Promote the CFP mark as first-rate, but don’t disparage other designations in the process.

That was the advice from panelists at a Financial Planning Association (FPA) conference to advisors who want to make the most of the time and money they have spent on getting and keeping a Certified Financial Planning Board (CFP) certification.

“Denigrating other designations is not smart. In the rare case someone leaves me, I don’t want them to do that to me,” said Ed Gjertsen, a former FPA chairman who chairs the FPA’s political action committee.

By a unanimous show of hands, three other CFPs at the FPA Advocacy Day conference in Washington D.C., speaking on a panel with Gjertsen about how to make the most of the CFP designation, all agreed.

It is tempting to highlight the mediocrity of other designations when prospective clients come in the door with stories of bad experiences they have had with other financial professionals, said one of the panelists, Evelyn Zohlen, owner of Inspired Financial, an advisory firm in Huntington Beach, Calif.

“But I am always careful of not spending a lot of time on why that person was so inferior,” she said.

Another piece of advice the panel had for advisors: Don’t use the word “fiduciary” with clients.

“It is so easy for us to slide into the jargon,” Zohlen pointed out.

It’s better to instead say CFP professionals are looking out for your interest, said Chris Draughon, director of financial planning for First Coast Wealth Advisors in Jacksonville, Fla.

“We don’t get into the weeds because they are looking for a financial professional they have a good vibe with, a level of trust,” Draughon said.