The Coffee Break Test: Can You Earn a Client in a 5-Minute Chat?
Here's a thought experiment:
You're at a conference, and someone walks up to you during a coffee break and says, "Hey, what do you do?"
How long does it take you to explain it in a way they actually get? More to the point of why we communicate, can you say something that ensures they actually care? Speaking clearly is a starting point. Speaking in ways that earn their active interest is the goal.
If you're like most of the experts I work with ... the explanation takes too long. You start with your background, pivot to your services, maybe throw in a client example or two. Or maybe you reach for your LinkedIn title, written as we all tend to say it: "I help [people] do [action]."
It's not terrible. It's just ... okay. Then you hope and pray they want to learn more, instead of what you really wish happened: they crave it. Your explanation was fine, which means it was forgettable, which leads to a third F (frustration) which leads to a fourth (muttered to yourself in the shower later when you replay this interaction over and over and over...)
We've all been there. (Me too!) You think, "I know I'm good, I know I'm valued, I know I'm articulate, but I can FEEL my explanation losing them while I'm speaking."
Now imagine this instead:
What do you do?
"Oh, I help SaaS companies fix the part of their product where users give up and never come back."
Or: "I remind fashion designers that their products are for their customers, not their peers, so they can build sturdier businesses."
Or: "I work with leaders who are successful by every external measure but feel misaligned with their values."
Mine? "I work with experts who have a ton of competence but need resonance to see results more easily."
One sentence. Clear. Memorable. Interesting.
The coffee break at a conference is just one place where you need to explain yourself. Maybe this week, you're not at an event. Maybe you're guesting on a podcast or interacting on social media or getting introduced to a potential prospect or partner. There are dozens of moments where you're required to tell others about yourself, which is really a question of why you and your business are valuable to others. Unfortunately, if you're like most people, the moment you get asked, it feels like your heart decides it's time to disrupt your head. It was sitting there quietly pumping away in a cozy chair, when suddenly it looks up from the latest issue of Cardiac Quarterly:
"Did they just ask what we do? Welp, time to get to work!" It tosses the magazine aside, leaps onto the treadmill in your chest, and punches it to 11.
That is ... if you're like most people.
Someone who has built themselves a signature talk is not most people. Someone who has internalized their own message and stories (it's in their bones, not their brain) is no mere mortal of communication. They're unstoppable superheroes of storytelling excellence, including and especially when asked to tell others, "What do you do?"
I remember the feeling in my own career. Once I had my signature talk built, every other interaction got better and more effective. EVERYTHING felt easier.
I felt more confident. People responded more positively. It didn't matter if it was a hallway chat or podcast appearance, a blog post or a keynote. I felt it. My impact increased ... without increasing my effort.
At a conference, the same people capable delivering from the stage are often the same calm, confident presences walking the floor. That's not a matter of ego. That's a result of them feeling so comfortable in their own ideas and, more importantly, how they communicate their ideas, that they give off this undeniable energy. They cruise, rather than hustle.
On the other hand, the people who struggle and stress in those same interactions? They're stuck grappling with what I call "expertise without architecture."
Expertise without architecture looks like this:
You have years of experience. You've shared seemingly infinite advice in content and conversation. You've got genuine proof you're at least halfway decent at what you do, with at least some fans and supporters willing to vouch for you.
Maybe you've even got a folder of presentations you've given over the years—each probably custom-built for a specific audience. New talks every talk.
You're good at what you do. People value your work.
But when someone asks what you're known for ... you don't have a crisp answer. You have context. You have nuance. You have, "Well, it depends on the client..." or maybe, "I do this, but really, it's so much more..." or perhaps the ever-tricky stance to take: "I'm a [job title I made up for myself with a little TM on my website which if I'm honest nobody really understands]."
That's expertise without architecture. You've got the goods. But the scaffolding and structure and sturdiness and impressiveness are ... let's say emerging, not absent?
Expertise WITH architecture looks like this:
You have one core idea, a signature concept you own—your premise—that everything ladders up to. Others talk about similar topic and sell similar things. But you can quickly and confidently convey why you're different and specific. That means you resonate.
You have stories that illustrate the premise. Frameworks to make complexity accessible. Clear messaging and pillar projects online that cement your idea ownership, and a reliable, well-developed talk that fully captures your premise and gets buy-in from others, both in their heads and in the buyer's journey you can measure.
So when the coffee break begins, it feels like dunking on a kids' hoop: you spent so much time doing all the other, harder stuff, that THIS? This is easy, even fun! While your peers get asked the same question, they struggle to pick up the metaphorical ball and nudge it awkwardly through the hoop, with their confusing or meandering or forgettable explanations. Whereas you calmly respond with a 360-degree windmill dunk.
Everything in your marketing gets easier when you have a clear premise and a signature speech to defend and distribute it, because you're not explaining a dozen things—you're reinforcing one idea.
Best of all, your sales conversations turn into formalities with prospective clients. They're there merely to gut-check that you can personalize your thinking to their situation, or that your timeline and pricing lines up. But because they already understand you, they're arriving at your door practically beating it down.
I've spent 20 years honing similar thought leadership that I help others develop today, not because I'm a coach with templates, but as a practitioner-peer. The momentum you feel when you develop this kind of material is undeniable and quite addicting. You cackle to yourself. Counterintuitively, when your ideas feel more like YOU ... OTHERS run your way. You can stop chasing because you're the one they seek.
In the case of your public appearances, guesting, and speaking, it all gets better (more fun, more consistent, more lucrative) because conference organizers know exactly what you bring and why you're different and audiences can't wait to approach you afterwards.
Your signature talk isn't just a presentation.
It's the architecture that holds all your expertise together, everywhere you go.
So here's my question for you:
What would you calmly, confidently say during the coffee break?
Does it make them lean in? Call over a friend or two? Whip out the agenda and find the room where you're speaking later?
Or do you have expertise without architecture?
Stop explaining. Start inspiring.
No more "walls of smarts" or paragraphs of hedging where a memorable, singular concept is needed.
One premise, one core argument to embrace it ... one signature talk.
Design My Signature Talk is an 8-week virtual program starting February 23rd where we build your signature talk together—the architecture that makes your expertise visible and memorable, both in your speaking and around your public platform, everywhere.
We cover:
Premise Development: The one core idea you want to be known for
Gripping Structure: How to architect your talk so it flows like a single, seamless experience they adore (and you can more easily internalize and deliver)
Signature Storytelling: Finding and building stories that make your ideas actually stick. (It's what they'll tell you they remember 3 years later)
Strategic Openers/Closers: How to grab attention and drive action with calm confidence. (Openers and closers are so tricky!)
The "Business" Bits: How do you offer strategic advice in a talk, share genuinely effective CTAs in talks, and drive follow-on opportunities for your business ... without selling from the stage? (A big no-no.)
You'll also get two rounds of personalized video feedback + weekly group coaching calls with me.
By the end, you'll have a 30-45 minute signature talk to fuel your speaking, webinars, guest appearances, even content and messaging. You'll have the super-suit you can wear, everywhere you go.
Normally $2,250. Early bird pricing means $400 off until January 31.
There are only 14 spots left.