One On One Coaching
It is imperative that you understand we are referring to people whose career is in sales. With that in mind, this is the simplest question I ever have to answer. Since this is a two part question, I will first focus on who needs a coach. Everyone who aspires to reach a higher level of excellence should have a coach. All professional business people that is sincere about growing their business. Any individual who truly desires to excel in anything they choose to do; whether in sports, work, religion, or anything that is measurable; they need a personal coach.
Part two of the question can probably be best answered with one word; forever! I don’t mean for this to sound offensive, and if it happens to offend anyone, please forgive me for I don’t know of any other way to state it. It seems that only the already successful people comprehend the concept of personalized coaching. I have been training sales people since the late 70s. I have been actively training real estate agents for about 35 years. From 1990 until 2005 I held a weekly sales training class that attracted attendee’s from various industries. In any given class there would be from 75-100 people in attendance and there would always be 8-10 different industries represented. Our attendee’s were from distances as far away as 150 miles. In many cases, companies would pay for their sales people to attend. They saw a benefit because some companies required all new sales people to attend my classes upon initial employment.
It seems that the people you really want to help, because they are experiencing financial difficulties, are the ones who can’t grasp the concept of having a productivity coach. They can’t see the forest for the trees. They sign up for coaching and begin making a few sales and the next thing you know, they think they have had all the coaching they need. They have now learned all they need to know to become successful. This is so sad to me. This kind of attitude has destroyed many potentially good sale people. We never stop learning and we never get to the point we don’t need help from someone else.
Productivity coaching isn’t rocket science. It merely provides accountability to help you stay focused on doing the things that are productive while helping you resists doing non-productive things that consumes most of your time. It is not the duty of a productivity coach to train sales people. However, since only a few companies provide real, personalized training, somebody needs to help these people. Therefore, as a bonus, I throw in training with my coaching. They get a double shot for the same price. Actually they get more than that because I make myself available to them 24/7. My theory is I’d rather help them stay out of trouble, than to help them get out of trouble. Besides, since I also work on commission, I want to help them make more sales so I’ll assist them in putting the transaction together.
Have you ever know of anyone that says, “This is all I want to make. I don’t want to make any more money than I am making right now?” I have been in real estate nearing 45 years and I’ve never seen an agent that was totally content with their earnings. When people reach their goal, they always set a new goal, just a little bit higher. I’ve never seen one lower their goal unless their goal was inflated to begin with. It seems to be human nature that the more we have, the more we want. You see, the more we make, the more we spend increasing our needs for more and more.
When we first begin selling, reaching a realistic income goal isn’t difficult. But the higher the income level, the more difficult it is to increase. This is the reason top producing sales people have their own productivity coach; to help them attain higher levels, consequently earning more income. In order to fully realize what coaching has done for you, one should stay in coaching for a minimum of two years. If you stay in the program for two years, you will never be without a personal coach again. You will thoroughly understand its benefits.
Those that drop out of coaching, as a general rule, will revert to bad habits. Their sales will remain steady for a while and then they will begin to decline. The sales person will gloat over what they have done in the past while blaming everyone else and everything for their declining sales production. After living in denial for a while, they will take a salaried job and leave the opportunities for others.
Should you have specific questions concerning various issues, please let me know and I’ll research the answer for you. I also want to encourage you to subscribe to our “News & Updates” weekly report so you can stay abreast of issues that might affect you when buying or selling real estate. If you haven’t visited my website, please go to www.AlabamaRealEstateInstitute.com and view previous articles.