Originally published on dotloop.com
Real estate coaches provide objective business consulting and can even provide the catalyst for personal transformations. But who needs a coach and what’s the best way to select one?
An experienced real estate agent with a solid clientele and a steady stream of income might ask, “Why would I want to hire a real estate coach?”
Fair point. With reputable programs starting at around $500 per month and a significant time commitment, coaching is neither cheap nor always convenient. Perhaps most challenging, coaching involves giving someone else permission to scrutinize every aspect of an agent’s life and business practices.
However, both newcomers and top-earning agents who find the right coach agree that the increased business and, in some cases, the personal transformations they gain more than pay for the investment. Here’s why.
What Agents Can Learn from Athletes
Professional athletes have long realized that even in sports in which physical size, speed and conditioning are critical, it’s the athlete’s psychological mindset that often poses the biggest barriers to reaching that next level of performance.
Consider Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors’ top-scoring point guard and the first player to win the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award unanimously. While his team provides some of the best coaching staff in the league, Curry continues to work with renowned agility coach Brandon Payne, running drills to improve his coordination, accuracy and split-second decision making.
A good coach can give a player something he can never do on his own — the opportunity to scrutinize himself from the outside, says long-time golf pro teacher Chuck Cook. “Without another set of eyes,” he says, “it’s difficult for a player to know exactly where he is in his swing.” Without this objectivity, a player usually takes his technique in the wrong direction, he notes.
Building Confidence, Aspiring Higher
A good coach gives their students much more than improved technique. When reflecting on two of his top coaches, golfing legend Jack Nicklaus says, “They both had the gift of imparting to their students the ability to believe in themselves.”
Lisa Archer, Chief Opportunity Officer at Live Love Homes and a Keller Williams MAPS Coach, agrees, noting that building confidence is one of the most important benefits of having a real estate coach.
Agents who are confident in their real estate coach will be more likely to take the steps they never would have tried if they simply waited for assurance in their own abilities.
A good coach can help agents reach the next plateau in their business and professional life.
While many coaches require a contract of several months or longer, this time and money investment can also work in the agent’s favor by incentivizing them to follow their coach’s advice.
Training vs. Coaching
Jeff Cohn, leader of Nebraska’s No. 1-selling real estate team and CEO of Elite Real Estate Systems coaching, notes that about only one out of 10 agents treat their practice like a business, so the small minority who understand the value of coaching have a much greater shot at success.
Nevertheless, many agents are confused about the difference between training and coaching. They are not the same thing, Archer says.
Coaching, on the other hand, allows agents to focus on what they need to improve, Archer says.
