Age: Are you kidding?
Degree, school (if applicable): Metropolitan State
Location: Denver, Colorado
Social Media: Personal Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts — and MAPS Coaching Facebook and Twitter accounts
What’s your favorite activity outside of work and why?
Traveling with my family and friends and spending time at Lake Powell on our houseboat. Waterskiing, fishing, traveling overseas or just a weekend on the lake we live on is fun for me. Reading a great book and sharing my knowledge with others.
I love life and think the purpose of life is to truly live before you die, and the purpose of business is to live that truly perfect life.
“Work hard, play hard” is my motto.
Approximately how many real estate agents do you coach? How many real estate agents does your business coach?
I lead a team of 22 employees and 124 coaches who provide one-on-one or tailor-made coaching programs, including BOLD Coaching. We have 10,651 clients.
Do you measure the average return on investment of your clients? If so, what is it, and how exactly do you measure it?
Yes, it is measured. The Keller Williams Realty International research department completes the report quarterly. Being an open-book company, it is easy to pull numbers for each agent as well as numbers for each market center (office).
We pull numbers of each coaching client and compare them to agents and offices that are not in coaching. We do not count new agents who haven’t produced a transaction. They only compare productive agents to MAPS clients.
Here are the statistics:
Coaching: Within the last year, MAPS coaching clients sold 335 percent more dollar volume, 287 percent more units, and made 315 percent more in gross commission income (GCI) than those who did not have coaching or were with other coaching companies.
Leadership: Brokers and managers of real estate offices had 38 percent more closed deals, 41 percent higher agent count, recruited 49 percent more agents, earned 54 percent more company dollar, and earned 238 percent more profit than those who did not have coaching or were with other coaching companies.
BOLD (a MAPS coaching program): This program has been delivered to more than 55,000 agents since June 2009. Out of all producing agents, BOLD graduates sold 166 percent more dollar volume, sold 176 percent more units and made 169 percent more in GCI.
Do you think some holidays are kind of annoying? If so, why? If not, why?
No, every holiday is a reason for someone to celebrate life. Life should be celebrated and honored.
Different people have different needs, but what specific business strategies do you seem to find yourself recommending most often to real estate agents?
- Lead generation: sustaining a solid lead generation program that consistently increases the number of leads.
- Tracking and converting leads.
- Protecting their lead generation focus time.
- Weighing their options, the process of discovering what works and doesn’t work for them.
- Knowing the minimum number of listings they must list each month and obtaining those listings.
- Consistently marketing their listings for more leads (over the phone, newsletters or emails to clients brochures, etc.).
- Taking time to learn skills and implement action items.
- Finding and hiring talent.
- Setting and maintaining standards.
- Leadership skills.
- Combining quality of service and quantity of those served.
- Scripts and objection handling.
- Establishing and sticking to a budget.
- Counterbalancing their life to maintain their energy at a high level.
We have a growth initiative that is strategized by John Davis, which makes building a career worth having, a business worth owning and a life worth living easy. All tools, checklists, systems and models are provided. We coach around and to the growth initiative to ensure profitability.
What are some common hang-ups or weaknesses that keep real estate agents from realizing their full potential?
Many people get into real estate for the freedom, flexibility and financial success, yet most agents choose flexibility and freedom, therefore never obtaining the financial success.
Discipline is needed to lay a strong foundation to build a solid career.
I believe a lack of consistency in lead generation — hubris born of success and the undisciplined pursuit of “more” get in the way of many agents reaching their potential. Another item is the search for talent. For those with teams, I believe they do not spend enough time on a talent hunt for great people to join their team.
How do you address those hang-ups or weaknesses through coaching?
Ask questions to discover the thought process or programming of our client, then teach and ask questions so they are able to self-discover a new way of thinking, and then give action steps to implement.
When you change their thinking, you change their world.
A coach helps people learn how to think so they get what they want when they want it.
How much does the average client pay your business for coaching every month?
$1,000
What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve faced in growing your business, and how have you tried to overcome it?
Letting people know all that we offer.
What do you do when you want to relax?
Meditate, read a great book, write, and I frequently take advantage of the outdoors with family.
Do you think coaching is more popular in real estate than in other sales industries? If so, why? If not, why?
Yes, due to the fact that agents are competitive in nature. The great ones desire to continue to climb the ladder of success. They realize that all great people have a coach.
Have you ever been a real estate agent?
Yes. I entered the real estate field as an agent in 1978 and sold 104 homes during my first year in the business through door-knocking, calling for-sale-by-owners and expired listings. Over my career, I sold between 104 to 350 homes per year with a team of two buyer agents and two assistants. Before coming to lead MAPS coaching, I sold over 4,000 homes in 18 years and had nine years of experience in leading an office.
Do clients often begin coaching agents themselves? If so, why?
Some of our clients become group or one-on-one coaches for us.
Do your coaches typically have coaches themselves? If not, why?
All of them do. I believe you’ve got to be willing to drink the water you sell.
Why would you ever have someone pay you for something you are not willing to pay for?
How do you help others improve when you are not willing to improve yourself?
How should real estate agents measure success?
I’ve always been taught that success is the realization of a worthy goal. So if you have a worthy goal and you make it, then you are a success.
Some measure it by customer service, others by money made, and others by deals closed. The smart ones run it like a business and measure it by the money they net.
