What you do vs. how you do it

Remind yourself constantly that there’s a big difference.

What you do is solve customer problems. That’s a benefit, an outcome, that your customer wants, needs and/or desires.

How you do it is what they pay for. A product or service that delivers the result or outcome.

It’s natural for us to confuse the two, and the primary reason is our point of view. Ask an employee “what do we do” and you’ll likely hear them explain their job, or the product they’ve built, or the service they deliver. But they’re likely going to describe it from their point of view, or the company’s point of view.

This isn’t what you do; it’s how you do it.

What you really do needs to always be defined and communicated from the customer’s point of view. They may not understand or value how you do it. But if they want, need or desire what you do (the outcome you create for them), then they’re serious buyers.

Don’t sell the drill. Sell the hole.

This manifests itself in networking situations as well. When someone asks you “so what do you do”, don’t describe your job. Answer as if they’ve asked “what do you do for your customers?”