Know-it-alls are annoying to everyone…

I think that no matter what position you hold - a real estate agent, broker, consultant, stager, etc. you are ultimately a coach to someone.

The meaning of coach (verb) is to train; to teach; to instruct; to guide; to counsel.

• Real Estate Agents coach someone selling their home through the complicated and ever changing process and guiding them through their decisions.
• Someone that works for you or with you as is the case of a broker or a more seasoned agent guiding a new agent.
• Perhaps you're a stager consulting a seller or agent on how to best show the home to achieve the best results.
• Maybe you're someone looking towards someone like me to assist you with your marketing efforts to guide you through how to best market your listings and services so that you can focus on other important things.

A big misconception of coaching is that many feel they have to know "all" the answers. I don't agree that you need to know everything. My belief is that coaches don't just teach but they instead facilitate. I'd be the first person to tell you that when I don't have expertise in a particular area. Could this cause me to not have a project from a particular client - perhaps? But I believe it opens the door of opportunity open even wider. Why?

My being honest with a potential client builds a trust. By simply referring that person to a trusted and recommended colleague that specializes in that area I have told that person they are important to me and that speaks volumes to a client. Who will they think of when they need someone to assist them with marketing, or needing another referral and even mentioning my services to their colleagues and friends?

Think back to a situation in which you spoke with someone about a particular subject - someone that touted themselves as an expert. As you got further into the conversation and began asking questions, maybe you discovered this "guru of whatever" really didn't know much at all. Did you get a gut feeling from this person that had you interested enough to work with them? Did you trust them?

Coaching, teamwork and building a trust got me thinking about how I saw all of this played out recently on TV.

Not sure if you watched Celebrity Apprentice's final episode, but in that episode, Joan River's room designer quit on her and she found herself scrambling to get her room setup. Did she quit or simply do it herself? NO! She gathered the people that were part of the charity she was raising money for and they all too gladly accepted her invitation to setup the final room for her event. Together with her coaching, they created a room they were all proud of. Because they were involved and responsible for this creation their pride fueled their energy to create a room that spoke to the judges and ultimately created a win-win for Joan and her charity.

Joan learned a great and valuable lesson. She learned just how helpful people could be when they are asked and given the opportunity. She had a team that was fully vested in this project. She had a team that was full of experts from various areas of business and it showed. Don't you think your clients would appreciate and benefit from this kind of expertise?

In the end, Joan was named the Celebrity Apprentice and much of her success came from the simple fact that she gave her entire team ownership of their creation. She didn't do it alone and she made sure she gave credit to everyone involved. She involved the right people, allowed them to bring value to her team and all their strengths combined brought them great success. Not only did she gain recognition for her charity but she got them the results they were hoping for - isn't that what our clients expect from us? Don't they deserve the very best and isn't it our job to get them that even if it means getting help from others to get them those results?

Are you open enough and vulnerable enough like Joan to ask for help?

What possible benefits might you gain by being willing to ask for help with the challenges you are facing?

Or are you a Know-it-all and can do it all on your own?

When and where have you recently asked for help and what did you gain from it?

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Ready to take your marketing to new levels? ~ Anne Marie Malfi ~ Malfi Marketing Solutions ~ Copyright 2009