Gold Coast Schools is comprised of five locations in south Florida.  Founded in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in 1970, Gold Coast teaches courses leading to professional licensing in real estate, mortgage brokerage, insurance, construction, appraisal & community association management (CAM). Gold Coast has helped more than a million students prepare for and maintain their professional licenses and is currently one of the largest schools of this type in the United States. Many classes are offered in Spanish and the online education is an area of growth for Gold Coast.

With the current state of the economy it was important to Jim and John Greer who own the company to do everything possible to give back to the students. For many years, Gold Coast helped students and alumni to receive the best licensure training possible and now Gold Coast is ready to also help to equip students with the practical skills necessary to help them to earn a living.
  
The Gold Coast Sales Training Institute was developed to allow all students access to sales techniques and skills that others pay thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to acquire.  The pairing of Ira Martin’s sales and coaching background with Gold Coast’s 40 years of training and curriculum expertise is unmatched in the sales training industry. 

Everyone who has been coached by Ira has increased his/her income significantly within the first twelve months. In fact, many of these people have more than doubled their production.

History:

Ira started in 1984 at Metropolitan Life with one suit, no money, a desk, phone, phonebook, magnifying glass, sleeping bag & most the important the desire to succeed. He began by calling people out of the phone book who shared his last name so there would be an instant bond and break the ice normally associated with cold calling. This approach worked and Ira produced more than $100,000 in commissions during his 1st year in business. Keep in mind that was $100,000 in 1984 when $100,000 was a bigger number. All of it was produced through cold calling.

Ira realized it was time to focus on getting appointments with bigger clients so he targeted CEOs of locally based, publicly traded companies in the tri-state area. He decided to buy shares of stock in the various companies he wanted to infiltrate and call to schedule a meeting with the CEO as a concerned shareholder. It worked!

During this period of his life, Ira became friendly with a number of Police Officers on Long Island & helped many of them to gain a better understanding of their retirement benefits so they could plan for their retirement and future.  In fact, he was pulled over for speeding on one occasion Ira said; “I am sorry I was speeding but am on my way to an appointment.  In talking with the officer, Ira explained how he had helped some of his buddies on the force to understand the plan offered by the Department.  Needless to say, no ticket was issued that day & Ira got a new prospect. This is just another example of how Ira has the ability to turn any scenario into an opportunity to get to know someone, find a need and solve the problem.

Ira then decided to step up & focus on getting into the world of professional athletes. Although it seemed like an insurmountable task, Ira was had a plan and willing to do whatever it took until his dream became a reality. Back then the hockey players in the NHL did not make the kind of money they do today. Ira waited outside for the players from the New York Islanders in the parking lot after their home games at Nassau Coliseum in NY.  He met a player named Derek King who took him up on the autograph signing appearance Ira had arranged for one of the Islanders. Before too long, Ira was a regular in the locker room and dispatching jobs with good pay for everyone. This unconventional approach worked so well that in the years ahead Ira went on to represent over 50 professional athletes and generate over $1 million of revenue each year.

In 1998, a tragic motor vehicle accident led to Ira spending over six months in hospital where he had 35 surgeries. Ultimately Ira's family and doctors decided it was necessary to amputate his left leg above the knee (this is far more difficult then below the knee).  Instead of being defeated, Ira took advantage of the access he had to a group of professionals he saw every day; the doctors and he went on to sell over $20 million of life insurance from the hospital bed & wheelchair in the hospital during those months.

Ira's true ambition is to teach others the simple lesson that anybody can do whatever they set their mind to as long as they are willing to make sacrifices and work hard. Ira has proven this theory by coaching many sales professionals in various industries during the past few years. 

Those industries include: 

• Life Insurance
• Property & Casualty Insurance
• Residential Construction
• Commercial Construction
• Residential Real Estate
• Commercial Real Estate
• Retail Mortgage
• Wholesale Mortgage

Ira is a published author regularly in the South Florida Business Journal whose readers are in Palm Beach, Broward & Dade counties in Florida. Many of Ira's articles have been published in: Tampa, FL; Jacksonville, FL; Philadelphia, PA; Charlotte, NC; Columbus, OH; Memphis, TN, Nashville; TN, East Bay, CA.

Ira has also been the Sales Trainer to Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce and a nationally recognized motivational speaker. 

Life for a canary in a mine could be described in three words; short but meaningful. Early mines did not feature ventilation systems, so miners would bring a canary into new areas of the mine. Canaries are especially sensitive to methane and carbon monoxide, which made them ideal for detecting any dangerous gas. As long as the canary in a mine kept singing, the miners knew their air supply was safe. A dead canary in a mine signaled immediate evacuation.

The phrase "a canary in a mine" refers to serving as a warning to others. Enrolling in the Gold Coast Sales Training Program can bring similar safety to any business person who applies the lessons. There are many pitfalls you will encounter. The Gold Coast Sales Training Institute can act as your canary in the mine and help you to navigate every scenario & even identify circumstances you should avoid.