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Real estate coaching professionals have helped countless agents and brokers get their careers off on the right foot, turn struggling businesses around, maximize their marketing and sales efforts, and earn business from new markets. Whether you’re a beginner in the industry who needs advice or a veteran in need of a kick start, working with a respected, results-oriented real estate coach is the medicine you need.
Agents can experience an increase in closed deals and revenue by collaborating with a coach, even in just the first year. So the question is: What’s stopping you from hiring a real estate coach today? If it’s because you’re a bit hazy on what they offer and how they aid agents’ business goals, you’ve come to the right place. We spoke with three of the industry’s top real estate coaching professionals to get their insights on how agents can make the most of working with coaches.
Julie Youngblood, Youngblood Coaching & Consulting
Website: http://www.julieyoungblood.com/
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/youngbloodcoaching, https://twitter.com/coachjyb
Having worked in the field for a couple decades now, it’s clear to see Youngblood knows a thing or two about how to make it in the real estate trade.
Aside from offering an array of real estate scripts and tools that agents of all experience levels can take advantage of, Youngblood also works hands-on with agents to help them advance their careers and learn techniques that will promote client and revenue growth for years to come.
Q: Under what circumstances should an agent hire a real estate coach to help advance their career?
A: As a coach, I believe that hiring a coach at any time in your career is beneficial! An effective real estate agent coaching professional is there to help you from wherever you are in your career: brand new to the industry or an established veteran.
Q: What qualities should agents looking to take their careers to the “next level” look for in a real estate coach?
A: I recommend looking for a coach who has done the business before (it’s shocking to me that there are actually coaches who have never sold real estate or had a license — ahhhh!). Coaches are more than just people who can help you stay accountable for your business’s success. I learned early on in my real estate coaching career that I really had a passion for newer agents, or agents doing less than 12 transactions a year.
I think it’s important for agents and coaches to recognize that certain coaches may specialize in different levels. As a matter of fact, when I meet with an agent who is out of my “passion zone,” I refer them to a coach who loves the level of business that agent is at and can help them get to their next phase. I just see better results in agents who I am more passionate about working with.
Q: Is it important for agents to work strictly with a local real estate coach or can a remote coach be effective as well?
A: I’ve got a strong presence in my local city, Las Vegas. And locally, it works really well as I know the market. I’ve also coached agents all over the country, from California to South Carolina. What I’ve found is that if you know real estate, you can coach real estate agents.
Learning the market in Nevada requires the same systems or fundamentals as learning the market in any other part of the country. The truth is the various types of real estate leads — FSBOs, expired listing sellers, sellers who withdraw bids — are all exactly the same state to state.
The benefit of working locally is the face-to-face time I get with my clients. There’s no hiding. Coaching can become a very intimate thing. Just like working with buyers and sellers, if you don’t know their “why,” you cannot help them.
I find that face-to-face interaction speeds up the trust process and allows me to really dig deep much faster. If I know why a real estate agent is doing this crazy business, I can help them stay focused, build skill, and push through when the going gets tough. That’s not possible without a very clear understanding of why this matters.
Q: What’s the one core piece of real estate agent advice you like to share with clients regarding how they can achieve their goals?
A: I would encourage agents to train their loved ones. Allow me to elaborate.
When we first get into real estate, our family, friends, and other loved ones ask the same question: “Did you sell a house today?” Imagine that you’ve set a goal of 36 closings for the year. Now imagine that every single day for a year, your spouse, parents, and loved ones ask: “Did you sell a house today?” You’ll only answer “yes” 36 times out of 365 asks! That’s defeating for you, and your loved ones may start to see you as a failure.
So, I encourage new agents entering my coaching program to have a family meeting during which they show their friends and family what to ask day-to-day. Here are the questions family members can ask that will inspire and create accountability:
- How many new people did you talk to about real estate today? (In my program, the answer must be 20.)
- Did you practice building your skills today?
- Did you conduct all of your follow-ups today?
These are much better questions for them to ask. After all, real estate is a marathon — the problem is most treat it like a sprint and quit well before the finish line.
Tim Harris, Tim and Julie Harris Real Estate Coaching
Websites: http://timandjulieharris.com/, http://realestatecoachingradio.com/
Social Media: https://twitter.com/TimandJulie
Tim and Julie Harris have been coaching over the past couple of decades — a period during which they worked together practically every step of the way to hone their coaching craft.
Now, with their own coaching firm, innumerable clients, and regular speaking engagements, the couple has made their mark and continued to expand their industry imprint.
Q: Under what circumstances should an agent hire a real estate coach to help advance their career?
A: It seems my clients come to real estate coaching for one of the following reasons:
- They are hitting a plateau they cannot seem to break
- They are struggling with how to become more profitable
- They are facing burnout and thinking about quitting
- They want to turn the hobby of selling homes into a business
Oddly, if you buy a pizza franchise, you get a blueprint and support teams that help you understand your business plan at every level — from the number of napkins to have on hand, to when to hire the next staff member, to an accountability system that lets you know if your company is on track and how it is performing in relation to others and industry averages.
When you get a real estate license, you get a license to sell houses and that is it. Hiring a real estate coach is the tool that transforms agents into business owners and keeps them growing their business and a life of success.
Q: What qualities should agents looking to take their careers to the “next level” look for in a real estate coach?
A: Agents should first understand that real estate coaching is not consulting and not a short-term engagement. Coaching is not bullying or shaming disguised as accountability, nor is it endless memorization or fast, fix-it tricks. That type of “coaching” develops dependence on the coach and “tricks of the trade.”
Rather, legitimate real estate agent coaching is about connecting with the agent — understanding where they are now and where they want to be in 90 days, a year, and 5 years and then together, coach and client, remove the roadblocks between the status quo and the goals. Coaching has to be very collaborative and individual-focused.
Q: Is it important for agents to work strictly with a local real estate coach or can a remote coach be effective as well?
A: Location is no longer relevant in today’s online, cloud-based world. Many of us have online banking or bill pay, and Amazon would not be the retail giant it is today if it had first been required to build a dozen brick-and-mortar stores. What is important is having frequent access to a coach who is constantly learning, growing, and developing skills and knowledge to assist the client at the highest level.
Q: What’s the one core piece of real estate agent advice you like to share with clients regarding how they can achieve their goals?
A: Invest in you. When you stop having the faith to invest in yourself and your personal and professional development, things can only go one direction — and trust me, it’s not forward and it’s not up. A real estate coach will help you learn how to become “more” — more successful, more efficient, and how to live a “more” life.
Travis Robertson, Robertson Coaching International
Website: http://travisrobertson.com/
Social Media: http://twitter.com/travisro, http://facebook.com/coachtravisrobertson
With a career that has spanned several top companies and different roles, Robertson has gained knowledge in various facets of the business world: from understanding of how to effectively manage Millennials in the workplace to staying on top of the latest emerging technologies.
Real estate is one of the primary fields in which Robertson has made a name for himself, however — as proven by the success of his own coaching agency and the agents he’s helped along the way.
Q: Under what circumstances should an agent hire a real estate coach to help advance their career?
A: I think the better question is, “Why wouldn’t someone consider working with a coach?” The top agents in nearly every market have a coach they work with. The top athletes in the world have a coach. The top executives in business have a coach. Even the top coaches have coaches.
Most people who think they don’t need a coach are suffering from the belief that they can figure it all out and hold themselves accountable to growing their companies and staying on track. But if that was the case, many more agents would be making six figures annually. The sad reality is that the overwhelming majority of agents make less than $100,000 each year and roughly half earn less than $50,000 annually.
I’ll put it this way: Peyton Manning plays football better than 99% of agents sell real estate — and he needs a coach. Therefore, so do 100% of agents.
Q: What qualities should agents looking to take their careers to the “next level” look for in a real estate coach?
A: First and foremost, you want a coach (or coaching company) who shares your core values about business and life. There are coaches out there teaching a churn-and-burn model. That doesn’t work anymore and it’s actually counterintuitive to how most people want to see their business and life work.
You also need a coach who can teach you specific strategies and tactics. We focus on a holistic approach to the real estate business. Some companies get myopic and focus primarily on either repeat and referral business or real estate lead generation. Our program is customized so that no matter where your business is and what your needs are, our coaches will tailor the program to you. We have a framework that guides everything we teach but we don’t fall into the “one-size-fits-all” trap that some other coaching programs do.
Q: Is it important for agents to work strictly with a local real estate coach or can a remote coach be effective as well?
A: No. In fact, I’d encourage agents not to work with a “local” coach. We live in a global economy, and with tools like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, agents have access to clients and other agents all over the world right at their fingertips.
Coaches who sell themselves on “local” being the best thing about their business don’t understand the world we live in and this new economy. Our clients benefit from working with coaches who gain insights from working with clients all over the world. They can then pass those insights on to other clients and back to the home office where we are always working on new strategies and tactics. Additionally, our clients benefit from the referral network that comes from having relationships with other agents in other markets.
There is certainly a time and place for “local,” but hiring a real estate coach is not the same as finding a dog groomer.
Q: What’s the one core piece of real estate agent advice you like to share with clients regarding how they can achieve their goals?
A: Achieving your goals comes down to this: Clearly define what you want and why you want it. Then, pursue it with relentless grit, determination, and focus and don’t quit no matter how many setbacks or obstacles you face.
As the Navy Seals say: “Get comfortable being uncomfortable.” Success can only be had on the backside of challenge and struggle. It will take everything you’ve got and require you to not just step outside of your comfort zone, but also to leave it so far behind you can no longer see it. If your goals don’t challenge you and make you uncomfortable, your goals suck and your life will be filled with regret. It’s that simple. It’s also why you need a coach to kick your butt when you feel like letting up.
