GUIDE 3 OF 6 · THE VALUE SHIFT
How to Explain What You Do Without Sounding Salesy
The reason the right clients can't find you isn't your work. It's the way you're describing it.
Introduction
How to Explain What You Do Without Sounding Salesy
Most of us have had the conversation where we explained what we do and watched the other person nod politely and move on. You knew something didn't land. You just weren't sure what.
A lesson I took from a group coaching program I was in: nobody is waking up in the middle of the night stressed out over what a vendor does. They're waking up stressed about the problem they can't solve. The value proposition that works isn't the one that describes your services. It's the one that names what changes for the person who hires you.
When you get that right, the right person doesn't just understand what you do. They recognize themselves in it immediately. And that recognition changes everything downstream. Discovery calls start from alignment. Proposals feel like confirmation. The work of selling gets easier because the right client already knows they're in the right place before the conversation even starts.
This guide shows you how to build that.
Inside This Guide
Four parts that move you from insight to action.
- 01
Your Clients Aren't Paying for Your Skills. They're Paying for the Outcome.
Clients don't care how you do the work. They care what's different after. This section reframes how to think about your value so you stop leading with skills and start leading with results.
- 02
Activity Language Describes. Outcome Language Sells.
The language you use to describe your work is either moving people toward a decision or away from one. I walk through the difference between the two and how to make the shift consistently.
- 03
Stop Writing Your Value Proposition in Your Own Language.
The most effective value proposition you'll ever write won't come from thinking harder about your expertise. It comes from listening to the people you've already served. This section shows you how to find the language that's already out there.
- 04
The One Sentence That Does Your Selling Before You Even Start Talking.
A strong value proposition isn't a paragraph. It's one sentence. Specific enough that the right person immediately knows you're talking to them. This section shows you how to build it.
“The right value proposition doesn't convince anyone of anything. It just makes the right person say: that's exactly what I need.”
Amie Thompson
This Is For You If
- When someone asks what you do, you over-explain and they still don't quite get it.
- You want to describe your services without sounding salesy.
- You've lost work to competitors whose pitch was clearer even though your work is better.