"Coaching takes up where training leaves off. By helping advisors apply their new skills, coaches turn the theory of what was learned into reality on the ground."

Put Me In, Coach

By John Bowen

There's no shortage of training programs in our industry. Whether you want to learn how to make a powerful first impression or build a Web site for your business, there's a program, workshop or seminar out there for you.

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Unfortunately, most training programs fail to live up to their promise. This isn't from lack of skill and dedication on the part of instructors or lack of effort on the part of students. Rather, it's a flaw in the nature of traditional training.

Traditional training is a little like teaching someone to play baseball using a PowerPoint presentation and some role-playing. The players may feel like they learned a lot, but when they go out on the field, they find that reality is quite different from the training environment. As a result, they are largely unable to translate concepts learned during training into performance on the field.

Similarly, if you're like most advisors, you find that it's usually difficult to transfer completely the skills you learned in the classroom back to your office. Because training programs may not account for the unique features of your work environment, you can't effectively apply your newly acquired knowledge.

Coaching takes up where training leaves off. By helping advisors apply their new skills, coaches turn the theory of what was learned into reality on the ground. In the process, most of the learning slippage that takes place in the aftermath of traditional training programs is eliminated.

The goal of coaching is not simply to teach people what they need to do, but to make sure they actually do it. They have someone to guide them. Coaching ensures that they practice and perfect new concepts and skills, rather than just salting them away in their minds.

To decide whether you would benefit from working with a coach and, if so, how to find the right coach, ask yourself the following four broad questions:

IS IT RIGHT FOR ME?

To benefit from coaching, you must have a strong desire to excel. Of course, all of us want to be more successful. But that desire is simply not enough. To fully benefit from coaching, you must have a burning drive to achieve. You will need this drive to sustain you through the tests that a coaching relationship will present.

Most often, the way we define success in our industry is by net income. It's not uncommon for advisors to set goals of growing their incomes by 5 or 10 percent a year. To be a good candidate for coaching, however, you must want more. Your aim should be to increase your income by 25, 50 or even 100 percent; anything less is just incremental growth.

But this level of drive to succeed is only the beginning. You also need the following traits:

Willingness to work hard. Some advisors are looking for a magic bullet—an easy answer to their challenges. Working successfully with a coach requires real effort—good old-fashioned elbow grease.

Ability to step outside your comfort zone. As you work with a coach, you may need to let go of some of your most treasured assumptions about yourself. You may need to play a bigger game than the one you usually play. And you may have to take some personal risks for the sake of your goals. If you're not willing to do this, you're probably not a good candidate for coaching.

Willingness to make commitments. A good coach will help keep you accountable for moving toward your most important goals. Almost all of us need help in this area at one time or another. But no coach can create your commitment to action. You alone must do this.

Ability to stay the course. It's not unusual for advisors to discontinue specific tactics just at the time when they begin to see positive results. They get distracted, lose focus and end up dropping the ball. The positive effects of all their hard work dissipate, and they eventually be-come discouraged. To achieve substantial success over the long run, you must be able to stick with the program.

WHERE SHOULD I FOCUS?

Coaches can help you in a wide range of areas. Some focus on issues of personal development, such as building confidence, achieving balance between your work and your personal life, creating more free time or managing conflict. Others focus on general business-development issues, such as targeting select clients, mastering technology or streamlining your business. Still others zero in on specifics, such as improving sales skills, motivating prospects or speaking well before an audience. Finally, some coaches focus on technical knowledge, such as the latest financial concepts or the mechanics of sophisticated products.

Where you choose to focus will depend, of course, on your own needs and goals. As you consider your options, keep in mind that most of us, at the end of the day, define success by the bottom line. As we grow our incomes, we see ourselves as more successful. So while having more free time or understanding the intricacies of cashless collars is important to some advisors, making more money is really what drives most of us most of the time.

For this reason, it's helpful to look at any coach or coaching program you may consider in the context of its ability to help you generate a substantially higher income. In other words, does it give you the skills and knowledge you need to be more successful?

Fortunately, coaching can do just that. In my experience, any advisor who works diligently with a good coach should expect an increase in income of at least 25 percent over a year.

There's another real benefit here: Your clients will be more satisfied. When advisors become more successful financially, it is nearly always because they are doing a better job serving their clients.

WHAT KIND OF COACH DO I NEED?

Coaching is generally delivered in one of two formats: ongoing programs (typically a year or more) or one-time events (usually no more than a couple of days). Ongoing programs tend to be expansive in subject matter and provide implementation support, while one-time workshops offer concentrated subjects and do not include implementation support.

In addition, coaching can take place in either a group or one-on-one setting. Each offers distinct advantages and disadvantages. While group coaching offers the opportunity to learn from other advisors, for example, it also tends to be geared to a single common denominator. Likewise, individual coaching is paced specifically for the coaching client, but there is no benefit from group dynamics.

It is also possible to find programs that combine individual and group coaching to achieve the best of both worlds. Advisors typically meet as a group at regular intervals (typically, quarterly or semi-annually), but also meet with a coach for one-on-one sessions, usually on a monthly basis.

WHICH ONE SHOULD I CHOOSE?

As the value of coaching has become clearer, demand for coaches has grown. We are already seeing more professional coaches who want to work with financial advisors. Some are highly qualified; others are not.

When evaluating a coach, ask questions in each of the following areas:

Philosophical orientation. What are the coach's views on coaching? How does he or she define success?

Process. What are the coach's responsibilities? What are yours? How will you work together (one on one, in a group setting, in person, over the phone, by email)?

Areas of expertise. What makes this particular coach qualified to help you achieve your goals? How did he or she obtain this expertise?

Background. What qualifies this person to be a coach? Does he or she have a track record of success? What is this coach's experience in working with financial advisors?

Business model. How is the coach compensated? Does this coach have a single-person operation, or are there other people you can also work with?

Projected economic success. Assuming that your aim is to expand your income, how will it increase as a result of using the coach's services? How long will it take for this growth to be realized?

Advisors today need as much help as they can get in moving their businesses to a higher level of success. A coach can be the answer, but you need to know how to choose the one who will be right for you and your firm.