Testimonials

Nic Grams, Financial Advisor, Northwestern Mutual

Brent,

Hey man, thank you for the kind words and making me well up! I couldn’t appreciate all that you’ve done for me more. Many, many great conversations over the years and can’t wait to see what the future brings to you. You’re a solid guy that’ll achieve some amazing things!

You presented what you do and how you help at one of your workshops at our office. Right away I knew it was something I needed to do to continue to grow and not be average.

Ultimately, I truly felt you saw something in me that you identified with and felt you could take me to the next level. Similar values and mindsets helped us understand each other to have real conversations.

You always continued to dig deep in our conversations and find out what I truly needed to do to breakthrough in an area I was struggling with.  Meaning, you are focused on continued personal and professional growth, you continued to share things with me you were working on that you thought I could benefit as well.  You were also a strong source of accountability and holding me to commitments. Personally, life throws you curve-balls and you were a great sounding board through victories as well as tough stretches. We both were open with each other and that always kept trust and our relationship strong.

You kept me consistent and not letting my mind hold me back.

You consistently worked with me on mastering the fundamentals to drive my business to a level I’m capable of performing at.

Bryan Marx, Vice President-Branch Manager, Gershman Mortgage

Brent,

I seriously can’t say enough about you my man. You have seriously changed my life forever and have taught me so much about leadership and management. It’s one of those things that you just don’t know what you don’t know. When I came to you we were crushing business but my life sucked and my business was a train-wreck hanging on by a thread. I can’t express how grateful I am for you. I love you like a brother! It seems crazy that we’ve never even met before!!

Let’s definitely stay in touch! You are THE MAN!

Brian Dague, Wealth Management Advisor, Northwestern Mutual

Brent and I met at a NM Annual Meeting in Milwaukee. I had the opportunity to sign up for a 20 minute session with a coach.  Lucky for Brent, he got me…

We clicked. He understood what I was trying to accomplish at the time. That made me believe that he was the best coach for achieving my desired results.

One of the main benefits that I got from working with him was to establish guiding principles for my practice. We also attained Lives Leaders’ Summit in 2016. I’ve also improved on staying positive, continuing to better myself and people around me, and developing these positive affirmations:

• I am a great father and husband
• I will not shy away from difficult conversations
• I will always tell the truth
• I am a great financial advisor
• My team and I impact hundreds of lives per year
• I achieve the goals that I set
• I’m building a world class financial services practice
• I am living debt free
• I am great at getting introduced to high quality people
• I am the person you want most on your team
• I inspire people who I come in contact with
• I am blessed by God to get to do what I do every day
• I am living the life I create and deserve

David Andrews

Brent, you have been a great support and coach for me for the past 3 years.   Coaching helps keep me focused and provides an outside view of what’s going on so I can consider other perspectives to get the job done.

In the past 3 years I developed more consistency toward my vision and implementation of business plan.   From 2014 to 2016 my branch production volume grew from about $57MM to right at $80MM.   Recruiting the right people has been tough and a slow process, but I resolved myself to making sure I had the people on my team who would contribute and that I could help them grow too.

As you know, I am now coaching other individuals in the mortgage business with Fairway’s internal IGNITE coaching program and continue to be coached by the “head honcho” which I believe will help align action plans for these folks to work toward their visions.

Thank you for all you have done and your support!  I’ll keep in touch!

All the best and God bless!

Kelly Bjordal, DBS

Let me open with the statement, “best money I ever spent”! My company hired Southwestern Consulting and Coach Brent Widman to split the cost for a 6 month program. I went into the exercise wanting to balance my personal life and work life more as I was headed into the final and most important income producing part of my career. I needed someone to help me find more time to become a better husband and father while needing to be effective with my rep base.

I jumped into the deep side of the pool during this process and leaned heavily on my coach (Brent) and the resources Southwestern Consulting offers. I was one of 2 Field Relationship Managers (FRM) that asked the company to allow me to continue with the program and coach after the initial 6 months until I had the balance I was looking. I’m enjoying my family and personal life more and have command of my business by working smarter and building deeper relationships with the right reps. My income and territory have grown because of this.

In the end I gained a sense of control in both my personal and business life, but more importantly, gained a lifelong friend! I continue to use what was shared by my friend and coach!

Nate Price

I can’t say enough about Brent. I had the opportunity to work with him for a year. During that year, I was able to learn from someone who pushed me beyond what was comfortable. From our time together, we increased our referrals, and made it where people were chasing us down to give them. He helped free up my day by teaching me how to calendar everything (including family/personal time). From this, I was able to accomplish a lot more in less time. I highly recommend using Brent!!

Neil Van Dam, Northwestern Mutual

Brent is extremely professional and relatable. He follows through on what he says he will do and has never even been 1 minute late for a scheduled meeting. Every time I talk with him he is energetic and positive. We have been working together for about 6 months now and three of those have been the best of my career so far. I’m very impressed with the southwestern program but more importantly with Brent Widman. If anyone wants my extended opinion feel free to message me personally.

Brent was amazing. Now that the year has wrapped up, compared to last year my premium went up 141%. Lives went from 106 to 146 (37%). New Clients went up 49%. IPS went from 27,000 to 82,000. Even PPA usage went up 66%. He also encouraged me to hire additional staff which has opened some other doors to new markets.

Jacob Underwood, Northwestern Mutual

I had the pleasure of being coached by Brent in 2015 and needless to say that 2015 was my best year ever. Not only in my business but as a Father, husband and as a person. The way he made me feel about my capabilities and the realization that I could accomplish anything.
My #1 goal is 2015 in business was qualifying for MDRT. Million Dollar Round Table. I was always good at finishing the year strong when up against a deadline but Brent held me accountable on a monthly basis. Our phone mentoring sessions were always full of energy and enthusiasm.

It was hard not to run through a wall after getting off the phone with him. So much passion and excitement. It feels great saying that “I HIT MDRT.” I would recommend working with Brent to anyone.

Dew Tinnin, Sales Coach

Brent is an incredible sales person and coach. He has mastered the techniques of teaching people how to be the best as what they do. Brent coaches people in every industry, including other coaches at our organization. He is meticulously self disciplined, detailed, organized and a gem to have on my team. He is a rockstar!

Andrew Mahoney,  SPS – Senior Sales Manager

Brent and I began working together in 2015 after reaching a plateau and really craving an inspiring mentor to challenge and hold me accountable to personal and professional goals. Brent provided a glimpse of the Top Producer & Manager’s Edge coaching programs to a couple sales teams and following the introduction, I made the commitment to get uncomfortable, sign up for coaching to excel personal and professional growth. After 8 months in the program we’ve implemented new and creative prospecting methods, established a framework for sales teams regarding time management, created a culture of becoming a “student of the game”. I’ve become stronger at motivating and managing personalities, established a cadence for personal and rep accountability and implemented new ways to manage the numbers and break belief barriers with salespeople and myself. Brent is an inspiring coach, a strong mentor and is now a great friend.

Jason Houston

Running the daily activities of business is a full-time undertaking. There is little time available to focus on growth and development – key components of any successful business. I realized that I needed help when my lists were getting longer and I felt like all I did was put out fires most days. When I hired Brent for coaching, I felt like he instantly understood what I was going through. He helped me think outside of the box and helped prioritize my time more efficiently. He also gave good perspective to my business partner, Landon Troyer, and myself. With 2 opposite personalities we sometimes disagree on what the best course of action is to achieve a goal. Brent worked well with us by leveraging both of our strengths to compliment the other person’s weaknesses. He showed us that we had the same goal just different visions on how to achieve it. The end result was that our numbers increased dramatically. The year before working with Brent, I sold 44.11 New Clients, 103.96 lives, and $139,241 premium. A year later, those numbers improved to 60.20 New Clients, 186.70 Lives, and $203,709 premium! Landon’s numbers also increased by the same ratios as well! Brent would be a great coach for anyone looking to take their business to the next level and beyond

Landon Troyer

Working with Brent over the last 18 months has been a great investment in my business. He has helped my team and I focus on specific goals, while also helping with the systems and processes to allow us to attain those goals. We just accomplished our best year ever, in large part to Brent’s guidance and support. I’m grateful to have Brent as my coach, and thankful for the friendship we’ve developed. I highly recommend him and his services if you truly want to take your business to the next level

Mark Deering, Southwestern Investments – Executive Vice President

I was looking at a number of different coaching programs for financial advisors, when I checked into Southwestern Consulting. Quite frankly, I went with them initially because they were more skilled at sales than their competitors were. After using the coaching program for the past 2 years, I am very grateful for it. My business has grown quite a bit in spite of many challenges that have come up along the way. My coach Brent has challenged me to stay accountable in my business as well as my personal life. Some of the best business ideas I’ve implemented have come as a result of our coaching calls. I highly recommend them!