In this guide we compare the 3 biggest real estate coaches: Mike Ferry, Brian Buffini and Craig Proctor. Each have a unique methodology and offer a wide range of training services. Below we’ll compare their methods, prices and customer reviews.
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Who Is The Best Real Estate Coach? The Mike Ferry Organization
For training on a broad range of sales and business topics, we recommend the Mike Ferry Organization. They offer more general training in real estate, including topics like how make a sales call, how to manage time and how to improve your sales cycle.
If you’re looking for more specific training, however, Brian Buffini or Craig Proctor may be a better option. Buffini & Company specializes in referral-based marketing, while Craig Proctor focuses on print and web-based advertising. To improve these specific areas-of-focus, you need to find a coach that teaches them as a specialty.
Mike Ferry vs. Brian Buffini vs. Craig Proctor
| Price for One on One coaching? | $650/mo for 12 months (or $1,000/mo for coaching exclusively from Mike Ferry) Includes 40 coaching calls, plus discounted access to events & online training materials | $499/mo for 6 months (or longer) Includes 2 coaching calls per month, marketing kit with flyers, and subscription to ReferralMaker CRM | $997/mo for 12 months (discounted rate of $8,000 for the full year) 21 coaching calls with Craig Proctor, weekly sales training call AND weekly ad training call, 2-day private workshop, web resources and more |
| Price for group coaching? | $250/mo for 6 months 30 minute group phone calls once a week | $239/mo Coaching in groups of 10-12 peers. Also includes marketing kit & CRM | $80/mo “Inner Circle” program includes weekly training webinar and web resources |
| Seminars? | 2 to 4 day seminars across the US and CA. Prices range from $150 to $350 per seat. | 1 to 3 day seminars across US and CA. Prices range from $100 to $500 per seat. | Free half-day seminars available around US and CA. |
| Contract Required? | Yes, with no cancellations | Yes, cancellations permitted after 6 months | Yes, but cancellations permitted anytime |
| Can you try a session for free? | Yes, free “evaluation” session | Yes, complimentary 1 hour session | Yes, complimentary 30 minute session |
Mike Ferry Organization
Buffini & Company
Craig ProctorAreas of Focus
Each real estate coach has a unique methodology that they teach. While there’s likely to be some overlap in their training, they tend to focus on these real estate topics:
Mike Ferry trainers focus more on the general sales process than any specific technologies. They teach you how to make a sales call (with scripts provided) and how to communicate with clients in general. Other lessons revolve around prospecting, running a business, time management, and hiring an assistant. Internet marketing is not a major topic, as one customer pointed out.
What’s Included
Buffini: The “One2One” coaching package includes bi-monthly coaching calls, or 24 in one year. In addition, you get a lot of marketing tools, including flyers stickers and envelopes for direct mail campaigns. Buffini training also includes a subscription to Referral Maker CRM, which would otherwise cost $49/month.
Craig Proctor gives you the most time with a trainer. There’s bi-monthly coaching calls with Craig Proctor (up to 21 per year) as well as a weekly sales training call AND a weekly ad-training call with an assistant. You get to attend two “SuperConferences” hosted by Craig Proctor and get admission to a 2-day private workshop at each.
Customer Reviews
Coaching doesn’t work for everyone, so it’s a little difficult to judge the quality of programs based on customer reviews. If you don’t meld with a coach from the start, you probably won’t extract much from the program. Also, while every coaching service lists some average increase in profits by their customers, this is never a guarantee. It ultimately depends on how much work the trainee puts forward “outside the classroom.”
That said, customer reviews do give us some insight about what the training programs are like in general: What will trainees be doing? What do you need to be prepared for?
Here’s what customers had to say about each program:
The Bottom Line
When it comes to finding a real estate coach, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. You have to find a coach who meshes with your personality AND is teaching a topic relevant to your business. This is why we recommend all 3 services (Mike Ferry, Brian Buffini and Craig Proctor) depending on what you’re trying to improve. For broad and general training, however, Mike Ferry is probably the way to go.
Mike Ferry
Thank you Jeremy….I don’t know Brian well but the work he does is important…Craig is someone I’ve known for years and does good work.. I believe you hit the nail on the head when you stated the differences between the three of us. There are multiple types of coaching programs that meet the needs of multiple types of agent personalities……Mike Ferry
Hi Mike,
Greatly appreciate you dropping in! The more we researched real estate coaching, the more it was clear: One’s choice in coaching program will depend not only on their personality, but also what area of sales/marketing they’re trying to improve.
Best,
Jeremy
Rameh Khazen
I just wanted to say great article and as someone who has participated or researched all the above you are spot on. Very helpful. A good reader would do well to heed your advice on the method of marketing each one offers. Thanks!
Thanks for dropping in!
Michael
Actually craig proctor doesnt do any refunds . I tried getting refund they sent me copy of contract and wouldnt discuss anything had credit card dispute and same thing . So unless your willing to learn 5 different softwares and place ads at different locations every week and see if they work you’re unfortunately stuck . They have webinars daily and say the same things over and over. Biggest issue once they grab your credit card they then start promoting the platinum level which is twice the price . I was sincerely hoping to get a return on the first $9000. 00 I spent . It’s your basic hype and then wear you down get your money then try to up sell you. Does it work sure if you have time to place ads and spend lots of money testing the ads. All tge while trying to run your business . Very disappointing.
Hi Michael,
Sorry to hear about your negative experience.
Based on our research, Craig Proctor does not offer refunds, but rather they have a flexible cancellation policy: You can cancel at any time without paying for additional months.
Was the money you were hoping to be refunded for future months, or for past months?
If you were indeed not able to cancel and receive your money back for future months, we’ll be happy to look into this and see if the policy has changed.
Best,
Jeremy
Paul Forsberg
I had the Craig Proctor Platinum Coaching program back in 2003-2004.
We had Hurricane Charley come through in 2004. I called to cancel my coaching – they immediately cancelled and even refunded me one month of membership to help compensate for the hurricane damage.
they were very prompt ands professional.
After re-building, I used the Proctor system and still do.
Fast forward to 2017, I just began coaching and teaching others a more specific, efficient and targeted method.
Hey Paul,
Glad you had a good experience with the Platinum Coaching Program and thanks for your insight here. As with most things in life coaching is what you make of it. There are many people who sign up for coaching and just sit back and wait for the leads to roll in. In reality of course nothing could be further from the truth. It takes hard work, talent, and dedication to build up your business to the point where it starts to become self sufficient. Of course having long term contracts and high monthly fees isn’t ideal for anyone, it can be pretty tough to measure ROI from a program if you only did it for two months, or worse, for a few months followed by a long gap then another few months. Honestly I think that one of the main advantages you get from coaching are watching that cash leave your bank account every month and being accountable to weekly calls that will measure your actual progress, not what you tell yourself! In other words, excuses only work on you, not your coach!
Andee Anthony
Are you being paid by Mike Ferry? Is this just a veiled advertisement for the Ferry program? Some of your information on Buffini and Company is incorrect. There are 2 events per year that have a fee. There are five 2 day events that are free for members and that includes the members that just utilize just the referral maker CRM. The charges for monthly programs is wrong as well. Buffini TV is free, webcasts of events are free for anyone not just members. Buffini groups are free, the podcast is free. As far as begging for referrals that most certainly is not correct. If you have “real” relationships reminding them every once in a while what you do is not begging. Buffini and Company comes from a place of contribution which is what they teach in their coaching and training.
Did the person that was your source actually participate in a Buffini program?
You should properly research and verify your information prior to writing an article.
Hi Andee,
First off, thanks for diving into our article and bringing up some good points of discussion. To answer your questions, no, we are not being paid by Mike Ferry or any of the real estate trainers we reviewed. While we do sometimes begin an affiliate partnership after we write a review and find our recommended providers, this is not an example.
Next, our research is based on many different customer reviews – agents who have first-hand experience in coaching and seminars. Any quotes are linked back to the forum or review where an agent made that statement. I recommend checking those out for a clearer understanding of these programs.
Lastly, if you look carefully at our pricing table, you’ll see we’re focused only on 2 packages: “One on One Coaching” and “Group Coaching.” This is because every trainer offers a huge range of services. In order to make any kind of comparison, we had to focus on just these main services.
I am interested in fixing the review to mention Buffini’s free 2-day events for members. However, when I checkBuffini’s One 2 One membership page, I do not see any information on it. Can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks,
Jeremy