Betsy Jordyn (00:00.076)
Before we dive into today's episode, I want to talk to you about something that's been on my heart. So if you're like me and your heart is heavy with all that's going on in the world and you're wondering not just what you can do in this moment as a citizen, but as a purpose-driven consultant or coach who longs for workplaces that balance people alongside profits and global systems that support humanity first, I have an answer. Well, actually not an answer, not the answer, but a way we can get to it.
And the answer is this, we partner across our different disciplines to figure it out because I believe behind every social injustice is an economic one. And we as consultants and coaches are in a unique position with unique access to speak to it, but only if we can get out of our silos and partner together. So I've been waiting for a long time to pull together what I am calling the Common Good Consulting and Coaching Consortium. And so my vision is to create a very different type of networking organization where consultants and coaches
who share common vision for the common good, we all have that same vision, but we approach it differently. And I want to bring us together so that we can learn from one another and collaborate with one another and not compete. So who belongs here? Organization development experts, leadership development, lean, continuous improvement, human resources, change management, coaches of all kinds. And our goal is to learn from one another, find ways to partner more effectively, and maybe even discover ways that we can advocate for the change that we wish to see in the world.
So I have some rough ideas on how this brand new cross-functional professional association could work, but I wanna co-create it with others who share my passion. So it's for this reason I'm generating an interest list for a future Zoom call where we can get together and chat about it and figure it out together. So if you wanna be notified for when this call is going to be, head on over to my website at www.BetsyJordyn.com/common-good and get on the interest list now.
So without further ado, let's get into today's episode. So what's a unique title and why do you need one? Find out on today's Consulting Matters podcast.
Betsy Jordyn (02:07.31)
And welcome to the Consulting Matters podcast, this is the show for purpose-driven consultants and coaches who are ready to own the power of what they do and position themselves for greater impact and income. I'm your host, Betsy Jordyn, and I am an ex-Disney consultant and consulting business owner, turned business mentor and brand positioning and messaging strategist. You can find out about all the things I do to help my clients turn their expertise, their strengths, their passions into a standout brand and a thriving business that they and their clients love.
on my website at www.BetsyJordyn.com and don't forget Jordyn is with a Y. So I wound up accidentally starting this series on all these aha moments that I've been having about branding for consultants and coaches from writing my workbook and tearing apart my own process. So a couple of weeks ago I shared the big picture of the five things I learned in general. Last week I broke down the three types of expertise. If you missed those episodes definitely go back and listen. So they're gonna give you more insight into what we're covering today.
But this week I'm getting into a super fun aspect of brand positioning, or I think it's super fun, and I'm calling it your unique title. So here's how a unique title operates. So picture this. You're in that working event and someone asks you what you do and you say, I'm a consultant or I'm a coach. You know exactly what happens next, don't you? The person that you're talking to looks confused and they say, hmm, what does that really mean? Now you're stuck explaining yourself while they're already mentally checked out. So now picture this instead.
You don't just say consultant, you say something like customer experience designer, or you don't say leadership coach, you say executive development strategist. Now some of these things might require a little bit more explanation, like a customer experience designer, somebody might say, interesting though. So instead of having that puzzle look like, my gosh, what are you talking about? It's like, hmm, interesting, you piqued my interest, me more. So now that you're getting it.
at least better than they were before, but they're leaning in, they're asking better questions, they are engaged. That, my friend, is the power of a unique title. So if you're ready to create yours, then pay attention to this episode where I'm gonna be sharing with you the emotional labor that your generic title might be accidentally creating for your client that is actually making them disconnect. Why you'll make it way easier for people to understand what you do when you use a unique title. What you need to know before crafting your unique title.
Betsy Jordyn (04:26.444)
And then as a bonus, I'm going to get into how to infuse your consulting or coaching with personality by creating a fun title. So tune in now to say goodbye to the forgettable generic title and say hello to one that's clear, memorable, and uniquely you. And if you want more personalized help with your unique title and or packaging up what you do into client attracting messages and strategies, now is the perfect time because I'm offering discounts on my private programs in exchange for real-time feedback on the workbook that I'm writing.
So head on over to my website, BetsyJordyn.com forward slash services to learn more and book an intro call. So now let's get into the details about creating your unique title. So first things first, let's talk about what is a unique title. So we need to get into the basics. So your unique title is a clear, concise label that defines your professional identity beyond a generic label like consultant or coach. So what your unique title does is it indicates both your area of expertise
and how you work with your clients in a way that sets you apart from others in a similar field. So let me give you some examples of what I mean by that. So I use the example of a leadership coach. So it could be instead an executive development strategist. So already there's more clarity because leadership can mean all kinds of things. Executive is more precise, but executive development is even more precise. And then you add in strategist, or you can look at a generic example of a business consultant to a
Small Business Growth Advisor and Strategist. You see where I'm going with this. It creates much more clarity in an instant. Instead of being a life coach, you're a midlife reinvention guide. Instead of an OD consultant, you're an organizational transformation catalyst. Or maybe like for me, instead of I'm being a business coach, I'm a brand positioning and messaging strategist. See the difference here. The unique titles immediately tell not just what you do, but how you do it and who you do it for. Like it gives you a lot more clarity.
So I want you to take a moment and just consider the differences between a generic title and some of these unique titles. Would you be more excited, let's say you were dealing with burnout, would you rather go to a health coach or a burnout recovery and resilience coach? If you are in the middle of a massive transition in your executive career, would you go to a career coach or an executive career transition strategist? So think about it for a second from your standpoint. What would...
Betsy Jordyn (06:52.78)
What would make that title, like if you were choosing who you were gonna work with, what difference would that more unique title make? Which title would make you wanna lean in, learn more, but also which title would convey trust, credibility to you? So just take a moment and think about that. All right, now let's get into the second point, the value of a unique title. So there's lots of benefits of a unique title. And it was interesting, I didn't realize until I was working on the workbook, like how much the unique title is a big part of what I do.
and I asked my clients to give me feedback, like why is this so meaningful to you? So some of this is what they would say. So first things first is it helps people quickly understand what you do, especially when you don't have a lot of time to explain or engage in a conversation. So you're not stuck in that awkward networking dance where you say, I'm a consultant and they say, what does it mean? And now you're scrambling. At least you said something again that's interesting and they're more engaged in. Second, shows how you're different.
So when you say strategist, you say mentor, you're bringing in a different type of energy that shows that you're different. But the other thing is it conveys a depth of competence that you bring to your title. So a generic title like coach can mean anything. A unique title signals expertise and specialization. So those are in general what a unique title will do for you. But there's a couple other really biggies that I wanna go over with you. The benefit number one that's a biggie is it plants the seeds
for strategic partnership from the get-go. So by putting together what type of role you wanna play with your clients right from the start, you are showing them that you're not this extra pair of hands who just gets things done for them and you're not this expert who swoops in with all the answers, you're a partner. You are somebody who is invested in their success, has a solution that they can trust. So this label you choose,
conveys to your clients, like you're a partner, but also what type of partner, what kind of energy you're bringing to the engagement, what kind of strengths that you're bringing to the table that they need. All of this together makes it clear like, oh my gosh, this is not somebody who has some sort of generic off the shelf solution that they're just trying to push at me. Like a generic title would also convey like, oh, this sounds like somebody who's gonna really work with me, help me figure out my problems.
Betsy Jordyn (09:05.708)
And then the other big benefit is something that I've learned very recently from my own experience of looking for an expert is all around emotional labor and the emotional label of uncertainty. When you have a clear title, you shift the emotional labor of uncertainty from your clients to yourself as the expert. So this is huge. And I'm going to give you a very personal example. So you may have heard me say on this podcast that I have skin cancer, or perhaps by the time you're listening to it, I used to have skin cancer because I'm getting it removed very soon.
And I have been in a process trying to find somebody to help me with this because it's on my face and I'm very particular about the recovery. Like I just don't want to have my face kind of like ruined in some sort of way. So the first surgeon I was referred to was a general plastic surgeon. So that was his generic title. And it's not just his title alone. There was ways that he was talking to me about my specific situation that really freaked me out.
But this lack of clarity and the emotional labor, what happened is I spent hours trying to figure out the risk factors. And I felt spent hours managing my own fear and imagining worst case scenarios. But then I found a surgeon who has a title right from the get-go all over his website and more. Skin cancer cure and recovery expert. my gosh, game changer. Immediately my anxiety dropped. Like I don't have to figure out.
Like, is this the right person? But I also don't have to figure out anything because I know I'm in good hands, because this is an expert in exactly what I need. Not everybody, but for me, this is exactly what I needed. So the reduction of anxiety, the reduction, I don't spend any time researching because I have an expert. I haven't spent any time researching like what are all the worst case scenarios?
Even when the doctor's office is like, well, you know, could be this or could be that. It's like, I don't have to worry about it because I'm in the hands of an expert because they named and claimed skin cancer cure and recovery as part of the title. Your lack of clarity in your title and in everything that you do creates emotional labor for your potential clients. So what happens is the amount of time that they're spending in anxiety is not time that they are spending in investing in you. And...
Betsy Jordyn (11:15.788)
That confusion they're experiencing leads to a predictable outcome. A confused mind always says no. So your unique title really starts to relieve them of that burden. You know, it's not the whole kit and caboodle, like as I mentioned with this whole experience that I went through, like there's lots of other stuff that conveys the expertise of my skin cancer surgeon. You know, it's all these words on their websites. It's all the trust symbols that they have. It's the way their office is so professional.
It's the way that my doctor has shown up with a plan and there's a whole bunch of other things, but that relationship was set from this very specific unique title. So your unique title relieves the emotional burden. So I want you to think about it from your standpoint. So you're listening to my podcast and there's a reason why you're here. And I'm wondering, is there any role that my title might play?
and instilling trust in you and giving you confidence. So I don't call myself again a business coach. I call myself a business mentor because that is part of the energy I am bringing to the relationship. I'm not coaching you on some ideas in general. I'm a mentor because I bring experience from 15 years of running my own business, going through the same process that you might've gone through, going from a corporate job to your very own business or going from an internal consulting.
type of role to an external consulting. I've been on that journey, but I also been in many other journeys of starting my business, pivoting my focus, elevating to the next level. I've been there, so I'm a business mentor. The word mentor makes sense, because I'm sharing wisdom out of my lived experience. But the other big part of what I do is that brand positioning and messaging strategists. I was deliberate in the word strategists, because you'll see in all of the stuff that I'm showing you, my ah-has and when you eventually buy my workbook.
I have breaking down brand positioning and messaging into a strategy that other people can follow. Like that is a lot of what I'm bringing to the table and that's a lot of what my clients need. So the words I choose are very deliberate. My expertise is brand positioning and messaging. That is what I'm naming and claiming as my expertise, but the way I show up is I'm a strategist as well. So I want you to think about it from your standpoint on the other side of this conversation.
Betsy Jordyn (13:27.81)
Like, do you feel a difference in your trust level compared to if I just call myself a business coach? You know, do you feel more clarity? Do you feel like I care about you that I just spent a lot of effort, you know, 10 plus years really specializing in a unique area that relates to what your challenges are and what you need? You know, just think about it from your standpoint. And if you nod your head, say, yeah, that really makes a difference for me. That is partially the power of a unique title. Now, again, I back it up with a whole bunch of other things.
but do I start the relationship correct with that unique title? Okay, so now let's get into the next point, which is all around the ingredients that you need to create your unique title. So now you know what one is and now you know the value, how do you create it? So your unique title is a combination of two things, your expertise, which is the professional field of mastery that's relevant for your client's challenges and goals, and your role, which is.
how your best stat strikes translate to the role you wanna play with your clients and what type of partner you are. So let's break each one of those down. So I mentioned last week's episode was all around expertise. Got super excited because I learned that there's actually three types of expertise that you can use as the foundation of your business. There's your formal expertise, your hard-won School of Knox expertise, and then the new one I just discovered is your applied expertise. If you missed that episode, definitely go back and listen to it. But your goal...
with that expertise in the context of your unique title is to distill it down to its essence into something that works for a title. So you wanna capture like maybe a two to four word phrase that captures like the gist of your expertise without being overly vague or overly complex. You wanna make it easy enough to remember, instantly meaningful and a strong enough anchor for your title. So for example, if your expertise is operationalizing strategic change to the front lines, is way too much for a title.
way too much. You need to get it down to something clearer, like operational transformation. At the same time, you don't want to be so big that it doesn't mean anything, like business alone, or leadership doesn't cut it. Those are some of those big corporate words that say everything and mean nothing. Change management is another one of those things. You might want to be a little bit more explicit. So you might want to get it down to business growth, or executive development, or customer experience design, or all those types of things I already gave you examples on. But you want to make sure you balance between
Betsy Jordyn (15:48.224)
the clarity and brevity. So that's the expertise. The role is about your strengths. So it's not about like just discovering your strengths. You've already discovered your strengths. It's figuring out how does your strengths relate to the role that you wanna play with your clients? Like how do they show up in your work with your clients? So you wanna get it down to one to two word description that reflects the role you play with your clients. So it's not coming up with a bunch of different ways to say consultant or coach.
It's an opportunity to express how your strengths show up and how you work with your clients and the type of partner you are and how you're different. So coach could be a good word because you think about a performance coach. Like there's a very specific energy that that type of coach brings and you might choose consultant if it makes sense. I would encourage you just to try to get a little bit more precise because lots of other people are using the words consultant or coach. And the more that you could choose other words that are more precise, it'll also help you stand out. So.
Let me give you some other examples on how the expertise can express itself in very different ways, depending on the role that you choose. So let's say you name and claim your expertise as you're an expert in business growth or small business growth. You can add more of those details or startup business growth or something along those lines. You could add in some of those other descriptors to make your expertise more clear.
But there's a huge difference between a business growth strategist, which is someone that creates the roadmap, versus a business growth mentor, which is guiding from the experience, to a business growth catalyst, who sparks the momentum, to a business growth architect, designing the systems. See, what I'm talking about is like when you put your role against your expertise, it really changes the energy, and it shows a very different relationship you're having with your clients. Using executive development, you you could be...
an executive development coach, where you help them develop their capabilities. Or you can be an executive leadership advisor, where you provide expert counsel. Or you can be an executive leadership developer, where you help somebody build their leadership skills or their executive leadership skills in a very systematic way. Or executive leadership guide, because maybe you're helping them go through transitions or something along those lines.
Betsy Jordyn (18:00.298)
So the idea is, is you have an expertise, but when you pair it with your strengths and your roles, like, wow, like now this is different. You can see how there's a very different vibe, know, energy that you're bringing to the table. Like that's, that's when you wanna like try in a lot of different combinations and just see like which one really feels like how I wanna show up with my clients and how I wanna partner with them. So now it's your turn. What I want you to do is brainstorm at least four to five.
Maybe six different combinations using your expertise in different role options and play with the language and see what feels right for you. See what makes you feel excited and see what makes you feel like, my gosh, this is a type of partnership that I can get behind and I really wanna invite my clients to. You could use the word expert like my surgeon did in that situation because expert was the right word because that really meant something to me. So think about it from your standpoint around.
like what it is that you wanna show up in the role, but also think about like, is the role that your clients on the other side really want as well? So where you might get stuck. So if you're sitting here thinking, Betsy, I have no idea what my expertise is, or I'm not clear on my strengths in the context of my consulting or coaching, this is where you really need to start. So this is why I'm a huge fan of the go slow to go fast. Like so in all my one-on-one work with my clients, you we really begin with that inventory first.
before we get into the brand positioning work so that you don't have to go back and backtrack it. So if you haven't defined your expertise or strengths yet, that's where you wanna start. So do that work first. You really wanna start with your inventory, not just on your expertise strengths, but you also wanna understand your passion and what is driving you as a consultant or coach. You wanna get that foundational work done first because that's gonna help you later on. So now you have clarity on what is unique title, all the bunnies of it.
You also know how to create it. Now I'm gonna give you a bonus and we're gonna talk about your fun title. So I think it's fun. You may not think it's fun. You may think it's silly. And if you think it's silly, forget about it. You don't have to worry about it. But I think a fun title is something that you can use to infuse what you do with your personality, your vibe. It's often how your clients think of you. It's like they're shorthand for the unique way that you show up. So for example, you know, a long time ago I used to be called the consultants consultants, but then when I got into branding,
Betsy Jordyn (20:18.242)
you know, the real fun title that people started labeling with is like, my gosh, Betsy, you're like a brand whisperer, you're a words finder, you know, that type of thing. Like that reflects more the essence of how I work with my clients that goes beyond my formal title. So you might say, like, let's say on your website is, you know, you might be struggling with X, Y, Z, I get it, I'm here to help. Hi, I'm formal title. And then also fun title, you know, so it kind of balances out like this heaviness of our work.
So other examples, maybe you're really good at productivity, maybe you're the efficiency queen or the talent maximizer or the growth hacker or the career outcomeist, something along those lines. So if you don't wanna use the fun title, it's totally fine, but if you do, think about it, it could be fun. And again, they're not replacements for your professional titles. They're just something that goes alongside your professional title in your marketing, your website, social media, or in conversations. So go ahead, capture a few fun titles for yourself.
And think about what your clients call you on the side when they say, my gosh, you're so amazing at this. You're such a whatever that is. You can't see me, I'm doing the hypothetical air quotes. But when they say you are such a this, it's like, wow, use that, capture it. And it shows your unique point of view and how you show up with your clients. So that is it on unique titles. So let's talk about what we covered today. First, we just find what a unique title is and that it's a clear, concise label that goes beyond the generic consultant or coach that
showcases both your expertise and how you work with your clients. Second, we talked about why it matters and how a unique title helps people quickly understand what you do, shows how you're different, conveys competence, plant seeds for strategic partnership, and most importantly, it shifts that emotional labor of uncertainty from your clients to you, the expert. And third, we broke down the two ingredients you need, your expertise distilled into two to four words and your role into one to two words that reflect how you work with your clients.
Together, these create a title that is clear, memorable, and uniquely you. And finally, we captured the bonus, which is a fun title that infuses your work with personality and captures how your clients might be thinking about you. So here's what I want you to do next. Try out these exercises. You know, I've given you lots of different reflection exercises to consider. Name and claim your expertise, name and claim your strengths, and try to play around with different title combinations. You know, and see what works for you. Try it out for a little while.
Betsy Jordyn (22:41.102)
You know, like that would be the second step I would do is like, just take it out for a test drive, see what works. And if it doesn't resonate, just dump it and try something else. And if you really get stuck, like that you feel like I really need to get more clarity on my expertise, I really need more clarity on my strengths, now is the perfect time to get personalized support. Remember, I am offering discounts on my private programs in exchange for real-time feedback on the workbook I'm writing.
So this is a great time to work with me one-on-one, not just on your unique title, but your complete brand positioning and messaging strategy, and so much more. So you get that, and then I get real-time feedback from you so that I can help more clients. So it's a win-win all the way around. So head on over to www.BetsyJordyn.com forward slash services to learn more and book an intro call. So that is it for today's episode. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to hit subscribe wherever you're tuning in.
Pass it on your colleagues and friends who need to hear this. And I love it, love it, love it if you could take a minute to rate and review it on Apple Podcasts. It will help more people find my show and I'd really appreciate it. And until next time, thanks for listening. One more thing real quick before I completely sign off on this episode. If what I said at the beginning of this episode resonated with you, like if you're feeling that pull to be a part of something bigger and wondering how consultants and coaches can work together to create
workplaces and societal systems that put people first. I'd love for you to join me in conceiving the whole Common Good Consulting and Coaching Consortium. It's brand new, I'm just getting started. I wanna co-create it with people who share this vision. So go to BetsyJordyn.com forward slash common hyphen good to get on the interest list and I will be sure to get the invite to you for our first organizing call.
