Explaining Expertise

Why it's so hard for others to understand what you do

When people don't understand what you do and why that matters to them, they don't buy.

The effects of this are obvious, but the reasons why this feels so difficult to solve (it's easier than it seems) are not so clear.

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Where does expertise come from?

There are different kinds of experts, but if you're reading this, you're probably a subject matter expert, as opposed to a process expert.

This is even more true if your work is multidisciplinary and defined by the problems you solve, rather than the techniques you use.

• It's easier to sell logo design than it is to sell Branding.

• It's easier to sell traffic generation than it is to sell Digital Marketing.

• It's easier to sell investment advice reports than it is to sell Estate Planning.

Also, the stuff on the right side tends to command higher prices and to be seen as more sophisticated and, well, “Strategic”.

Why your expertise defeats neat categories

You define what you do by the context of its application, not the steps of said application.

This north star, combined with an above-average-curiosity led you into multiple explorations.

As you delve deeper into domains that surround your initial point of departure, you increase your effectiveness at solving the problems you focus on, but you become less legible to non-experts.

It's a very frustrating paradox: the search for more competence and the willingness to venture outside what's common, made it harder to sell your services.

Adding insult to injury, all those competitors that kept peddling fixed solutions to nuanced problems seem to be making all the money.

The map and the territory

I love physical-space analogies, so bear with me¹

Your mind is now like a lush park, with a structure of its own, full of unique details, exotic references and quirky little observations.

As the park grows, it takes up more space. Your mind's territory expands.

Taking prospects on an unplanned hike

You love this park. You've planted and tended to it in the hopes of making it useful.

You're proud of the expertise you've accumulated and you love it when others visit it.***

But clients (and other non-experts) did not go on the same excursions you have gone on in the past.

They don't know that it took you 5 years to finally nail that new skillset that seems unrelated to their problem.

They don't understand why you've developed your own tools to solve a uber-specific problem.

They don't have the context of how everything relates.

To them, when you talk about your expertise in that way is like waking up in the early morning and getting dragged into a trek they know nothing about.

First, show them the photos

You and your clients have different repertoires.

They are OK with the fact that you can do things they can't.
And that's why they'd pay you.

Your clients might even be open to going on a little hike. But let them make that choice.

Show them some pictures, select a couple paths they would probably appreciate, tell them about a specific vista that you're proud of.

This way, when they finally join you for a quick tour of your insight, they're more likely to be engaged, interested and paying attention to the details you're so proud of.

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What about you?

The difficulty of explaining one's Expertise is one of the most common topics I talk about with consultants, coaches and other professionals that make a living from selling their Expertise.

Do you remember a time where you found a really good way of explaining what you do?

I'd love to know about it :)

1. The phrase “The map is not the territory” is almost always used to distinguish between reality and our perception of it. It means that what we think is reality is only a subset of it. A map that perfectly represents the terrain it refers to would have to be at least as large as that land. The usefulness of the map is precisely in reducing reality to a portable size. Can you see my point in how important it is to talk about the Map, not the Territory?