Question 1. (Stated) “What do you do?”

Question 2. (Thought, but not stated) Why should I trust you?

So many entrepreneurs fail because they answer the first question, but they don’t have an answer to the second, unstated question. For many professionals, their credentials speak for themselves.

If I meet someone at a cocktail party or at a professional event and she says, “I am a dermatologist,” then I already know a lot. I know she treats skin problems for a living and she is someone I can see if I have a rash or a skin cancer concern or a bump that needs to be removed. I also know that this person graduated from college. I have some reasons to trust her because I know, just from her brief introduction, that she spent four grueling years in medical school and that she passed. Next, I know that she served a residency and an internship. Unless the person I met is a complete psychopath who just made up the part about being a dermatologist, I actually know a lot about what this person does and why I should trust her with my time, money and, in this case, the health of my body.

Now, imagine you are at a professional conference and you meet someone who tells you “I am a life coach” Interesting, but what in the heck does that really mean? OK, it’s someone who advises a person on all aspects of life and how to be successful. OK, this still sounds a little squishy for some people’s taste, but I will concede that it is possible for people to understand what you do, if you are a life coach.

Now, for the hard part: how do you convince someone to trust you if claim to be a life coach? The credentials needed to be a competent dermatologist are seemingly straight forward, i.e. college, medical school, boards, specialization, etc. But what would make someone qualified to be an all-round coach on the game of life? Hmmm, possibly winning a Nobel Prize, founding a company that went public, creating a cancer cure? Those might be nice credentials. But what if you don’t have credentials that lofty?

You could be in trouble.

I don’t mean to pick on life coaches, though it does seem they are a profession that attracts people who are arguably less successful in the game of life than almost any other profession I encounter. Once you get outside of the established professions of medicine, law and academia, it can be more difficult to tell people briefly what you do in a way that makes them trust you.

If you are a consultant, entrepreneur, or expert of any sort who has to sell your services by the hour, project or some other dollar/time increment, then this is a battle you must face daily. If you can come up with a good message that installs credibility and trust, chances are you will be successful. If you can not come up with a message that is clear, understandable and memorable, and one that instills trust and credibility with you, then chances are you will fail, even if you work 23 hour hours a day.