Your Profile & the WISH Model

We’re going to be looking at profiles today.

Cosmetics.

People are hiring you, so you should find the photos of you that make you look both approachable and authoritative. I’m happy to play up a little to the stereotypes that you think your clients carry with them.

For example, people hiring a meditation coach will eventually check your credentials and testimonials. But it helps if your visuals also reinforce. Does this guy look like he might know anything about meditation? I think so.

If you did the What for Whom exercise, then really think about what visuals will resonate with that Whom. If you don’t know, ask them.

The WISH Model

All credit to one of our earliest coaches, Zach Hammer, for naming this.

The Model describes what a person is looking for when they are evaluating a coach and roughly the order they look for those things.

  • What is being coached. Is it something that’s relevant to me? I don’t need a ballet coach because I’m not a ballet dancer. But I do need a swim coach because my swimming has plateaued. It’s best to give simple, clear and direct answers to the WHAT.
  • Inspiring fantasy of who the viewer could become. You answer the question of “Who is this coaching for?” by presenting the fantasy of who the person will be after coaching with you. Either the person has the fantasy or they don’t. Weight loss coaches don’t say “Coaching for fat people” they say “Coaching for people who want to be thinner.” I love you whatever shape you are, but that’s the difference between who the viewer is now versus who they are inspired to become. This answer allows for some hyperbole because it’s meant to speak to someone at an emotional level.
  • Social proof showing that your coaching works. These tend to be your testimonials, but you also want to include a little bit of your own story if your story is impressive. At some point while viewing your social proof, the client switches from answering the question of “Do I want this?” to “Will this work?”
  • How does the coaching work. At this point, the client has moved from evaluating whether they want this to checking that they would be making a good purchase. Are they getting good value? Is it reasonable to assume your method works?

Your Exercise

Your job is to get feedback and then make adjustments.

  1. Ask someone to view your profile and tell you in their own words what you coach.
  2. Ask them about inspiration. What changes might a person expect if they hired you?
  3. Ask them if there is anything on the page that makes them believe this might actually work. They might talk about social proof, but they might also talk about the how-to.
  4. Wrestle with the feedback and try making some changes. Step four is hard.