The 3 Types of Expertise Every Consultant and Coach Needs to Name and Claim

I’ve identified three types of expertise that consultants and coaches have to make it super easy for you to name and claim yours and discover how to use the right expertise as the foundation of your profitable, purpose-driven business that you and your clients love.

Last week I shared some big picture aha’s I got about branding and its true value from tearing my own process apart for the purposes of writing my first book and workbook. I got really excited about the real purpose of this work that I do with my clients, which is all about instilling trust.

I shared passionately about this insight because of my own experience of having to find a trusted expert to help me with my skin cancer cure and recovery. Who knew I would get so excited about finding a skin cancer surgeon and the impact on branding, but here we are.

What I know for sure from that episode and from this whole process of writing this workbook is what I do all day, every day with my clients matters. And that I have built an expertise that is unique to me and valuable for the clients I’m meant to serve.

Same goes for you.

You have an expertise that the clients meant for you need and represents THE solution that they have been looking for to help them solve their problems and achieve something that is significant and meaningful to them.

Only question: do you know what that expertise is?

What Is Expertise (And What It Is Not)

Today we’re getting in what constitutes an expertise, how expertise is not the same as skills, strengths, or things you simply have mastery in.

More importantly, we’re getting into the three types of expertise that consultants and coaches have, how to figure out which one is yours and how to use it as the foundation of both your business and your brand.

I don’t know if it’s the advent of Chat GPT, but I started getting a lot of laundry lists of:

• Skills you can endorse on LinkedIn

• Tools you have mastered

• Methods like strategic facilitation or listening

• Habits or ways of being

• Strengths

But expertise is the broader professional field you have achieved mastery in. It is what is relevant and valuable to potential consulting or coaching clients.

An expert is a person wise through experience. Someone who has comprehensive knowledge or is an authority in a particular area.

Why this matters: expertise, more than anything else, points to the clients you’re meant to help, the problems you’re driven to solve, and the right business meant for you.

Framing this expertise is important. What is more important is consciously choosing the expertise you want to use as the foundation of your business.

Type 1: Formal Expertise

The first and most obvious expertise you have is your formal expertise. This is what you built through your education and professional track record.

This expertise is connected to what you were hired to do, promoted for doing, and formally recognized for throughout your career.

When I first started my consulting business, I based it on my formal expertise. I had a master’s in organization development. I spent a decade as an internal consultant. I left Disney and started my own business built on the foundation of my formal expertise in organization development.

With all my clients, our starting point is labeling your formal expertise. It’s not about narrowing you to a niche or ideal client you’re not sure is right for you. But it is important data.

Reflect on:

• Your formal education and advanced degrees

• The line of business you spent the bulk of your career in

Create a label for the professional domain you have achieved mastery in, such as:

• Operations leadership

• Lean and continuous improvement

• Organization development

• Learning and development

• Direct response marketing

• Sales leadership

• Change project management

Then add industry and/or company size, such as:

• Operations leadership in hospitality and theme park operations

• Lean and continuous improvement in manufacturing and healthcare

• Timeshare sales leadership

• Leadership development in faith-based organizations

Type 2: School of Hard Knocks Expertise

This is the professional field you have achieved mastery in as a result of overcoming something significant in your personal life or a major transformation you made in your career.

I started adding this type of expertise inventory back in 2019 when I expanded my focus from just helping consultants to coaches.

You get this expertise from:

• Things you consistently did to help others alongside your job

• Overcoming something significant in your life

Examples include:

• Educational leader turned parent coach

• CIO turned executive coach

• Overcoming burnout

• Overcoming toxic relationships

• Dating after divorce

• Midlife reinvention

• Turning personal experience into business expertise

This is the school of hard knocks expertise that drives many people to get a coaching certification as a way to formalize what is a very informal expertise.

How you figure this one out:

Have you gone through a challenging school of hard knocks life experience that gave you a hard-won expertise that you didn’t ask for but now have that could be of benefit to others?

Type 3: Applied Expertise

I want to give a shout out to my client Sean who helped me identify the label for this expertise.

Applied expertise is what emerged through the unique way you got results in your career or responsibilities you assumed beyond your formal scope.

Sean became the person executives turned to when they had a big strategic change initiative that required significant behavior change on the front lines. He became an expert at operationalizing change.

Clients like:

• A project manager in mining who built a practice around negotiating massive contracts

• A lean leader who transformed practitioners into influential change catalysts

• A finance executive who aligned senior teams around strategic growth priorities

How you find applied expertise:

Is there something unique about what it took for you to achieve your career success and/or your approach to leadership responsibilities that translates to insights and best practices for others?

The Most Important Decision: Label Them All, Then Consciously Choose

Consciously choose the expertise you want to use as the foundation of your business.

Not being aware of or making conscious choices about my expertise has been the most expensive mistake I have made.

I let scarcity decide and wound up with vague, unmemorable organization development as my expertise. It led to success, but also hit or miss clients and burnout.

You may have an emerging school of hard knocks expertise that is brand X for you. But if your applied expertise is ready to go, then go for it.

It’s about making your expertise conscious and then consciously choosing what you want to use as the foundation of your business.

With this choice, all of your brand positioning decisions will come into clarity: who you help, the problems you solve, what you do, and how you’re different.

The Three Types of Expertise

Expertise isn’t a laundry list of skills, strengths, tools, work habits, or certifications. It’s the broader professional field you have achieved mastery in.

There are three types of expertise:

• Formal expertise

• School of hard knocks expertise

• Applied expertise

Ideally, you want to mine and label all three so you can consciously choose the expertise you really want to use as the foundation of this iteration of your business.

Next Steps

Where you might get stuck:

• Framing and labeling your expertise

• Naming and claiming it at the right level

If you need more help from me and my brand whispering gifts, go to www.betsyjordyn.com/services to learn more and book a free discovery meeting.

Now is a great time because I’m offering discounts in exchange for helping me refine concepts like these in my workbook.

Other interviews and articles mentioned in this video:

• How to Build Your Business on the Best of Your Career with Lori Smith
• Overcoming Entrepreneurial Burnout with Rachelle Stone and Lori Smith
• Should You Switch Your Consulting or Coaching Niche? How I Helped Brad Johnson Find Clarity
• How to Get Your Business Mojo Back When You Feel Out of Alignment with Pam Anderson
• Why Lean Consultants Must Level Up Their Positioning and Messaging with Katie Anderson
• The ROI of Clarifying Your Brand Positioning: Lessons from My Work with Katie Anderson
• How to Build Your Consulting or Coaching Brand on Social Media (even if you’re not a fan)
• Navigate the Challenges of Parenting and Entrepreneurship with Sari Goodman
• Transform Midlife Transitions: Embracing Personal Growth and Self-Discovery with Rajinder Rai

About me: Betsy Jordyn is a brand messaging strategist and business mentor for purpose-driven consultants and coaches. With a background in organizational development—including a consulting career with Disney—she helps experts clarify their unique value, position themselves strategically, and build businesses that deliver impact, income, and personal fulfillment. Connect with Betsy Jordyn to clarify your message, elevate your brand, and attract the clients you're meant to serve. Start here → https://www.betsyjordyn.com/services