Leading the Leaders
| 15 January 2010
Former Championship Coach now coaching up top leaders in Rutherford County
Micheal Burt's philosophy is simple, "COACHING is the critical factor in WINNING at anything we do!" This philosophy served Coach Burt well in the decade he invested his time and energy building the Riverdale Women's Basketball program into one of the strongest in the Southeastern United States and now as he is "COACHING UP" some of the top business leaders in Middle Tennessee. Find out why top performers recently decided they needed a coach to WIN including:
- From John Floyd of Ole South Properties
- Shane Reeves and Rick Sain of Reeves-Sain Pharmacy
- John Jones of The John Jones Real Estate Team
As you read you'll see how each of these entrepreneurs across different industry segments continue to grow themselves and their people in an effort to stay at the top of their game by hiring Coach Burt.
Leading the Leaders
Building Pioneer, John Floyd, gets new motivation from Coach
For years, mega-homebuilder and serial entrepreneur, John Floyd developed a way to produce over and over again. With an all-inclusive system for the homebuyer and homes in the price range that suit most first time buyers, Floyd quickly rose to the top of the real estate game and became one of the top players in all of Middle Tennessee. With the housing collapse of the last two years and morale at an all-time low in real estate Floyd turned to someone who knew how to turn teams around and build cultures that produce. He called Championship Coach and Leadership Expert Micheal Burt. With an aggressive strategy geared toward challenging Floyd weekly on everything from strategy to personnel, Coach Burt came in with a scoreboard, a dominant aspiration, and plenty of enthusiasm for turning negativity into adversity that could be used and learned from. It didn't take long for Floyd to notice:
Floyd on Coach Burt: "Coach Burt brings new energy, new enthusiasm, new accountability, and new results to the table for us. I knew we needed somebody and he fit the ideal description with a background in coaching and results. Our partnership has helped us re-focus our energy and efforts on what we can control daily and not make excuses for those things that are out of our influence." - John Floyd, Ole South CEO/Founder
Coach Burt on Ole South: "John Floyd is a genius as it relates to Real Estate. He has a savvy personality and is willing to make decisions that others would never pull the trigger on. He sees with the mind's eye what will happen next and always looks for opportunities to get better. I've enjoyed my time with Ole South and look forward to much success in 2010. We set a very aggressive target of selling 420 homes in a one year time period. We have started strong and expect our Relationship Management Systems to kick in with major initiatives and 'out of the box' thinking to drive sales in 2010."
FirstBank drives 10,500 new accounts and 43% growth with Leadership Coach
In the fall of 2008 COO Wib Evans of FirstBank, a 2.2 billion dollar bank and the largest, independent bank in Tenn., started to wonder how he could execute a strategy to tackle the largest retail initiative in FirstBank history. The initiative? Opening 10,000 new checking accounts bank-wide in the 40+ cities that FirstBank served. He reached out to someone who FB had brought in to speak many times on performance, leadership, and success. He called Championship Coach and Leadership Expert Micheal Burt. Coach Burt used his model and went on a 40+ city tour to outline the strategy that would lead to a 43 percent increase in retail sales in 2009 and the largest retail initiative for the bank. With a new focus on sales and a High Value System that tied everyday performance and incentives to new business, Burt challenged the leaders at FirstBank to drive a new culture, one that focused efforts in systems for new business. The investment worked and Burt's program to incentivize associates to become Rock Stars in their industry drove a new language and new enthusiasm that resulted in a major success in 2009.
Evans on Coach Burt: "Micheal has come into our organization to teach, grow, and retain over 550 of our associates and to drive sales for us. His energy and knowledge is contagious and has increased solutions to drive people to us, increased our performance toward our ideal picture of success, and personally challenged me to lead unlike any other. Not only that, Coach Burt helped us drive the largest retail initiative in our bank's history, successfully driving 10,500 new accounts in 2009 which represents a 43 percent increase in retail sales. If you were smart and you want to win in your market, I would bring Micheal in now to get started." - Wib Evans, COO/FirstBank
Coach Burt on FirstBank: "Wib Evans was one of the first people to see how my athletic background and coaching could transfer to Corporate America and one of the first to bet big on me. Our partnership has been strong and I think we've improved the culture across the board at FirstBank. I think we're going to announce new initiatives and strategies that we will pioneer in 2010 in the banking world."
Reeves-Sain Leaders turn to Burt to drive new era leadership in 2009/2010
With expansive thinking and progressive mindsets CEO/Owners Shane Reeves and Rick Sain have built a 35 million dollar business with Reeves-Sain. Shane is gifted in vision and Rick in operations and in 2009 both decided to move their leadership to a new level. With a core group of seven Vice President's on staff, Shane and Rick decided it was time to break through to new levels of effectiveness and productivity by truly training and empowering the top leadership team to lead, which freed the owners up to focus on their unique abilities. The two owners turned to Coach Burt for aggressive leadership training and to help them develop ownership of the group. Burt challenged each leader to narrow the focus of Reeves-Sain and develop a Dominant Aspiration, an all consuming focus on results that are tangible and can be measured with a scoreboard. In 2010, Reeves-Sain is partnering with Coach Burt to "infuse" his I-Lead program into the very fabric of organization and drive all energy toward the dominant focus with new leadership development, new management training, new sales systems, and new people development programs.
Quote from Shane Reeves: "In 2008 we engaged Coach Burt and over the course of 2009 he put on several one day seminars for us and I can honestly say it was transformative for a number of people working for us. There were people who came to me and said I have never been exposed to anything like this in all of my years. It was a type of professional development and creative leadership teaching that many had never seen before. He taught us how to find our unique voice and how to create a culture that would dominate strategies. He taught us how to build a winning culture here at Reeves-Sain. We did this throughout 2009 and made huge differences in the overall attitude, cultures, and morale here at Reeves-Sain. Coach Burt did a world of good for the top leadership of our company; for us all to step back and really evaluate our unique abilities; what are we good at; what are we passionate about; what are things that give us more energy; and do we have the right people on the bus to help grow the company? 2009 was the best year in the history of Reeves-Sain and without question I would give Coach Burt a plug as one of the main reasons why that incurred in a sense that we are looking to engage him in a much more aggressive way to use him in other ways here at Reeves-Sain.
Coach Burt on Reeves-Sain: "Of all the companies I work with one of my favorites is Reeves-Sain. You won't find two better people than Shane Reeves and Rick Sain. They're visionaries who believe in the importance of growing their people from the inside-out. They invest in being the best and both are strong advocates of lifelong learning, as evidenced by their ongoing commitment to The Strategic Coach program. I look forward to helping drive lots of prosperity in 2010."
Burt joins market leader John Jones Real Estate Team in 2010
John Jones' name is synonymous with real estate and success. By using cutting edge technology and a marketing savvy, coupled with his salesmanship, John quickly rose to the top of the real estate game over the past decade in Rutherford County. With his athletic background and strong internal work ethic, John ventured out on his own to found the John Jones Real Estate Team in 2009. In a tough economy many thought this could be a risky move but success and risk go hand-in-hand. To drive strong sales skills with customer service systems to build Promoters for Life, John is partnering with Coach Burt in 2010 to set and achieve the dominant focus of 350 transactions, what some would say is a wildly important goal. This partnership will include monthly time with John, the sales team, and the office staff coaching up all members on moving to new levels of success in 2010.
Jones on Coach Burt: "We are looking forward to Coach Burt driving focus, accountability, and new sales systems with our team. We are constantly looking for ways to differentiate us from others and one degree of separation means the difference in being good and being great. Coach will help us increase our promoters for life and bring an urgency to our organization."
Coach Burt on John Jones- "I've known John Jones for some time and always admired his grit, marketing savvy, and drive. He's a top performer and those are the kinds of people I enjoy working with. They're coachable and are always looking for ways to drive new results. The biggest thing I admire about a person like John is that he is never satisfied on his past results and is always looking to go to new levels. I feel like our program can help."
The Coaching Model, it's all about "Coaching Them Up"
With a background in systems thinking, combining a championship coaching acumen a business mindset, Coach Burt represents a new kind of leader. This leader has strong results intelligence and uses systems that work to drive multiple disciplines. Below you will find the model that Coach Burt utilizes that works over and over again to win. With the help of Dr. Colby Jubenville, a branding specialist and special projects director for Maximum Success, Coach Burt and staff are able to marry internal systems with external realities.
1. Recharge the base- How do we drive motivation daily? Begin with a motivational rally to wake people up!
2. Create a dominant aspiration with an emotional pull- Create a tangible number to hit!
3. Drive a theme people can SHARE together- (RockStars in the industry)
4. Build a brand delivery system that focuses on the customer experience through the Legacy Management System!
5. Create a scoreboard that tracks daily performance (...because people play harder when there is a scoreboard!!!!)
6. Build public perception by being "seen and heard"- What's the story you're sharing.
7. Sell the dream on the inside and outside- The back stage married to the front stage will SELL.
8. Coach EVERYBODY- It begins with leaders acknowledging they must be coached up.
9. Has there been a change in behavior? Remember - New Results require new behavior.
10. Winners become teachers, losers get better or get out of the way.
11. Upward mobility vs. how long do we tolerate mediocrity?
12. Automate systems so people can't hide.
13. The High Value Activity System - Weekly systems around the scoreboard that drive results!
14. Implant a "Shift" to keep everybody on their toes (What can we do to keep people awake)
15. Go win a CHAMPIONSHIP (YOU have to make a GUT level decision to GO- No rationalizing!!!
Please contact Coach Burt @ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to schedule an interview or by calling his office @ 615.225-8380.
