Get to Know the Coaches: Bruce Keith Coaching and Seminars

by justsellhomes | Nov 14, 2016 | General, Uncategorized

Next up in the Get to know the Coaches series is Bruce Keith of Bruce Keith Coaching and Seminars. Thank you to Bruce for participating!

 

Without further ado; here’s the interview with Bruce Keith!

 

How would you describe your coaching?

 

We are a Sales Coaching company specializing in real estate sales – working with licensed Salespeople and Brokers.

 

What makes someone “coach-able”?

 

Coachability is a rather nebulous characteristic – it all boils down to a motivation to succeed.

Everyone says they are motivated until it’s time to start “paying the price”

of being consistent, being held accountable, and being open to change.

 

 

Those that are coachable typically understand that there is a price to pay for everything… A price for success and a price for failure. They make the choice to pay the price for success.

 

Do you identify more as a coach, sales trainer, mentor, or accountability partner?

 

50% of my time is spent coaching and 50% of my time is spent speaking. An effective Coach must be a strong accountability partner – one can’t exist without the other. That covers everything but mentorship.

The last aspect you are asking about – mentor – is really the umbrella that pulls it all together. In our company, every day we receive requests from our clients for additional help and support in their business (and sometimes their personal life).

 

Who should hire you?

 

Four categories… Salespeople, Brokers, Corporations, and Real Estate Boards. For example, this month all 4 of those categories have hired us to work with them one-on-one or as a Speaker at an event they are sponsoring.

In a more general sense the answer to this question is… Someone who wants to take their results to a new level. My mantra is… “A great Coach is someone who will not let you settle for what you think is your best”.

 

Who shouldn’t hire you?

 

Someone looking for a “quick fix”. Growth and change takes time. We always advise potential Coaching clients to commit for a minimum of 90 days.… “You will know by then if it’s going to work for you”.

Also, I am not a “life Coach”. I help people grow their business, their mindset, and their personal motivation. Through that approach a personal growth will certainly occur – it’s not the initial focus, it happens as a bonus.

 

What makes you different than other coaches out there?

 

1.Experience level… I have been a one-on-one Coach full-time since 1999 – 17+ years. There are very few people in the industry who can say they have conducted in excess of 40,000 individual coaching sessions one-on-one – primarily real estate. I have worked with literally thousands of Salespeople in many industries (real estate, financial advisors, mortgage brokers, insurance, retail, and professional marketers).

2. Personalization – each Coaching client is treated as an individual when we create their package. They are not taught using some training manual with a “one size fits all” mentality. I can legitimately say that the agenda for each client is different.

3. Accountability – every Coach says they “will hold you accountable”. This is not true – the most common complaint I hear from new Coaching clients is… “He/she never even asked me about my homework!”. To the contrary, I will never be guilty of that crime. I AM A TOUGH COACH.

It is not uncommon in the testimonials I receive to hear the following, “Bruce doesn’t let me off the hook – his follow-up system is rock solid and as a result I end up doing considerably more than I would have on my own”.

4. Personal Availability – effective Coaching requires more than just a call every week or every two weeks. There’s never a day goes by that additional support isn’t needed and I make myself very available for that eventuality. This is another one of those situations where actions speak louder than words – most Coaches say they will be available but are not. Client after client tell me that “it’s the extra support you provide that makes your Coaching considerably more effective”.

5. No Long-Term Contract – our Clients only commit to our program on a 30 day basis. There is no six-month or twelve-month contract. WHY? Because if what we do actually works then we don’t need to lock you in. Here’s what we have learned – I will hold you accountable to do the things you need to do to be successful AND by only committing for 30 days, you are actually holding me accountable to deliver what I promised. We have never had a long-term contract and we never will – it’s not necessary. Our program works.

 

Have you sold real estate personally?

 

I sold real estate full-time with my wife Gloria as my partner for in excess of 10 years in the Toronto area and laterally in Muskoka while we were starting the Coaching and Speaking business. In that time we sold in excess of 1000 homes in the resale and investment market. It was a very successful career and prepared us extremely well to help others do exactly the same.

 

Where are you located geographically? What percentage, approximately, of your clients are American vs Canadian?

 

We live north of Toronto and speak all over North America. 80% of our clients are licensed to sell real estate in Canada the other 20% are in various parts of United States.

 

What’s your speciality?

 

My specialty is helping people get what they want in a shorter period of time on a consistent basis. The focus is threefold…

1. Consistent results through effective time management

2. Repeatable systems to run the business

3. Selling skills – down to earth and easy to implement

All this is held together with strong Accountability on a daily basis.

 

Do you have systems and tools for your clients?

 

In a general sense, the Coaching programs are built around repeatable and predictable systems to generate exceptional results. For example… A system to work with buyers, a system to generate leads, a system for listing property, a system for handling objections, a system for closing for the signature, etc.

In a formal sense we do have an online system for accountability – all Coaching clients are expected to report their sales numbers every day to our “Online Numbers Tracker”.

 

There are several preferred supplies we recommend for CRMs, power dialling, telephone lists, etc… They can be found on our website under sales aids.

 

How long to get someone up and running?

 

There is no “on boarding process”. After the initial call to “see if there is a fit” the new client receives the Coaching Workbook (business forms, scripts, and notetaking) and we start immediately.

 

On the first call we establish their business plan targets for results and move right into setting up a daily schedule built around the individual’s lifestyle. From there we can create an individualized approach to generating more business supported by ongoing accountability.

 

What’s included in your programs?

 

Three components:

1. 30 minute one-on-one Coaching sessions weekly or biweekly depending on the client’s choice. This includes homework and accountability.

2. Included are 2 LIVE Group calls every week – 60 minutes each. Monday (training session) and Thursday (role-playing).

3. Access to your Coach between calls by phone or email.

 

What is the price range of your services?

 

$395 per month – $995 per month (plus HST where applicable). There is also a training program available at $149 per month – no personal coaching – 2 LIVE Group calls weekly.

 

Term length of contracts and cancellation requirements?

 

30 Day Agreement – NO long-term contract.

 

What’s your turnover rate?

 

Very low as evidenced by the 30 day agreement.

 

What’s the main reason people stop coaching?

 

Simply put they are either “not prepared to pay the price for success” or when it comes down to it, they do not want to be held accountable. Selling not only requires hard work and consistent performance – mental toughness must be developed quickly to deal with the ongoing adversity and rejection.

 

Can you share documented and proven results for your clients increase in performance?

 

Yes…Through testimonials.

 

Best training for a new agent?

 

About 20% of our Coaching roster are new agents. So the first answer would be one on one Coaching. The second answer would be to invest in our “All the Right Answers” eight week training package available on our website under “products”.

 

Do you hold any designations?

 

No, but

1. One of my clients told me that I have a “PhD in Sales”. I suppose that’s true after in excess of 40 years selling (15+ years corporate at IBM Canada and 27 years in real estate/17 as a coach).

2. Recently identified by Inman News as one of the “25 BEST Coaches in the Real Estate Business”.

 

Anything else you’d like to add?

 

Motivational and Engaging Speaker – 50% of my time is spent on the road conducting Seminars based around selling skills and running a successful sales practice

Numerous supporting Sales Training Products Including the very popular “All the Right Words” Scripts and Dialogues Package for real estate sales professionals

Published author – “NEXT! Sales Strategies for Real Estate Sales People – Volume I and “NEXT! 101 Sales Techniques for Sales Professionals – Volume II”

Contributing Editor – REM Magazine, Landvoice, Inman News, RE/MAX Integra, and IXACT Contact on an ongoing basis.

The Big Guide to Facebook Audiences for Real Estate

by justsellhomes | Nov 11, 2016 | General, Uncategorized

Choosing the right audience for your Facebook ad can be the make or break factor in its success. Much of the time spent creating ads can an should be focused on the audience. This can be just as important as the creative itself.

Let’s take a look at all the different options for your Facebook audiences.

People who like your Page

This is a very fast and simple way to target your ads, just to people who have liked your page. Whether or not you use this method really depends on who likes your page. If you have thousands of people who like your page then it may be worth it. If its only 100-300 then you need to think about who they are. For starters, thats a small group to send an ad out too, and how many of them are close friends and family that you don’t need to advertise to as much?

As well, if you’re a popular agent in your area, then it may just be a lot of other agents liking your page. You need to take a look at who likes your page and decide if you actually want to spend money marketing to them. 80-90% of real estate agent pages I look at its probably better to not run campaigns to the people who like the page.

Friends of People who like your page

Running an ad to friends of people who like your page is a great way to add social proof. Each ad you run shows that your friends like the page. So if my friend “John Smith” was seeing ad run to friends of mine. It would show above the ad “Andrew Fogliato likes ____________”. Its a good way to peak the interest of potential clients a little bit more as its a silent endorsement of the page. This is also way you shouldn’t like another agents page.

Similar to people who like your page. You need to take a look at who likes your page. Are they people who have networks you want to target? Are they people who you want to make it look like they are endorsing you?

If you aren’t sure then run a small test at $5/day for up to a week and see what kind of results you get.

Cold Audience

A cold audience is one who has no connection to you whatsoever. You are targeting based on location, demographics and interests. You are going to narrow it down to try and get them to engage with your ad.

With a cold audience you need to spend a little extra time building trust. The further you can narrow your audience to a specific group the more likely they are to respond. A big mistake people make is making a cold audience too large to try and capture everybody. By narrowing the audience down and tailoring a message to the group it will resonate with them more.

For example, instead of targeting buyers try targeting first time buyers, or investors, or those looking to buy a bigger home. You know people with a growing family will need a bigger home so you can target by people who are parents.

Target by Customer Information

Creating a Custom Audience on Facebook can really take your marketing to the next level. This allows you to curate your perfect audience. It does take a little more work though. The first is to target people already on your list. The average email open rate for real estate emails is only 19%. By uploading your list to Facebook you can target messages to a larger portion of the list.

The benefit of this is they are more likely to interact with your content. This is one of the warmest audiences you can have. They’ve already interacted with you at some point so you have their contact information. You can also use this to segment your list.

For example, if I had a lot of leads looking in the first time buyer price range I’d add them to a list and when I have content or a listing specifically related to them I’d target the ads to them that way. I’d do the same for all the different price ranges and demographics in my community. Then as you get more leads over time you can keep adding to the custom list.

Target by Website Traffic

Facebook has a pixel that you can embed on your website. When you ask Facebook to create the Pixel for you all you have to do is embed it on your site, a simple copy and paste. If you aren’t sure how to do it then send the code to whoever runs your website and they can do it quite easily.

Once the code is embedded on your website it will start monitoring who comes to your website and then tracks them back to Facebook. Now you can start targeting them specifically with ads. Someone who has been to your website is a much warmer audience.

You can even take it one step further with the pixel and target people who came to specific pages on your site. Did you write a blog post about a school in a specific part of town? Now you can target anyone who read that article with ads about buying a home in that school district. You can target anyone who looked at a specific listing with updates about that listing. The ability to get creative with this is massive.

Even if you aren’t going to run ads for a while get the pixel installed on your site so you can start building the size of the list with people coming to your site. Worst case you never end up using it but its good to have the option there.

Pro Tip: Do you share articles and posts from other websites than your own? Use snip.ly and you can have that article shared with a pixel on it. So you could theoretically share an article from a major news outlet and then retarget anyone who clicked through your link and read it. 

Target by Engagement on Facebook

Do you have videos in your marketing plan? If you do then you should definitely upload them directly to Facebook. Then go into your custom audiences and build audiences based on people who have actually watched your video.  You can decide based on how much of your videos people actually watched.

This is a huge opportunity for agents. Usually retargeting has to be done by people leaving Facebook and being hit with a pixel. Now it can be based on the video content on Facebook they are engaging with. Next time you create a video tour of one of your listings you can retarget people who watched it with updates on the property like a price change, or a sold campaign. You can also retarget with additional properties in the same price range since you now know the range they’re interested in.

You can target based on the amount of your videos that they watched too. Someone who watches 95% of your video is a lot more likely to engage or opt in on your next offering than somebody who only watched 3 seconds. Your options for adding someone to an audience is anyone who has watched at least 3 seconds, 10 seconds, 25%, 50%, 75%, or 95% of one of your videos.

Lookalike Audience

Once you’ve created custom audiences you have a new option; the lookalike audience. Facebook collects reams of data on all its users. By analyzing the data they are able to learn a lot about who you are. Then they can analyze trends in the data and then identify patterns. When you ask Facebook to create a lookalike audience based on one of your other audiences they will search through the data and find people the most like them.

How can you use this? Upload a list of your past clients, feel free to not include clients you disliked, and have Facebook create an audience of people who are similar to your past clients. This will improve the chances that the leads you end up getting are people that you will enjoy working with. Even ones more likely to opt-in to your offers as well. This means a lower cost per lead.

The ultimate goal of using the power of Facebook audiences is to target them with a highly specific message that resonates. By doing this you’ll get more opt-ins and lower the cost of your advertising. By not taking advantage of everything Facebook has to offer in their ad platform. you’re doing your business a disservice.

Get to Know the Coaches: Kathleen Black Coaching & Consulting

by justsellhomes | Oct 24, 2016 | General, Uncategorized

Today we take a look at the next instalment of Get to Know the Coaches with none other than Kathleen Black of Kathleen Black Coaching & Consulting.

A big thank you to Kathleen for taking the time to answer in depth!

How would you describe your coaching?

We are the leading Team Development coaching and consulting company in Canada. We use a customized client-first approach for each and every team to accomplish their business building goals. These goals could be to establish a partnership, build a boutique team, or build a mega team. In order to do that, you will need the overall structurer that our coaching can provide; hiring, recruiting, and compensation. We are able to share more with our clients because our content isn’t limited to only how a single team has become successful, but how the 100’s of teams we have personally coached over the past 8 years found their own levels of success.  Much like investing in a franchise, we provide access to all systems, tools, and resources to leverage and grow your business. We work with clients to customize and implement these strategies.

Team Building is more than just numbers. We work with you to build leadership skills which foster a culture of excellence and achievement. This alone is a disruption of the average Real Estate mindset. While others look towards profit alone, we look to invest in leaders, raising our industry as a whole, and our level of professionalism. With this model, we also expand your options for a stand-alone sale-worthy business.

What makes someone “coach-able”?

From all possible characteristics, a “Growth Mindset” is the most distinctive trait in our top achievers and top producing teams overall. Coaching is a disruption of your current way of seeing and working with the world and the opportunities available to you. If you are not open to new thoughts, ideas, and techniques, coaching can be unsettling. I would also add, that being coach-able is one thing, and being successful is yet another. To find success in your business from coaching, you must focus and execute consistently knowing that small daily changes create massive growth. The best ideas are worthless to a closed mind.

Do you identify more as a coach, sales trainer, mentor, or accountability partner?

The foundation of all that we teach, live, and do at Kathleen Black Coaching & Consulting is based in a Consultant’s Approach. We believe in collaborative environments specifically focused on relentlessly leveraging your top talents. Together we help you create a valued legacy for your future.

Who should hire you?

The Idealists who look to raise our industry and disrupt the notion that Real Estate is a cold sales based business. We look to work with those revolutionizing Real Estate toward the level of professionalism it deserves. Those interested in creating hubs of excellence founded in mastery, leverage, and systems towards providing superior services to their clients.

Who shouldn’t hire you?

The compliant, complacent, the comfortable. Those asleep to their own potential with no desire of awakening.

What makes you different than other coaches out there?

We focus on potential and performance for life overall. Our business is one outlet of ourselves. Our focus is to have our business as one aspect of a very successful life. We have proven systems that can take any business to the next level, but we look at ways to customize those systems into your business not force them upon you.

Have you sold real estate personally?

Yes. I signed 13 Buyer Representation Agreements my first full month in the business. I had two young children and found the harmony in selling up to 60 homes with two evenings and only one weekend day a week (plus school hours of course). Later, I transitioned into coaching full time while maintaining my sales numbers. I would not recommend doing two full time roles at once, but find we are often more efficient with time limitations opposed to an open schedule.

Where are you located? What percentage of your clients are American vs Canadian?

We are located east of the Toronto, and have clientele across Canada and into the United States. Our team coaching is 95% Canadian at this time. We have increasing demand to enter the US market and did choose to make that expansion this year.

What’s your speciality?

Team Development

For far too long, too many people have sneered at the word “team”. In order to have success, the team you are a part of needs to work together in order to create a positive experience for your clients. A so called ‘Independent Real Estate Salesperson’ doesn’t do it alone, they have a broker, reception staff, mortgage people, sign installers, home stagers… Everyone is a part of a team. How you work with that team defines your success and your ability to leverage that team controls the level of success you can ultimately achieve.

Do you have systems for your clients? 3rd party or in house?

Yes we provide all systems, either in house, or via third party based on the consistent success and feedback of our clients leveraging those services

What’s your on-boarding process like? How long to get someone up and running?

We have all potential clients complete a thorough assessment for various aspects of their business or team, a personality profile is completed for all team members, and recommendations are made for a coaching process and frequency with our services. From there, it would depend on the client’s needs and goals for execution time. The client’s ability to focus and implement then become the major factor to timelines.

What’s included in your programs?

Coaching time with our Experienced Team Development Coaches, Membership in Canada’s largest Real Estate Team Network, Email access to coach, Webcasts (60+), Flip Scripts (lead conversion coaching every other week), Lead Conversion Development Creation & Tracking, Personality Assessment, Custom Created Compensation Structure for Team Members, Baseline Conversions and Tracking from the 100’s of teams we have worked with creating tried, tested and true systems, Ticket(s) to the Ultimate Team Summit, and all resources for every aspect of team development from 25 deals to 1000+.

What is the price range of your services?

This varies greatly based on your needs. Flip Scripts starts at $49 a month all the way to our top teams investing $3200+ monthly to ensure consistent growth and full support for Team Leader and all Departments.

Term length of contracts and cancellation requirements?

We offer both month to month options, and annual contracts. We only require 30 days notice to cancel a coaching spot.

What’s your turnover rate?

Minimal with our Top Team Coaches. We bring clients remaining with us since 2009 to current.  If a client requires a change to support their net phase in growth, we support them. If we reach a goal and increase their business, our track record stands. Not everyone approaches our company to fulfill long term goals. We have many clients who have taken a break and returned to our services also.

What’s the main reason people stop coaching?

Lack of vision as to where they are going and why. When we are disconnected to our why, our commitments waiver, which leads to lack of action and diminished results.

Can you share documented and proven results for your clients’ increase in performance?

Absolutely, currently we provide a small sample of testimonials from VIP Speakers at the Ultimate Team Summit and also under success stories on our main website. When we started out in coaching the goal was to cast a vision of what we were capable of creating with our clients. We are proud to now have the evidence and results of what we have built, and continue to do so.

Best training for a new agent?

I spent several years refining and building the Elite Business Builder Training Series. This group coaching program provides 5 levels, each offering 9 sessions for 2.5 to 3 hours in duration. These levels provide a foundation for mindset and offer the systems in use by the top teams in Canada. This program was designed to start at the top of what is possible and cater to a beginner and all the way up to a mega team leader, and has proven to cater to mass audiences who attend and repeat several levels and send team members to complete.

Do you hold any designations?

Yes, I hold a BA Hons. In Psychology, ABNLP Certified Practitioner, ABNLP Certified Coach, ABH Certified Hypnotherapist, DISC Personality Profiling Certified Trainer’s Trainer, Applied Behavioural Kinesiology Level 1 & 2, Human Potential Life Map Certified Trainer, Full Time Coach since 2009, and successfully ran and co-owned the first Team Specialized coaching company since 2010, training and overseeing coaches for practise under both companies.

Anything else you’d like to add?

We firmly believe that “business” coaching will slowly become a thing of the past. With the merge and shift of the current economic eras and consumer needs, the demands to provide not only relevant, but trusted content from reliable and credible sources is disrupting our approach to sales and consulting alike. No longer are we seen as successful for empty production, and transactional contributions. The current market calls for leadership in the elevation of our profession and ourselves.

We foster cultures of excellence where current and future leaders provide knowledge by combining facts with principles, experience, trust and the intent to provide value to our clients. Our motto lies in calling out profit as a servant all too often designated as a master. Profit is not our purpose or intent.  Profit drives an empty market or commodity conversation we know all too well in this industry. Profit is a result, not a goal.

In the era of trusted wisdom, profit is our ability to measure the effectiveness of our intent and skillset against the current needs of the market. Profit has the potential, as a servant to our purpose, to answer the question: Are we are truly providing value?