BREAKTHROUGH CASE STUDY 21: COMFORT IN WORDS NOT NUMBERS

“Writing and making my business plan is excruciating. It reminds me of getting a root canal.” –Jim

I have found that agents are either: A. Very comfortable with writing a business plan but not stating the numbers they need to hit every quarter; or B. They know the GCI level they want to reach by the end of the year and do not back it up with a plan, whether detailed or vague.—Linda
Berger

SITUATION
When Jim joined the Productivity Booster Coaching Program he had been in the real estate business for seven years and had worked at a few different offices, and never really finding a broker he could meld with.

In his first two weeks of working with Linda he was challenged in locating his drive and ambition to reach his ambitious goals of building a solid foundation in his niche market.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS
Jim’s objective in working with Linda Berger and the Productivity Booster Coaching Program was to create a solid name for himself in his niche and become the realtor of choice for his clients and prospects.

His real estate work and business needed to be a viable, productive and profitable. He expected to create an organized, systemized and well-managed real estate niche market business. Jim knew he would have to come face to face with his well-traveled old habits that needed to go. So coaching was the answer.

SOLUTIONS
Jim knew his strengths and found he was very comfortable using them. In working the weekly assignments given to him by Coach Linda he began to feel as if the process he was asked to do was excruciating.

The homework in building solid systems created challenges and frustrations. He came face to face with some of his shortcomings, which in the past would have gone unchecked, but with a coach he did not have that luxury.

Week after week Jim would come back to his coaching call war-battered and torn but more ahead of the process than behind it.

TASKS AND SYSTEMS TO REACH SOLUTIONS
Coach Linda gave him assignments that highlighted out-grown habits to be observed, challenged and relinquished. Name it…Tame It… Claim It…

His weekly assignments helped him to organize his wants and needs in meeting his goals quarterly.

The systems Jim built supported his goals and created the focus he needed to achieve higher production.

Coach Linda pointed out to him that she had not heard him mention a production number that he wanted to achieve.

In creating all the details in his how to’s and what to do’s for his plan, he overlooked to make mention of the quarterly numbers he needed to hit in order to reach his annual goals.

RELEASING AN EMOTIONAL BLOCK
Knowing he only had a week before his next call for progress, and another level of the building process, he drudgingly pressed on. He discovered words were his safety zone and hitting the numbers through his plan was another level of responsibility, one he was more than eager to take.

Jim would have fallen into the roller coaster trap that so many agents find themselves in because they are not paying attention to the real estate market’s constant shifting trends, and to their own businesses systems and action plans.

Coach Linda was persistent in questioning Jim on the numbers that he would aim to hit by the end of the next quarter. Once Jim articulated the goal for the quarter and the plan with which to accomplish it, he would no longer go blindly toward a number that he decided at the beginning of the year.

“AH HA” BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT

His “ah ha” moment came when he saw the methodology to each step that he had been taking in building his business –and knowing that he actually grew out of the last step - that he then understood the process and the value of coaching.

Jim knows from personal growth that his own discoveries about how he processes information and uses it to create success in his life directly produces results in his business and life.

BREAKTHROUGH RESULTS
He now understands the importance of the strategic maneuvering and intimate knowledge of his business.

By having his finger on the pulse of the market and to be fully aware of his business numbers and action plans, he can facilitate any changes in the market quickly and effectively.

Working with Linda and the Productivity Booster Coaching Program, real estate professionals achieve marked results quickly by understanding the process of their own change through breaking habits.