When Should You Hire a Real Estate Coach?

March 9, 2017

Esther Lee

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Whether you’re a beginner agent or one with several years of experience, here’s some guidance on when to hire a real estate coach, and the benefits of coaching.

When to Hire a Coach

New To Real Estate
A freshly-licensed agent doesn’t have past numbers to look back on or to analyze what worked and what didn’t. They’re trying to increase production and set up their business, but don’t yet have a working business plan in place, or an idea of what their strengths and weaknesses are.

A real estate coach can help new agents define and reach goals, and teach them basic business skills. A beginner looking to turn real estate from a part-time to a full-fledged business would greatly benefit from the collective knowledge from an experienced coach.

Hit A Plateau

Even experienced agents can benefit from a coach. There comes a time in almost any business when growth seems to plateau and revenue hits a ceiling they can’t seem to break. Instead of believing you’ve reached your potential and can’t go any higher–think again.

“Most people believe they don’t need a coach because they think they can figure everything out on their own and hold themselves accountable to growing their companies and staying on track, says real estate coach Travis Robertson. “But if that were the case, more agents would be making six figures. Let me 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.”

Struggle with Low Production
A real estate coach is a personal consultant who can take an objective look into your business and provide guidance on how to improve your business. A coach typically draws not only from their own personal business experience, but the collective experience of others they have mentored.

Read: Beat the Competition – Win More Listings Using Tom Ferry’s Coaching

If you or your agents struggle with hitting your goals, a real estate coach can help you find new ways to market your business, tips to better nurture your leads, and strategies for closing more deals.

An Inman Special Report on Real Estate Coaching’s Payoff showed that 90% of respondents said their business increased by 10% or more during their first year working with a coach. More than 50% said their business increased more than 25%.

One respondent explained that real estate coaches “let me know what others are doing to be successful so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.” They help me “see things clearly, help me focus, put things into perspective, [and are an] unbiased second eye,” was another response.

Leadership Challenges
Not everyone is a natural-born leader. The best salespeople don’t always make the best managers. It will likely take some guidance to transition from being an independent agent focused on nurturing your own leads, to learning how to nurture your agents’ careers and build processes to structure follow-up.

A real estate coach can provide guidance on team leadership, and provide insights you may not see in yourself. For example, many real estate coaches study and even receive certifications from leadership coaches like John Maxwell. If you sense that you may not be doing the best job leading a team, or are unsure of what you’re doing, a coach can point you in the right direction.

Even More Benefits of Real Estate Coaching

Real estate coaching is not only for new agents or those struggling with production. Even experienced and successful agents can reap great benefits from hiring a real estate coach.

Accountability
Many discount real estate coaching saying they don’t need to pay someone to tell them to do something they already know they should do. But the truth is, it’s not that easy to do everything you know you should to run a successful business. For instance, everyone knows they “should” exercise. So many people make New Year’s resolutions to go to gym more, but start dropping off around February.

“Even with 20 years experience, I still need someone to help keep me motivated and on task. [With this business comes] too many opportunities to ‘squirrel,’ and get distracted.”

In the Inman study, participants were asked what coaches provide that they don’t typically receive from brokerages. The most popular responses were accountability (73 percent), motivation (62 percent) and consulting (50 percent). 42% of survey respondents said coaches help them “do stuff I know I should but don’t.”

Think of hiring a real estate coach like hiring a personal trainer. It’s not about knowing what you should do, but about having someone to keep you accountable and provide plans and practices to do it.

A Fresh Perspective

“When you’re working in your business, you can’t work on your business.”

It’s hard to get an objective view of your own business. It’s easy to get lost in running the business that trying to analyze your business at the same time becomes almost impossible.

“My coach provides a wider outside perspective that I don’t have working on my own, and shares successes and failures of more top agents than I would otherwise be in contact with,” says an Inman respondent.

Coaches can see what’s happening from an outside perspective without getting stuck or blinded by the same things the business owner might. Find a coach with experience and has gone through the same things you are now. They can provide a fresh perspective and supply you with ideas or insights that you had not thought of.

Increase the Bottom Line

“Think of the Michael Jordans of the world, Tiger Woods, or any other athlete, artist or entrepreneur. We all need someone to look at our swing from a distance if we want to improve our accuracy and distance; it takes the guessing out of the equation.”

In that vein, the Inman study respondents reported that a real estate coach is most like a personal trainer, mentor or adviser than a drill sergeant, therapist or boss.

The bottom line is this: Receiving coaching from top-brass professionals will help you and your agents become more knowledgeable and help them provide a better level of service and expertise. Grow your business and increase your bottom line with real estate coaching.