Coaching is about focusing on and actualizing what the client wants. Real Estate also needs to be about what the client wants – not just caring about it, but understanding it, and helping them understand it too.

What is being presented as coaching in the real estate industry isn’t. With very few exceptions, the coaching you are being offered is a training program on a real estate system to get and convert leads. It usually includes someone on one phone calls to hold you accountable for doing the work of executing that system. I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m just saying it’s not coaching.

The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.

If grinding out uncomfortable leads is what you want, then go for it. Many of these systems work well for that.

What you likely want is something else. You likely would like to have a business and a life that you can be proud of, secure in and that aligns with your personal values. Success means different thing to different people and achieving real success is a pretty universal desire.

What I love about the work I do as the leader of The Nature of Real Estate is the amazing alignment between real coaching skills and the skills that real estate agents need to connect deeply with their clients and do outstanding work.

For years, real estate agents have been taught to use techniques, scripts and methodologies designed to coerce the consumer to do business with them. It’s agent-centric – not client focussed and it’s built us the lowest trust level of all professionals except members of Parliament and used car salespeople.

The really great agents who will survive the pending market disruptions are doing something different. They are building the skills that allow them to truly understand what their customers and clients want and then deliver on that. Emotional Intelligence, social intelligence and professional empathy work together to build the trust that is becoming critical to your ability to serve your clients. It’s what a computer can’t do and what many people who are making complicated decisions about housing, need.