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.

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.

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.

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.

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. Gain insights into the importance of standard-setting, ongoing development, and the value of having a dedicated activity coach.

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.

Ready to take your business success to the next level? Join Heather and Sabine to learn how to unlock "The Power of 100". Through this episode, you'll gain insight into their seven building blocks for success that will lead to faster results. They highlight how obtaining 100 balance points, 100 lives, and 100 new clients acts as an insurance policy to measure courage and indicate future repeat sales. When you meet these metrics, you get results faster and get more positive feedback from the market. The seven building blocks for business success they discuss are: prospecting for points, initiating and closing cases of life insurance, attracting new clients, $100k premium in a year, $100k gross revenue in a year, reaching GDC ($100k gross dealer concession), and reaching renewals in a year ($100k). Learn how to make an impact, identify opportunities to increase profitability, and engage clients in meaningful conversations about their financial future. Tune in today and start achieving success on your own terms.

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.

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, and Coaching to 25-30 ahead when an FR is consistently below that.

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.

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?

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.