As the real estate business becomes more challenging and complex, top brokers want what the celebrities and star athletes have - personal coaches. Instead of toning thighs and buttocks, real estate coaches are helping their clients achieve goals in production, time management and in their personal lives.

According to Newsweek Magazine, coaching is the second fastest growing form of consulting. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) has seen its membership triple in the past year. Many successful speakers such as Tony Robbins and Dennis Whately have added coaching arms to their training empires.

An ICF survey found that 98% of clients interviewed said their investment in coaching was "well worth the money." The majority stated that having a coach increased their "self-awareness, attain a better balance, helped them set more effective goals, and lowered their stress levels."

With REALTOR® organizations cutting back on training and time short for many top agents, brand name trainers are turning to other means of providing coaching. One popular solution is for agents to purchase tapes and videos by well known trainers such as David Knox and Mike Ferry. Another solution is prohibitively expensive for some agents - "shadowing" a top agent such as agent/author Ralph Roberts and Coldwell's number one producer - Eleanor Mowery Sheets.

Other agents are finding that they want their coaching more personalized. A real estate coach can offer individual solutions for agents to help them better manage their time, employees and personal life, or whatever each agent/client needs. They make the agent stretch out of their comfort zone to overcome their fears and help them gain strength in areas which are holding them back.

Oregon agent Sheila Gunderson was number 15 in her market before she contacted real estate coach Dirk Zeller. Four months later, she is in the top three.

"At first I thought the idea was ridiculous, but my mortgage broker, who had been coaching me about loans, suggested I give it a try," said Gunderson. "He gave me Dirk's name."

"I thought, what did I have to lose?"

Zeller put Gunderson on a six month coaching program concentrating on helping her to become a more successful listing agent. Another problem was time management. Working primarily with buyers, she felt she had no control of her time.

"I was only listing three or so homes per month and I was missing family time with my three teenagers," complained Gunderson. " Buyers seem to own you and all your time. If they want to look at a property, they want to go right now. If you have church in 15 minutes, you have to make a decision."

"What Dirk showed me is that I could change that by changing my way of thinking."

Zeller had Gunderson write her goals and expectations. Then he put a plan on paper of the steps Gunderson needed follow to make it happen. In order to get her listing inventory up, Zeller worked out an income plan - backwards. By establishing a year-end income goal, they determined how many sales would it take to meet that goal. They did the math - 15 listings per month. Then Zeller took the goals and broke them into monthly, weekly, and daily increments. Gunderson now knows what she has to achieve daily in order to reach her year-end goal.

Then the workload shifted to Gunderson. "The other powerful thing is Dirk took my greatest fear and made me work through that first," recalls Gunderson. "My fear was rejection. That is the real reason I didn't have many listings. Now I have learned to disassociate myself and think of listings as numbers. If I lose a listing or don't get one, there is another one around the corner and the numbers will be in my favor."

They started in November. By mid-February, Gunderson exclaimed, "The month isn't even over and I have 15 listings already!"

The results are all the more impressive when you consider that Gunderson and Zeller have never met. They communicate only by e-mail, fax and phone.

"We have all experienced the seminar where we get the "Brain Dump," says Zeller. "They crack your brain open and throw all the ideas in and you maybe retain 10%. Agents want more. A quality coach will help you create wealth in all major accounts of your life."

"Anyone can make more money if they invest more time -the key is someone to teach you to make more in less time, so you can spend time with your family," says Zeller.

Published: March 1, 1999

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.