I help businesses turn website visitors into customers" |
I once filmed this in IKEA because the store lays it out better than any diagram. A cabinet face on the wall is a tactic: it's a real thing and it means almost nothing on its own. The same face built into a drawer unit is an outcome, because now you can see what it does. The same pieces assembled into a full kitchen is value, because now you can see what it would mean in your own home.
Your services are the cabinet faces. Clients are trying to picture the kitchen.
How do I get from my services list up to the value?
Ask "so what" of your own answer until the answer stops changing, and the last one standing is usually your value. It's a blunt exercise and it works because it forces you past the language you're comfortable with.
Run it in four steps:
- Write down what you do. The services, the deliverables, the process. Be specific and boring.
- Ask what the client has once that's done. Not what you handed over. What changed in their business.
- Ask what that gets them. Keep going while the answers keep moving.
- Stop when the answer is the state their business is in. That's the level to lead with.
A worked example from my own students, described by their work and not by name. A consultant in corporate social responsibility could say "I do corporate social responsibility consulting," which is a tactic. What she said instead was that she turns a company's corporate responsibility program into its greatest word of mouth tool. A conversion copywriter could accurately say "I'm a conversion copywriter." What she said instead was that she uncovers hidden revenue in your email list.
Notice that neither of them changed what they sell. They changed the sentence they lead with, and building that sentence deliberately is a short exercise.
What if every project is different and I can't boil it down?
Every project being different is normal, and it doesn't prevent one sentence, because the sentence describes the problem you solve and never the shape of the engagement. Two projects can look nothing alike and still deliver the same end state.
This objection comes up almost every time I teach this, and it's usually true on the facts and wrong about the conclusion. A consultant who runs a six-week diagnostic for one client and an eight-month build for another still solves one recognizable problem for both. The variation lives in scope and delivery, and your first sentence is about neither.
What to do when the work really does vary
- Describe the problem, and let scope stay flexible. "I help X with Y" survives any project shape.
- Pick the version you want more of. If two kinds of project both fit, lead with the one you want to be hired for next year.
- Keep the deliverables for the proposal, where variation is a feature and a proposal can carry options.
If the sentence still won't come, the problem is usually further upstream, in who you decided you were for.
Leah's take
I want to name what makes this question so loaded, because it isn't really about words.
The ability to answer "so what do you do" affects how other people understand what you do in the world, and it affects how you see yourself. That second part is the one nobody says out loud. When you can't describe your own work cleanly, it starts to feel like evidence about you, and I've seen accomplished women conclude they might not be cut out for this on the strength of one bad networking conversation.
So here's the reframe I'd offer. This is a messaging exercise. It is not a branding exercise, and it is not a verdict. You don't have to rebrand, change your offer, or change how you deliver. You have to decide who you're talking to and what level you're answering on, and then say one sentence.
And the first sale is to yourself. If you don't yet believe the thing you do is worth being hired for, the sentence will come out hedged no matter how well it's built. Fix the sentence, and quite often the belief follows it.
