Coaching, Mentoring and Shadowing

Explore the Alternatives

In the world of real estate, learning from active top real estate agents has flourished as the best method to learn the tricks of the trade. Broken down, guidance from experienced advisors comes in three distinct categories namely Shadowing, Coaching and Mentoring.

All methods have their uniqueness, all have their place and benefits, but all are not created equal in value and effect.  In the article below we investigate how these phenomena’s stack up against each other and what the costs of each are, should you go and seek to commercially make use of such services.

Shadowing

Shadowing is at its essence, the modeling or imitation of someone's behavior.  It can be a powerful teaching tool if the model is a winner and if the student correctly learns to imitate the winning traits and not just any trait or activity.

By it’s very nature shadowing is not designed to be an on-going or long-term relationship. Most shadowing lasts for a few hours or a few days. During this time the person being shadowed also agrees to talk with the shadow about daily routines, skills needed, objectives sought and goals achieved.  The shadowing experience is designed to give new real estate agents an up-close look at the world of a successful real estate producers.  The problem is that there is no free follow-up after the experience and this leaves the shadowee on his/her own again.

At this time there is no organized and marketed network available to advertise the shadowee.  Most shadowing arrangements are made personally as new agents seek out top producers and arrange to pay them for 1 to 8 hrs of their time.

Coaching

Coaching is not a condensed activity as is shadowing and usually stretched over a longer period of time. Therefore coaching is more an activity that creates ongoing accountability towards continuous improvement of performance. 

Coaching frequently focuses on teamwork, i.e. the football coach, the baseball coach, the basketball coach, and the swim coach.  However most real estate coaches will coach one individual agent at a time – usually by phone - and coaches may have a client list comprised of many different agents they contact on any given day. 

This type of coaching usually provides the paying agent with 1-3 personal telephone calls of 30 minutes in length per month and one 30-minute group phone call per month.  The Coach's tool is communication and he/she usually act as an accountability manager, a think-tank colleague, and a resource for specific ideas and tasks that could drive the agent to enhanced performance. Although success is not guaranteed, the number of those succeeding through coaching is usually high.

Mentoring

The Mentor is the experienced and successful person who takes someone, usually a new recruit, under their wing and teaches them all about the business. Similar to Shadowing, Mentoring is an educational process where the mentor serves as a role model, trusted counselor or teacher who provides opportunities for professional development, growth and support.

In real estate the Mentor is a source of first-hand information and practical experience that an agent can quickly glean from and use to prevent from wasting time or effort in their quest to achieve a certain success.

Industry Examples of Shadowing

One of the most well known examples of shadowing is offered through Ralph R. Roberts Real Estate, Warren, MI.  Ralph has consistently ranked among the top real estate agents in the country and has during the last five years sold more than 500 single-family homes each year. 

In an interview with Realty Times Roberts says that he asks the shadower to gather: All their marketing material used in the last two years to list and sell houses; A list of ten goals; A few key areas they wish to focus upon; And a list of what they feel are their strengths and weaknesses.

Among the questions Roberts asks in his shadowing questionnaire are:

• What was your commission goal for this year?
• What was your unit sales goal for this year?
• How many listings did you take last year?
• How many listings did you sell last year?
• Do you charge a processing fee for buyers?
• Do you charge a processing fee for sellers?
• What areas of real estate do you work? Listings? Foreclosures? Buyers? Property management? Cash buys? Rentals? Land Contracts? Private Investment? Mortgages? Closings? New Construction? Bank REO's? Title?
• What is your average sales price?
• What is the average sales price in your market?

Shadowing a successful person, if you are able to get approval to tag along, can cost about $2,000 - $6,000 per day. Ralph Roberts shadowing fee is a $3,000 per day.  Some other people available for the shadowing process are:  The Harker Team of Dallas; Craig Proctor; and Mike Mendoza.

Industry Examples of Coaching

From Google Internet searches to the yellow pages, one notices that there is a large group of coaches available that offer a large variety of programs commercially.  Finding the right coach is of course tricky and requires researching the credentials and track record of the coaching companies.

Most coaching companies were built around the personality of one individual. Therefore one of the key ingredients is to know who will actually be your coach and whether he or she has the experience in the specific area that you need.  

Also, as coaching is based on a one-on-one relationship, it is important that you feel that there is a high level of trust and respect between you and your coach. Some of the most well known organizations that have a reputable and good track record include such personalities as:

• Advanced Real Estate Sales Coaching – Jim Gillespie
• Allen Hainge Seminars – Allen Hainge
• By Referral Only – Joe Stump
• Carla Cross Coaching – Carla Cross
• Providence Systems – Brain Buffini
• Real Estate Champions – Dirk Zeller
• Real Estate Coach – Bernice Ross
• The Mike Ferry Organization – Mike Ferry

Cost range varies significantly from Coach to coach and is based on the number of calls made by the coach to the agent, the length of the call and the “brand name” of the coach. The price range is between $400 to $2,000 per month.

Industry Examples of Mentoring

Mentors can either be in a group setting or work on a one-to-one basis.  Real estate mentoring usually takes place between a successful agent that is desirous to share his or her experiences and knowledge and those that feel they can benefit and learn from top-producers previous experiences and successes.

The type of knowledge that experienced agent frequently share includes:

• expertise gained with experiences
• acquired skills and business strategies that work
• tips to save time and maximize short cuts
• personal insights on where and how to find solutions
• money-making secrets

To gain the appropriate information and insights for a well-rounded career would however require that you need access to not only one mentor, but a large pool of mentors and successful agents, each willing to provide their own vast base of experience and knowledge.

The real estate industry is very fortunate to have the online mentoring service iSucceed, which has been able to pool together a large group comprised of many of the nation’s top-producing agents that offer their advice and guidance. They have an impressive cadre of 200 mentors including well-known names such as:

• Michael Ardolino
• Dianna Kokoszka
• Roddy McCaskill
• Terry Moerler
• Terry Murphy
• Terry Paranych
• Missy Vanderbilt

Mentoring prices vary depending upon whether or not it is on a one-to-one basis or a group setting. Cost ranges are somewhere between $50 - $500 per month. Because iSucceed has been able to effectively offer mentoring online they have been able to reduce the pricing to a very low  $30 per month

iSucceed

The iSucceed (www.iSucceed.com) mentoring service includes the following services:

• Weekly live group counseling by a top producing agent/mentor about an important industry or business concept
• Step-by-step money-making success strategies that everyone can implement in their local market
• Downloadable marketing tools, prelist packs, scripts, flyers etc., from these top producing agents
• Direct answers to tough industry questions

• Self paced online learning content covering topics such as:
  • New agent training
  • Broker management
  • Office staff and personal assistant
  • Business planning
  • Life balancing classes
  • Technology

 The hidden secret of iSucceed’s mentoring success however, is not the occasional help, but the daily interaction with top sources of information.  24 x 7 access therefore is very important to agent’s success. Without that regular interaction, agents particularly new agents, will remain on a roller coaster of emotions, discouragements, depressions, fears, and anxieties. 

Conclusion

The creative use of individual personality, the development of new habits, the growing of more efficient skills, and streamlining work and social procedures is the most difficult and yet most strategic activity in the real estate training/education process.

When individual decisions are dissected, each person's choice of mentor, coach, or shadow is directly related to the agent's personality, comfort zone, education level, income stream, time commitment, personality type, insecurities, urgency for success, and magnetic attraction towards certain advertised products or services. 

But all this said, in the final analysis, whether you use shadowing, coaching or mentoring as a method to improve yourself and your real estate business performance, there is no question that this financial and time investment will be a wise move and should directly lead to improved production and higher income.

For more information visit www.isucceed.com.

For a 14-day FREE trial of iSucceed click here.

Written by Dr. Martin Oliver of RealSure, Inc.