Activity Coaching Conversations

With over 30 years in financial services, Phil Bender is a seasoned expert. In 2018, he founded Sea Captain Coaching, guiding over 250 clients to success. Phil emphasizes instilling core values like personal responsibility and a growth mindset in advisors. For prospective team members, he delves deep into work ethic, understanding their peak performances.

Prospecting strategies evolve with coaching stages. Early on, it's about discipline and process; later, it shifts to relationship building and targeted asks. Phil's own journey mirrors his teachings. Taking fear as a motivator, he meticulously followed advice during his early years. Now, he imparts wisdom on coaching the "uncoachable" by understanding their unique wiring.

Listen to hear Phil emphasize discipline, accountability, and taking ownership. Drawing from his life, he shares lessons from his father and his personal health journey. Structure is key. A structured day ensures alignment with goals. Identifying one's inclination towards discipline, responsibility, or accountability aids in efficiency. So, tune in to discover a transformative coaching experience.

Episode Highlights:

07:27 - In the beginning, it's all about discipline and process. Am I prepared to make an ask versus am I winging it? We do all this work to prepare ourselves for selling. We role play. Even on the phone, we role play. We go through that step by step process. Maybe somebody watches us. We do joint work. And then when it comes to actually doing the active prospecting, we just decide to wing it. We just let everything kind of fly.

22:39 - One of the biggest issues is career advisors getting in the way and basically, unwinding the training that was done. And I love them, but boy, they can really become a hindrance here because of their messaging.

32:31 - What I do when I work with somebody now is I find out how they're wired and then we make those three choices. They get to make three choices. You disciplined in this, responsible for it, or accountable to it. And then what we do is we take every task goes through that filter. And then as it goes through the filter, they start to realize, based on your comment, which is I become aware that I have this problem. I don't feel like crap anymore because I'm wired this way. I just have to deal with it. And then we set up structure for this to happen.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Phil Bender

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The Sea Captain Way for Financial Advisors

Dive into the world of activity coaching with Andy Tima and Andrew Hoffman as they take the "Coach's Spotlight" to share their fervor for empowering others through effective coaching strategies. For Andy, the joy lies in celebrating the victories of new advisors and witnessing their triumphant success. Andrew, on the other hand, finds delight in witnessing the transformation of confidence, comfortability, and conversational prowess during coaching conversations.

Sabine underlines the profound satisfaction of offering advice that resonates years later, marking this as a job of delayed gratification. Heather reminds fellow coaches that building a sterling reputation takes time, yet the impact is enduring. Both Andrew and Andy agree that nothing dampens their spirits more than caring more about their reps' success than the reps themselves. Heather offers a tactical approach by asking reps to explain their choices, fostering personal ownership.

Discover the untapped power of coaching and personal growth in our upcoming episode as we reveal the "why" behind actions and share game-changing coaching questions. Let's celebrate success, no matter how small. So, tune in to uncover the passion and wisdom of Andy Tima and Andrew Hoffman.

Episode Highlights:

03:55 - I absolutely love just being there and being able to celebrate their wins and to see their success. I'm a total nerd right up front, so I love when they are starting to see and be reminded of the ratios and all the Granam numbers and they're starting to see that, "Hey, I'm finally understanding this business. I'm finally gaining some momentum." I love just being a part of that, and that's probably one of my favorite things of being an activity coach.

07:50 - It's always nice, too, like when I've had reps that have come, they've succeeded, they've gone through activity coaching, and then these new reps are coming in and they're like, "When you're meeting with Tima, make sure you take him seriously, make sure that you show up and have everything because he's here to help and he's here to help you succeed."

24:56 - That's the beauty of the business, like you can begin again every day. And I find sometimes you can see the burden lifted from people when you say that, because now they're not trying to play catch up.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Andy Tima

LinkedIn

Andrew Hoffman

LinkedIn

Join us on this episode as Heather explores the transformative world of Activity Coaching Conversations with Managing Partner Leo Tucker, CLU, CLF, and Allenda Ford, Director of Training and Development. They shed light on the profound impact of activity coaching in fostering structure, productivity, and accountability for new Financial Representatives (FRs).

Discover why activity coaching is a promise that begins during the selection process and continues throughout the FRs' journey. Learn from Bill Beckley's retirement message, which emphasized the crucial role of structured accountability and caring support in the early years. Gain insights into the importance of standard-setting, ongoing development, and the value of having a dedicated activity coach.

Tune in to find out, as a coach, how to reduce your burnout, ignite your passion, and empower FRs to overcome challenges and achieve their goals. Finally, hear the importance of striking the right balance between kindness and accountability when providing feedback, and uncover the privilege and responsibility of being an activity coach. Remember, it's not just about holding others accountable—it's about nurturing growth, resilience, and unwavering support.

Don’t forget to check out our Activity Coaching Clinics: Activity Coaching Clinics

Episode Highlights:

05:35 - Early on, new FRs are so malleable. They don't know what they don't know. I just think having an activity coach in their back corner also helps them understand how to form a structure and productive habit. In any business, having that kind of accountability is essential.

18:30 - At the end of the day, the gate that I had to go through in order to have the life I have, it was open for me by an activity coach. And so, I don't take it for granted that what I get to experience now, the people I get to impact, influence, the generational wealth, the impact I have in my local office and around the country, all started because I made it. I made it because somebody cared about me in those first couple of years.

25:35 - There is always going to be struggle. I don't care who we recruit, from whatever background, there's going to be a struggle in one part of that grand cycle, if not more. A great activity coach shows that they believe in them, and that through this struggle they're going get better and better, because the struggle part of the business never goes away, the type of struggle does.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Leo Tucker

LinkedIn

Allenda Ford

LinkedIn

After a hiatus to re-center and re-calibrate, Heather and Sabine are back and are joined by special guest Katie Montoya Fuller, Chief Development Officer at Northwestern Mutual in this captivating episode. Katie shares her insights on unlocking success through vision and action. She emphasizes that progress, not perfection, is the key to growth.

Katie's advice on embracing a "business owner mindset" is a game-changer. Listen as she highlights the value of what one is building, the importance of productivity over hours worked, and the significance of reflecting on the "why" behind one's actions. She also discusses radical transparency and connecting feedback to an individual's vision to create a profound impact and foster personal responsibility.

Tune in to discover how establishing a strong foundation of trust can empower individuals and drive their success. Learn about Granum's philosophy on activity, which challenges the idea of absolutes and instead focuses on individual motivation and unique circumstances when you listen to this transformative conversation today.

Episode Highlights:

06:30 - One of the first thing that we do with new financial advisors is have them define what success looks like to them, because they're not going to connect to anything that is important to me, and they shouldn't. They're not here for me. What does success look like for you at the end of six months, at the end of the year? What do you want to be able to look in the mirror and say that you've accomplished? And then we make sure that's very, very clear that for the first three to six months, depending on how good you are at posting and planning, you have to know where you're at.

08:44 - I just personally believe that if you don't know where you're going, you're going to row in circles and be really, really tired and not get anywhere. Part of building out a vision is something that we start very, very early on in their practice, even just in onboarding before they're ever even out in the field because building a vision takes time.

09:28 - They were like, "Oh, you're going to write a vision." I just thought that was so touchy-feely and so not me. And then I wrote it and it changed my life. Really taking the time to identify who you want to be in all aspects of your life allows you to really be where your feet are and do the work required to make that happen. It really does help you achieve those things way faster than you thought you ever could have beforehand.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Katie Montoya-Fuller

LinkedIn

The Power of 100

How do you help reps build a truly integrated planning practice? In this episode, Sabine and Heather share the seven recommended building blocks for a planning practice and the order in which they occur. From obtaining a balanced 100 activity points per month to earning $100,000 per year in renewals, you will learn a clear, concise path to success that includes the full planning process and the Granum principles that have stood the test of time for many years.

Learn how to help your reps get off to a fast start right out of training and over time build a practice that achieves both stability and profitability using all the available tools.

Episode Highlights

01:08 - What does it mean to be a planner? I hear a lot of people say, "I don't want to just sell insurance. I want to be a planner." In my experience, that statement often means, "I really want to focus on investments." I tell people all the time, if you're only doing investments, you're no more of a planner than someone who only focuses on the core products.

09:25 - Isn't that really why people come into the business? I mean, it is the unlimited income potential. I think it just says right there, the fact that reps or advisers look around themselves and they see people making so much more than that, that it does kind of get belittled. For many people coming into this, it is a big deal. It just goes to show what the upward potential is, which makes it even more amazing.

14:27 - It always starts with the core side, just because that's what pays you. That's what pays the bills while you're building the investment side. And then the investment side, once it accumulates, by the time you're in your 8th, 9th or 10th year, your trails from the investment side are really producing good revenue for you.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Do you want to help your FRs grow their businesses and achieve their goals? This episode of the podcast features guest Kristin Burke, a goal achievement coach who helps service-based business owners make their dreams a reality. We discuss the importance of blending metrics from an organization and individual goals, how to hold advisors accountable, and different types of goal-setting strategies.

Kristin shares her in-depth knowledge of setting goals, accountability, and overcoming obstacles such as bad habits or unrealistic expectations. She explains why it's important to have clarity, confidence, and consistency when working towards large quantum leap goals. She also touches on avoiding bad habits during activity coaching in order to stay on track for a consistent plan.

This episode is packed with practical advice to help you set your own meaningful goals. Tune in now to find out more about the strategies and how they can help you reach success!

Episode Highlights

14:14 - One of the things that I recommend if I do work with newer coaches, I recommend that you have an expectation meeting with advisors when you first start coaching with them. So, in that very first meeting, you have a discussion around accountability.

21:13 - You need to have practices in place to constantly keep reinforcing the mindset that you want to, have to, achieve your goals. Confidence on our goal achievement journey is when who you think you are aligns with action in order to achieve your goals.

22:20 - I'm always talking about those characteristics of goal achievers. As I'm working with my individual clients, we're really narrowing down on that consistency piece. And that's where I come into play with the accountability or we're talking through the obstacles, making sure that they can stay consistent and execute their plan.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Contact Kristin

Website

Elite Achievement Podcast 

Instagram 

LinkedIn 

In this episode, Heather and Sabine discuss coaching scenarios and language that can be useful for different situations. Several scenarios include:

• Challenging FRs to think bigger when they are already easily hitting their goals
• What to do when an FR doesn’t like setting goals
• Coaching to 25-30 ahead when an FR is consistently below that

Highlights

06:28 - I like to know if they're competitive. That's what I will always ask. And then if they say, "Yes," I'll ask, "Are you competitive against other people? Are you competitive against yourself?" Because there's a difference.

07:26 - If they're not competitive, it might be something else. It might be they want special access to upper leaders, like more access to the managing partner or more time with their mentor. It might be additional education, maybe growth or leadership opportunities.

14:36 - A lot of it is fear and skeptical to set the goals. Not that it matters, I think this can happen in men and women. I do think there's a confidence issue there.

19:49 - That's why we focus on the things that are within your control that will get you there. And we can certainly put a plan together that will break down the activity that you can control, and you can focus on those controllables each month.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Termination conversations and experiences are shared in this episode. The role-playing continues with Heather as an FR who is not doing well, shows no signs of improvement, and is at risk of being terminated. Listen to how Sabine is being direct and honest with Heather about her activity and production levels and how she discusses her options, pointing out that it is irresponsible of them to let her continue at that point.

It is important for coaches to have these types of conversations with their reps so that they are not surprised if and when a termination does occur. They talk about the importance of setting expectations and minimums in order to maintain a strong culture.

They also discuss the importance of being honest with agents about their performance.

Highlights

03:58 - This is a business that you've got to have momentum on your side, and you were negative this month in terms of production, which actually put you in the position of owing some money back to the agency because you haven't had a positive commission run for a while. And I feel like part of that is our responsibility to point that out to you and to help you transition to something where your gifts and talents are probably better suited.

09:15 - It's an unusual scenario for a development director to be doing terminations. You just have to be direct and help people, and it's not always going to be a positive experience. You hope that it will, and I think we've gotten much better over the years at handling terminations and not just like saying, "Well, fine. You aren't going to make it here. So, you're dead to us. We don't even want to look at you anymore."

12:27 - At this point, I would disagree that the approach that you have been taking is working, because it isn't based on the results that you're getting. You may feel like it but based on the numbers, it tells us that it's not working. So, either we need to change the approach really quickly or seriously consider if this career is even a right fit for you.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Several months ago, we asked our listeners, "What would you like to hear about?" Graciously, we received some great questions and topics.  In this episode, we selected the following to discuss:

• How do you coach to expectations when no one is hitting them?
• How do you keep the right balance of activity coaching (the science) and business coaching (the art)?
• Can you talk about business professionalism and how you handle things such as dressing professional and being late?
• How to coach a person you don’t like?

Highlights

01:26 - I really believe that your expectations are what people see around them, not what they've been given on a piece of paper or what they've been told in training, but what they see around them.  

02:31 - In a situation when nobody's hitting the expectations, pick the person that you believe has the most potential to be the leader, and really pull them out, pull them aside, have a conversation with them.

06:56 - A big part of activity coaching and being a really effective coach is listening to your gut.

17:48 - It's about personal branding. It's really the deal. What brand do you want to put out there? What do you want people to say about you?

18:42 - So, if I don't like somebody, I would think, "What questions can I ask them to get to know them better?" I also want to understand their values. Oftentimes, it's just a difference in values or a difference in the definition of values.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

In this episode, we're going to role play a few pivotal coaching conversations, including the series of termination conversations that we referred to in a previous episode. We’ll take you through three different scenarios with the same rep: the first time they tell you they want to quit; the second time they want to quit, and then the third time they want to quit. We’ll also take you through a scenario where a rep is clearly not going to hit P40 and how to coach to viable alternatives. This is one of several upcoming episodes where we role play coaching in specific situations that are common to many reps.

Highlights

02:23 - You're at the steepest part of the learning curve in the career, right? Everything is as hard as it's going to be right now because you're starting from scratch.

12:40 - Understanding that sometimes when you're in an activity coach role, you don't always have the authority to make the right decisions for them, but I feel like you do have the authority to have those conversations and to be a good listener.

17:54 - There's value in somebody scrapping to the end and pulling out all the stops and creating chaos and hitting the goal because it stretches them, and they have done something that they didn't think they could do so there's value in that going forward.

19:57 - The other thing is people don't do things that they thought were impossible at one point without a team of people around them that push them, encourage them, and believe in them.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting