By Carole Hawkins, Contributing Writer
When Angela Territo lost her job in 2009 as director of career development for a brokerage in upstate New York, she took a dose of her own medicine.
She hired a business coach.
“I told her, ‘I’m going to open my own coaching and training company,’” Territo said. “’I’m going to sell some houses to pay the mortgage and keep my daughter in law school. There’s no way she’s dropping out of school because I’m out of a job.’”
She succeeded.
Today a business and real estate coach from Pompano Beach, Territo spoke at a recent Women’s Council of Realtors’ District 1 event about how coaching can boost a career.
A coach can help a Realtor by creating a growth plan that’s specific, reasonable and actionable.
She holds regularly scheduled 30-minute phone calls that provide personal attention from someone who knows the business inside and out.
“It’s focused just on you,” Territo said. “It’s like business therapy.”
A plan to grow listings will use any one of four strategies –– growing a sphere of influence, working expired listings, working for-sale-by-owner leads or developing a relocation business.
A coach will counsel the Realtor through the plan, chart the progress and hold her accountable.
Territo back in 2009 financed her next career phase by going after expired listings.
It’s the fastest way to grow an inventory, she said. Eighty percent of home sellers whose listings have expired will re-list within three days with the Realtor who meets them first.
“I said to my coach, ‘Just between me and you, I’m going to tell you that I’ve never called an expired listing. But I’ve been teaching people to do it for six years,’” Territo said.
She figured how hard could it be? She already knew all of the scripts from her own classes.
Within three weeks, Territo had listed 22 properties. Within six weeks, she had sold 14. She had her cash flow.
She packed up and moved to Florida to start her life over.
Today, the real estate industry is in a rebound. But, Realtors still need to work hard at their careers every single day in order to have the kind of breakthrough year they really want, Territo said.
“You must be mentally prepared, no matter what stage your business is at. Real estate coaching can help take you to the next level,” she said.
Large brokerages may have trainers, but many small brokerages don’t.
Managers provide basic training, but managers are different than coaches.
Managers must juggle coaching along with hiring and supporting agents, implementing a brokerage-wide business plan, keeping current on industry changes, assisting with listing and sale negotiations and checking contracts for accuracy.
Coaches have one goal –– to make the Realtor successful.
Coaches can identify what’s holding the Realtor back. It could be fear of failure. It could be fear of success.
“It can be that buyers are taking over your life,” Territo said. “You’re saying, ‘I don’t want any more business.’”
With a coach, the Realtor identifies the top issues that hold her back from growing her business, and makes a plan to overcome them.
A Realtor can expect to grow his or her business by 20 percent within the year, Territo said.
Most coaches require a contract. That’s because many agents get overwhelmed in the first few months and want to quit.
“I tell my clients, you’ll have a meltdown between the first and second month. But you’re not quitting,” Territo said. “If you quit, you won’t get where you need to be.”
How does she know they’ll make it? After training 7,000 agents, Territo just knows.