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Holes in Real Estate Training And How to Fill Them
If you consider your continuing education courses to be “real estate training,” you’re missing an amazing opportunity to increase your knowledge of real estate and, thus, increase your market share.
Yes, CE courses are mandatory, but they are in no way training you to be a better agent. They won’t help you to be a better negotiator, to market homes or to efficiently and successfully work with buyers.
That education is up to you to pursue. Or, you can choose not to bone up on the truly important stuff and be a mediocre player in your chosen profession.
Master marketing.
Real estate schools and real estate brokers aren’t known for teaching agents how to market homes. It’s why there are so many “list and pray” listing agents out there and why so many homes languish in buyers’ markets.
Sure, you can follow the crowd, copying what other listing agents are doing. But if what they’re doing isn’t working for them, what makes you think it will work for you?
Then, there’s your business marketing. If you are early in your career, learning how to market yourself and your services is paramount to not only making a living but building a referral base to keep you going down the line.
If you’re past the rookie stuff, how are you differentiating yourself from the rest of the agents in town?
Marketing is one of the biggest holes in real estate training. And, when the day is consumed with generating and following up on real estate leads and servicing existing clients, who has time to fill that hole?
But, fill it you must, and, with just a few hours a week you can learn how to become a better marketer and move away from the pack of the more complacent agents in town.
The Digital Marketing Institute offers marketing courses with certificates upon completion. If I were interviewing listing agents, the Certified Digital Marketing Specialist is going to impress far more than the agents with those NAR designation abbreviations trailing their names.
Download the brochure at DigitalMarketingInstitute.com. The courses are pricey but they offer financing and, remember that the cost is most likely tax deductible.
Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management offers Digital Marketing Strategies — an online, go-at-your-own-pace course. Learn more here.
Check with your association too, since they often offer marketing courses.
If you just can’t find the time to take classes, learn by reading.
- “The Road to Recognition: The A-to-Z Guide to Personal Branding for Accelerating Your Professional Success in The Age of Digital Media” by Seth Price and Barry Feldman
- “Guerilla Marketing,” by Jay Conrad. An oldie, but updated and quite relevant.
- “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert B. Cialdini
- “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!” by Al Reis and Jack Trout
- “Endless Referrals” by Bob Burg
- “Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable” by Seth Godin
Hire a coach.
If stars the caliber of Brad Pitt and Halle Berry use coaches, perhaps real estate agents can benefit from hiring a one too? Just a thought, but if you’re struggling to learn different aspects to running your business, a coach may just be the answer.
We recently covered the whole real estate coach thing, in detail. In a nutshell, a coach can help you improve various aspects of your business and how to attract clients.
Some real estate coaches are generalists, such as the brilliant Borino, while others, like Floyd Wickman, specialize in just a few aspects of the real estate business.
Then, there are the different ways you can receive your coaching. Craig Proctor, for instance, offers webinars, one-on-one coaching and more. Many coaches offer phone support.
All Market Leader customers have access to the Million Dollar Pipeline Program, an exclusive real estate coaching program that provides tools and techniques to exceed transaction goals and scale your business with on-demand webinars, scripts, templates, and a closed Facebook group with access to top-performing agents and peers.
Or consider free business mentoring from a retired executive. You’ll find that and more at your local SCORE office.
SCORE also offers free online workshops.
Learn how to efficiently run a small business.
Knowing how to run a small business is undoubtedly another hole in your real estate education. From business and marketing plans to budgets, hiring and all the other details you’re responsible for, learning more about small business success is vital.
There are a variety of ways to get started backfilling this hole in your education. The U.S. Small Business Administration offers a number of online courses. Here are examples of some of the free, online courses offered:
Or, check out the free online courses at Kutztown University. Some of the courses we found most interesting and pertinent for real estate agents include:
- Assessing Your Company’s Financial Needs
- Managing your Cash Flow
- Creating Financial Projections
Negotiate like a champ.
Negotiation skills are an important aspect of being successful in real estate. You’ll find a list of online courses that will help you become a better negotiator and communicator (some provide certificates upon completion) from education giants such as Yale, University of Michigan and Duke University.
Sure, riparian rights and the different ways of holding title are important things to know for real estate agents and real estate school provides that knowledge.
But when it comes to running a small business, marketing your services and your clients’ listings, and negotiating on their behalf for the best deal, you’ll need to look elsewhere for knowledge.
Thankfully, you can find it online, in books, podcasts and videos. Now, you just need to find the time, right?
