Imagine a coworker introducing his wife with “This is the lovely woman that I have been faithful to for 20 years”. It’s certainly a good record, but since faithfulness is “table stakes” in a marriage, that kind of introduction sounds downright suspicious.
And yet, in so many cases expert service providers insist on putting baseline credentials like “licensed therapist” into the front-and-center focus of their message.
I’m not saying it shouldn’t be mentioned anywhere, just in case someone wants to know – but deliberately focusing the audience’s attention is a typical mistake.
As to why this happens, I believe it’s a mix of industry norms and personal insecurity. If most people in your industry act like clients only care about price and basic service delivery, it’s tempting to do the same. In that case, showing off your credentials to deliver that basic service at a reasonable price sounds like a natural stance to take. But for selling expertise, that’s far from ideal.
If you cannot answer the question “What’s different about you convincingly”, that lack of clarity will corrode other areas of your marketing, especially pricing. Instead, avoid jargon and state the most expensive problem you can solve as your specialty. So “Certified personal trainer” becomes “post-rehabilitation fitness programming, helping clients recover and regain strength after surgery or injury.”