Activity Coaching Conversations

Heather and Sabine explore the essential topic of courage and how it plays a pivotal role in both coaching and the success of advisors, as well as the various facets of courage and share actionable strategies for building it within your team and yourself.

They define courage and its link to morals and values, identifying the types needed in business activities like phoning, prospecting, and closing sales. They also discuss how coaches can model courage and instill it in their advisors.

From overcoming objections to stepping outside comfort zones, discover how instilling courage boosts growth and productivity. Heather and Sabine share strategies like visualization, role-playing, and the importance of a supportive partner. They also emphasize the importance of recruiting courageous individuals and how to recognize them.

While we won't give away all the wisdom packed into this conversation, expect to come away with practical tips and insights to fortify your coaching methods and help your advisors build their own reservoirs of courage.

Episode Highlights

04:31 - There's physical courage versus mental or emotional courage. In this business, you don't necessarily need physical courage, but you need extreme amounts of mental and emotional courage.

08:17 - You need courage when you expect more from people because you know they have it in them to be able to see something in somebody they're going to resist.

25:02 - This is a business that's built on risk, which means it's a business built on courage. I think the coaches, leaders, mentors, advisors, every person even your receptionist, your bookkeeper, everybody in your organization can build courage and demonstrate courage and help each other demonstrate courage.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Heather and Sabine are joined by Seth Rollins from Northwestern Mutual, who shares his expertise on how best to use the technology available to maintain a handle on current and future business. He addresses common technology excuses, phone list maintenance, what technology can and cannot do, and the importance of the daily posting habit.  

Seth emphasizes hands-on learning and using technology to tell a story, not just record daily activity. The conversation covers overcoming tech-related barriers, and the need for personalized training to individualize the technology to an advisor’s needs. Most technology issues are user-related, not necessarily the tech itself.

Tune in for practical strategies on coaching to the effective use of technology while building meaningful client relationships and a thriving business.

Episode Highlights

03:53 - The other one is when you've got a new adviser who is trying to climb a ladder but hasn't even gotten out of the hole yet. And so they're just really, really motivated, and they can't slow down to speed up. And so I'm always constantly talking about the bow effect. Right? You have to slow down to pull that bow back to launch yourself forward.

05:56 - The number one thing that I think a lot of people struggle with is setting their day up so that ideally now these are ideals we're talking. You come in in the morning, you do your prep before you go for the day. And then after 9 o'clock in that old sacred phoning hour, right? You should be seeing people or fighting to see people. And the idea of that is you don't need to be in front of your computer to do it. So you should be able to set up your technology ready to rock and roll. Now the issue is, is that people don't do that, and so they wait to post until the end of the day, and then they spend an hour, an hour and a half posting. Whereas if they had set it up to go and post as they go, it would have taken 10 minutes.

06:57 - They want that instant gratification and your mobile device specifically only shows the current day's activities. And so if you're posting historically, it's not going show up because it happened in the past. And so that's where you've got to kind of balance between this NMConnect mobile app versus the CRM filing cabinet system.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Connect with Seth Rollins

LinkedIn

Avril and Jess share their journeys of growth within the financial industry, emphasizing the critical role of truth-telling study groups, mentors, and varied perspectives. They stress the importance of setting high expectations and challenges, and how failure can be a profound teacher.

Heather and Sabine highlight the transformative impact of activity coaches, encouraging listeners to realize their potential and publicly declare their career aspirations. Avril and Jess explore the evolving role of activity coaches, underscoring the necessity of flexibility, empathy, and personalization in coaching styles. They also discuss the significance of understanding personal values and aligning behaviors with intentions.

Join us for a compelling conversation filled with wisdom and practical advice on leadership, personal growth, and the power of effective coaching. Whether you're a seasoned coach or just starting your journey, this episode promises to inspire and empower you to elevate your coaching game. Stay tuned!

Episode Highlights

07:34 - The biggest thing that I learned as a lesson as an activity coach was to utilize the values not only of myself, but of our firm.

13:58 - I think that it doesn't matter if you have the most successful, motivated, autonomous person or even the inverse of that. We're being taught as coaches and hopefully we're teaching this new generation of activity coaches to be malleable in the way that they're approaching their style so that they can help any type of advisor who comes into our organization.

22:26 - You can be over mentored and you have a lot of advice from a lot of different people, but you need to find a sponsor that's going to speak for you in the room whenever you want to develop and you want to get to that next level.

Contact:

Heather Price Consulting

Connect with Avril

LinkedIn

Email

Connect with Jess

LinkedIn

Email

Heather and Sabine unpack a topic that, while often overlooked, significantly impacts every coach's life: coaching through major life events. Whether it's marriages, the arrival of new children, or unexpected trials like illness and bereavement, they explore how these events influence both new and seasoned reps in the business landscape governed by stringent market demands.

Whether you're a new financial representative or a coach guiding one through these hurdles, this episode offers a wealth of guidance on navigating professional landscapes amid personal life events.

Episode Highlights:

01:19 - This is from, it's not from building a financial services clientele, it's from managing through the one card system, which is another book, that Granum also wrote.

04:52 - a lot of times, day to day responsibilities tend to fall on the shoulders of your, the financial reps that you're coaching because their spouse, their friends, their support network, they're like, well, you're the one you've got flexibility. You can go, you know, do the grocery shopping, pick up the dry cleaning, you can pick up the kids, take them to their events and so forth.

15:32 - It goes back to the importance of building relationships with your advisors because they will do a lot for you if you have a good relationship with them, and they feel like you're really invested in them.

25:25 - When planning becomes a habit on a daily basis, it's easier to stretch it to think, okay, am I ready for tomorrow?"

Contact:

Heather Price Consulting

Heather and Sabine sit down with Jenna Hasson to dive deep into recruiting and selection and its impact on coaching. Jenna unpacks the connection between a candidate's purpose and their overall success, the revelatory power of market surveys, and the art of gauging honesty and soft skills in prospective talents.

Discover the significance of learning from recruitment pitfalls, the ideal candidate profile, and the transformative impact of activity coaching on recruiting effectiveness.

Episode Highlights:

06:32 - Talent Acquisition Strategies: "So we're really just learning to take a pause and say, okay. This is the best version of this candidate that we're going see in selection, and really just focusing on how are we experiencing them. If they have some mess ups in the selection experience, right, are we really sure that we want this person to come in and activity coach them, right, and onboard them and get them through training? Because it takes so much time, energy, effort, and money for to get one person, right, up and running. So I think it's just more of hitting pause and picking up on those red flags or those bad habits early on."

12:07 - The Importance of "Why" in Recruitment:  A big thing for me is really digging in and finding out the person's why, their conviction for, you know, why did you apply? Why are you interested in speaking with us? Why Northwestern Mutual? So we've always asked those questions and found out those things, but I think it's taking it a level deeper in  their why and in their conviction. Because if they don't have a really solid or strong why or passion for this industry, there's a very slim chance that they're going to either, a, continue on or last longer than, right, that 6 month, 1 year period."

26:08 - Effective Talent Retention Strategies: ..."every team at the end of the recruiting year, we're looking at that, and it's in everybody's face and saying, okay. Let's go 1 by 1. You know, how many not right nows did we have on the right choice assessment? How many did they do the market surveys? Did they get referrals on the market surveys? All of those things really 9 out of 10 times align, and then we say, okay. Would we hire this person again? Would we extend that offer? Sometimes it's yes. Sometimes it's no. It just really I I do think it's a good exercise."

Contact:

Heather Price Consulting

In this episode, Heather and Sabine, joined by special guest Kara Fauss, delve deep into the intricate world of activity coaching, examining how changing social dynamics and the introduction of technology have influenced coaching strategies and excuses in the field:

• Dual Spouse Income Dynamics & COVID's Impact
• Flexibility Misconceptions in Coaching
• Personal Growth Trajectories for Coaches
• Granum's Principles in Active Listening and Leadership

Episode Highlights:

11:34 - Kara Fauss shares her journey of personal growth as an activity coach since 2000 and the evolution she's witnessed in coaching methodologies.

37:10 - Kara reveals the significance of maintaining honesty, preparation, punctuality, and recognizing potential conflicts in coaching meetings, underscoring the need for intentional and impactful communication.

42:45 - A conversation about the unparalleled authenticity and energy of in-person coaching sessions, juxtaposed with the challenges and demands of virtual coaching for maintaining a high level of engagement and commitment.

Contact:

Heather Price Consulting

In this episode, Heather and Sabine reflect on several early productivity themes they’ve seen and experienced over the last year:

• Approach Meetings vs. FF Meetings
• Lives/NC Ratio
• Professionalism
• Communication and Positioning of Expectations

Additionally, tune in to hear about the importance of coaching beyond minimums and explore the transformative potential of aspirational messaging. They also share insights about the dynamics of joint work and stepping outside of comfort zones.

While we won't give away all the nuggets of wisdom shared, expect to come away with actionable strategies for enhancing professionalism and scheduling more fact-finding meetings. Listen now for an episode packed with ideas to catapult your 2024 to new heights!

Episode Highlights:

05:00 - Be really direct with people. Be confident in the value that you're providing. The value is in the fact-finding meeting, not in that 15-minute introductory meeting. If you're really not wanting to waste people's time and you're wanting to add value, then just go ahead and book the fact finder. The other thing is that it extends the sales cycle. It adds an extra meeting.

08:13 - People don't like canned language, because if you think about the approach language that you're taught in training, it's less than 3 minutes long. The whole point of it is to open the door to the fact-finder right then and there, and people don't use that language. So, then they get lost. They don't know what to say. They don't know how to do it.

13:45 - Cross-selling really is the planning piece. It means that you're putting all the pieces in place. I think there’s a cross selling report that shows you of all the households that you have, how many have all the products. I'm always shocked and appalled really when I see that, at how few households have a full plan that covers all of the things that you can do for them.  

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

In this insightful episode of Activity Coaching Conversations, Heather and Sabine chat with Justin Stoddart, the savvy CEO of ProInsight and author of the Upstream Model. Justin, a veteran podcaster and former home builder, imparts his unique strategy for building collaborations and referrals.

Learn why he emphasizes the importance of creating relationships with other professionals and how significant life events can be leveraged for outreach. Be intrigued by the concept of an advisory board and how it can bolster your business against big tech.

Lastly, get a glimpse of the valuable trainings provided by ProInsight, designed to foster collaboration amongst a million professionals across the US. Tune in to glean more insights!

Episode Highlights:

08:28 - We think because we're in a B2C business that we need to market to the end consumer, and what that oftentimes looks like is you have a large database of prospective clients and you realize that what you've always been taught is it's a numbers game. Just go through the numbers and if you talk to enough people, out the other side will come some opportunities. And so we wear out ourselves out talking to everybody playing the numbers game.

10:52 - If you treat now this professional as your client and really do a discovery conversation to say, "Where are you at? Where are you headed? What's your plan to get there? What obstacles might be getting in your way?" And then you go to work to add value to that business owner. Number one, that creates a lot of trust and credibility and they want you in their business now.

16:16 - I do think that you need to get clear on what are my life experiences that have really positioned me to serve people in a unique way and maybe focus on that life event and just ask yourself the question of who are the other professionals that are serving either at the same time or just before you that are upstream.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Justin Stoddart

LinkedIn

Email

Instagram

Book:  The Upstream Model

Podcast

Website

In this episode, we sit down with Kevin Pilz who, after transitioning from a career in 

broadcasting and radio, found a new path at Northwestern Mutual. Listen in as Kevin 

shares his journey navigating the world of financial representatives (FRs), the 

importance of setting purposeful, context-specific goals, and how he learned to manage 

commitments within his capabilities.  Discover how Kevin’s perspective on coaching 

evolved, and how it played a pivotal role in his career growth. 

Listen as Heather and Sabine share wisdom on treating financial advisors as human 

beings first, and the importance of a single-minded commitment. Don't miss out on their 

advice for new advisors and coaches, all delivered with a personal touch. Tune in to 

uncover the intricacies of activity coaching, the benefits of consistency, and the power 

of an abundance mindset. 

Episode Highlights:  

03:11 - I think you did a very good job of trying to not only help me, guide me to what 

those goals might be, but understand who I was, too. So I really think the time we spent 

together, you and I were able to build a connection where you understood where I was 

at, and you were able to push me a little bit when I needed it as well. 

09:25 - As a new rep as you know, it's like, yes, you need to do all these other things, but 

there's all these other things I need to do to keep up with it. So, it was really important to 

what was meaningful to me and I was able to keep up with.  

14:27 - The one thing that was always consistent was every Tuesday and every 

Thursday at 9 a.m., I started with Heather and talked about what was going on. And I 

think that really helped me develop a meaningful relationship because of the 

consistency and that was really nice.  

Contact 

Heather Price Consulting 

Kevin Pilz 

LinkedIn 

In this dynamic episode, hosts Heather and Sabine delve into the critical factors influencing a swift start in activity coaching conversations. They are joined by esteemed guests, Rachel Nutter and Christopher Shafer, who are seasoned experts in the field. They emphasize setting recruiting cutoffs and smooth transitions to full-time roles. These strategies provide clarity for new reps and coaches, setting clear expectations from the beginning of training.

The discussion highlights the potential drawbacks of forgoing recruitment cutoffs, emphasizing the importance of providing candidates with ample preparation time before training commences. The benefits of synchronizing the start date for all class members are explored, fostering camaraderie and expediting the onboarding process.

Tune in to gain invaluable insights into crafting a fast start in the world of financial advising. As Heather, Sabine, Rachel, and Christopher assert there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Coaching must be tailored to each candidate's distinct journey. Listen now and accelerate your path to success!

Episode Highlights:

06:35 - Having a cutoff and having a consistent flip to full-time provides a lot of clarity, not only for the new rep, but also for those coaching and just setting expectations across the office. So, I think overall it provides a lot of clarity for everybody, which is a good thing. Clarity is kind.

10:15 - I think about the perception of their community that they're going to be using to start their own firm, and if they're starting a new business and they're a career changer and it's this rushed squirrely thing, probably doesn't bode well for them trying to help their warm market, if you will.

29:07 - It's just like situational coaching. It's very dependent on everybody's situation, but I encourage at least to knock out one or two of the exams if possible prior to getting started. It's hard to keep a full calendar and to be studying and live your life as well.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Christopher Shafer

LinkedIn

Rachel Nutter

LinkedIn