How to Answer “What Do You Do?” at a Networking Event

“What do you do?” is a simple question that most practitioners answer in a way that ends the conversation rather than opening it.

There are two common failure modes:

The category answer: “I’m a life coach.” Or “I’m an energy healer.” Or “I’m a business coach.” The category answer tells the listener almost nothing about whether the work is relevant to them. It is accurate, but it requires the listener to do interpretive work: figuring out what that category includes, whether it applies to their life, and whether they care enough to ask a follow-up question. Most listeners do not do that work. The conversation moves on.

The over-explanation: “I work with practitioners and coaches to help them develop their value articulation and pricing confidence using a multi-modal approach that combines…” This is the opposite failure — giving more information than the social context calls for, in language that starts to feel like a sales pitch within fifteen seconds. The listener’s internal response is often a polite exit.

Both answers come from the same source: the practitioner describing the work in terms of what it is, rather than in terms of what it does for people who are dealing with a specific situation.

The answer that opens conversations

The answer to “what do you do?” that opens conversations is a specific before state — described briefly — followed by a pause to let the listener respond.

“I work with coaches and practitioners who have meaningful work but find themselves chronically undercharging — often by a lot. The gap between what the work is worth and what they’re charging is usually a mixed inner and practical problem, and that’s what I help them resolve.”

This answer does several things simultaneously. It names a specific situation (undercharging coaches and practitioners). It implies the before state the listener can recognize in themselves or in others they know. It creates a natural opening for a response: “Oh — that’s me,” or “I know someone who needs that,” or “Interesting, how does that happen?”

The description format that adapts to networking: the core description — before state, after state, timeframe — can be condensed for a networking context. At a networking event, the full format is too long. The abbreviated version is the before state plus a hint of the after state, compressed into two or three sentences.

Why the before state is the key

The before state is the key to the networking answer because it is recognizable. A person who is living in the before state you describe, or who knows someone who is, will recognize it. A person who is not in that before state will know immediately that the work is not for them.

The before state answer does what the category answer cannot: it gives the listener a specific image to hold and compare against their experience. “Coaches who undercharge” is an image. “Life coach” is a category.

Why specific answers land better: the networking context is exactly where specificity matters most. In a brief exchange where attention is limited, the specific before state gives the listener something to hold. The general category gives them nothing.

The follow-up question is the signal

After describing the before state, pause. The follow-up question — if it comes — is the signal that the description landed.

“How does that work exactly?” means: I’m curious about the mechanism. Describe the work briefly.

“What kind of coaches do you work with?” means: I want to know if this is for me or someone I know. Name the niche more specifically.

“Oh that’s me” means: I recognized the before state. This is the conversation you were hoping to open.

The absence of a follow-up question is not failure — it means the work is not relevant to this person, which is also useful information. You are not trying to interest everyone. You are trying to open conversations with the people for whom the work is relevant.

Keeping networking answers from sounding like pitches: the difference between a networking answer that sounds authentic and one that sounds like a pitch is orientation. If the answer is delivered with the implicit purpose of generating a lead, that purpose tends to be detectable. If the answer is delivered simply to describe the work accurately so the listener can decide whether it is relevant, the quality is different.

Adjusting for different social contexts

At a professional networking event, slightly more detail is appropriate. At a social gathering where the question is primarily social lubricant, a shorter version works better: “I work with coaches and practitioners who are undercharging. It’s a common pattern with a specific set of causes.” If they are curious, they will ask.

At an event specifically for the audience you serve, you can go further: the before state, a gesture toward the after state, and perhaps a brief description of the arc. You are already talking to people who are more likely to recognize themselves in the before state, so the fuller description is appropriate.

How niche clarity makes networking answers easier: a specific niche makes the networking answer almost automatic. When you know exactly who you serve and what brings them to you, the before state is already in your vocabulary. The networking answer is a condensed version of the before state you have already developed.

Outcome versus feature answers to what do you do: “I offer 50-minute coaching sessions using a blend of mindset and somatic work” is a feature answer to “what do you do?” It answers the question of what the practitioner does. The before state answer answers the question of what the work produces — which is what the listener actually needs in order to know whether to be interested.

The Abundance GPS Skool community helps practitioners develop a clear, confident answer to “what do you do?” — one that opens conversations rather than closing them. Join us here.