Management Strategies for Today’s Brokers and Managers By Floyd Wickman

As we head into spring there is a lot of buzz out there from brokers eager to build and strengthen their organizations so that they can better compete and help their agents succeed more, faster than they ever could in the past.  My advice to you?  Build from the bottom up.

Why? “Pulling” your organization up from the top is hard to do – there’s too much weight.  Instead – grab that bottom 50% of your organization and teach THEM to succeed, to have good time management habits and to be unafraid (in fact FEARLESS is even better) to prospect and you’ll see more results in less time.  That’s something I’m passionate about.  Helping those agents that everyone (including themselves sometimes) has given up on, bypassed or forgotten is in large part the foundation of the programs that we developed.

It’s one thing to teach the top producers.  Those sales professionals who have their heads together, skills under their belt and have the experience and wisdom to keep learning and fine tuning.  But for new agents and those who are floundering – you’ve got to go beyond idea sharing.  You’ve got to BUILD the foundation under them so that they have the ability, like we always laugh about in our c lasses, to ‘parachute in anywhere in the world with a phone and their skills and make a living.’  THAT’S the kind of salespeople we help to create by giving agents both the CONFIDENCE and COMPETENCE to produce at a higher level.

Most self-help programs don’t work MOST of the time for MOST of the people for a variety of reasons.  One of the biggest reasons is that the lessons and activities are OPTIONAL.  That’s why, as we talked about in another blog –the first thing you’ve got to do for that bottom half of your agents is to REMOVE that option to fail.

Secondly, teach the SKILLS they need to succeed such as closing, prospecting, presenting, objection handling and negotiating in a way they can not only learn them –but absorb them and create good habits.  That’s why we teach all our courses as SPACED training in a learn, practice, role-play, apply approach.

Thirdly, give them the resources to sustain their new skills long into the future – so there is PERMANENCE to their success strategies.  And lastly, make them part of a TEAM.  Individuals with a common goal and a passion to reach that goal.

In today’s market, you can’t leave anything to chance.  Can’t trust that agents can just learn as they go or that struggling agents will miraculously rise to the top.  To turn that bottom half of your company into producers you can be proud of and successes you can share – be sure to put the above four elements in place.  And if you want the inside scoop on how we do just that – give us a call at 800-910-5351.  Building dream teams is one of our favorite things!