Persona Identification

If you can categorize your clients into personas, you’ll have an easier time personalizing your coaching (it’s too easy to assume that people want to be coached in the same way that you would). Here are some persona’s that we’ve noticed:

Olly Over-analyzer — this person has made starting too hard by thinking too much, “paralysis by analysis.” You’ll spot this person because of the length of their initial answers. This method automatically breaks paralysis by forcing a minimum daily habit.
Robby Responsible — Just does what they’re supposed to do. You’ll wonder why you’re even involved. Your main job is just to manage the pace and sequencing of their work so that they are constantly improving.
Sarah Soundingboard — This person won’t end up needing or wanting any of your advice. Just reporting their progress to you lets them talk through and solve their problems.
Alvin AWOL — clients go silent and you’ll have no idea why. They’ll never come back if they think you’ve abandoned them as well. Plus, regular contact from you helps keep their goal top of mind. We have an entire script for this (and in Coach.me, reaching out to AWOL users is required).

If you’re looking for more ideas on personas, look to the world of personality tests. For example, Gretchen Rubin categorizes people into habit tendencies based on how they respond to external and internal expectations. Many Coach.me coaches assigned her personality test and then adjusted their coaching as follows:

Upholders do what they set out to do and what is asked of them. They’re actually identical to Robbie Responsible above.
Obligers struggle with internal expectations, but thrive on external expectations. These clients thrive on you as a force for external accountability.
Questioners won’t act unless they know why. You should always be pairing advice and questions with explanations of your process.
Rebels want to go in the opposite direction of external expectations. You’re more of a witness and sounding board for their ideas. You need to swallow your pride about times when you think you know better, but they want to go in a different direction.