(And why training alone isn’t enough.)
If you lead a team of financial professionals, you already know: performance is uneven, energy is unpredictable, and growth often stalls in ways that spreadsheets can’t explain.
Here’s what might actually be happening—and why coaching changes the game.
1. They’re producing—but not progressing.
Leadership gets used to pushing the boulder uphill, keeping production alive. But most producers are operating beneath their true capacity (sometimes way below their capacity). Coaching helps them break through the plateau—not with more pressure, but with renewed alignment, clarity, and new energy for growth.
Solution: Unlock unused capacity. Use coaching to self-identify untapped potential and set personalized growth goals that reignite personal drive and performance.
2. They confuse activity with achievement.
Most don’t even have a clear, consistent sales process. So they fill their days with motion instead of progress. Training teaches the system. Coaching ensures they actually apply it—with consistency and follow-through.
Solution: Clarify and implement a sales process. Pair targeted training with coaching to help each advisor adapt and adopt a repeatable sales process that fits their style and which they will use consistently.
3. Their mindset is stuck in survival mode.
Without coaching, many stay reactive, overwhelmed, and skeptical. Real growth threatens comfort. Coaching helps them move through fear and into clarity, unlocking growth they can actually sustain.
Solution: Shift from reactive to proactive. Coach mindset, energy, and calendar management so they stop putting out fires and start driving results intentionally.
4. They’re leaving money on the table.
From poor follow-up to missed outreach, opportunity gaps are everywhere. Coaching helps close them—through mindset work, strategic habits, and practical systems.
Solution: Build a reliable follow-up system. Design custom workflows and accountability check-ins that turn follow-through into a strength, not a struggle. And then “just do it.”
5. They struggle with time and priority management.
Lack of structure kills performance. Coaching helps them build a framework for better decisions and better outcomes—with less stress.
Solution: Structure time around priorities. Help them create weekly planning habits, priority filters, and time blocking so they focus on what moves the needle.
6. Their relationships are transactional, not transformational.
Most can’t clearly articulate their value proposition. They default to products and pitches. Coaching plus training provides a client-centered sales system that meets client needs, builds trust, and increases sales—all at the same time.
Solution: Develop a client-centered sales system. Equip and train them on a framework to ask more questions and lead needs-based conversations that deepen trust and boost conversions.
7. They’re not using their strengths strategically—and neither is leadership.
Producers often don’t know how to leverage their strengths. And leaders don’t know how to motivate what they don’t understand. Coaching bridges both gaps—so people perform better and leaders lead smarter.
Solution: Activate individual and team strengths. Use DiSC and CliftonStrengths to facilitate individual and team-based coaching that aligns each person’s work with what energizes and motivates them.
8. They lack accountability and follow-through.
Producers often think like entrepreneurs. That’s not a problem—it’s potential. Coaching gives them tools, structure, and mindset strategies to expand their capacity while honoring their independence and corporate expectations.
Solution: Support entrepreneurial thinking with accountability. Coach them to blend their personal initiative with systems to grow their results without burning out.
9. They’re burning out—or about to.
Many are mentally checked out or actively job hunting. It’s easy to think that changing companies will solve their problem. But it won’t. Coaching helps them re-engage with their purpose, their clients, and their future—before it’s too late.
Solution: Reconnect them with purpose. Coach them through personal vision, values, and why they chose this work—so their motivation is reignited.
10. Leadership doesn’t see what’s really happening.
Toxic attitudes and quiet quitting don’t always show up in dashboards. And here’s the reality: bosses can’t coach. Coaching starts with the coachee’s own motivations, fears, and goals—not the company’s. When producers have a safe space to explore what they want and what’s holding them back—including fear of what growth might require—they begin to change.
But even more often, the real gap is this: leaders aren’t casting vision.
They’re not speaking often—or boldly enough—about what’s possible. They’re not reaffirming people’s growth or painting a compelling picture of extraordinary success. Instead, they manage metrics and assume motivation is built-in.
And that’s where performance breaks down.
People don’t just need direction. They need inspiration.
That’s the moment coaching steps in. It helps individuals reconnect with their personal vision and tie it to something bigger.
Not because they were told to—but because they believe it’s possible.
Solution: Align personal growth with company goals—and restore belief in what’s possible. Leaders must do more than monitor—they must inspire. Get coached yourself, so you can speak with clarity, consistency, and conviction about growth, vision, and purpose. Then coach your people to see what they’re capable of—and what you believe is possible for them.
If you’re a leader ready to activate more of your team’s capacity, let’s talk.
Safe, confidential conversation—no pressure. Just clarity.
📩 DM me or comment “Coaching” and I’ll reach out.
And check out some of my other blog posts, such as https://sherribartin.com/most-managers-think-theyre-coaching-theyre-not/.
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