The world is a classroom — and when it comes to real estate, education should be taken seriously. Agents are constantly looking for ways to get an edge over the competition, and below you’ll find four great tools to create an environment of constant learning in your office.
1. Seminars
Although it is one of the most costly of our four options, seminars are a fantastic way to educate your agents. Real estate coaches, authors and industry experts can inspire and educate all in the same day. Whether you opt for a full-day seminar or just an hour lunch, the seminar format has proven to be one of the most intensive training methods with high retention rates. It’s hard to compare e-books and webinars in terms of attention rates with a good old-fashioned seminar. If you can afford to host seminar training, it’s a highly recommended option.
When choosing your speaker or speakers, you’ll want to identify what topic is most important to the success of your agents. Don’t make the mistake of choosing multiple topics — focus on one general theme that matters to your agents. Client retention and sales strategies are two great places to start.
2. Webinars
Hosting a webinar series is a great way to educate your agents for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a cost-effective option. GoToWebinar is an excellent tool that comes at a reasonable price. You can invite all of your agents via the platform to attend at a set time and date, and monitor who attends in the back end. Should anyone miss the webinar, you don’t have to worry — GoToWebinar allows you to record the webinar from start to finish, so you can email the video to all of your agents following its completion.
When it comes to format, we’ve found that having a host accompanied by an industry expert is the best course of action. Introduce your panel and have them give their presentation with a focus on one or two relevant topics. As the webinar goes on, make note of any questions that arise and write them down. After the presentation is complete, use the final 15-30 minutes to address questions that have come up — this is a great way to interact with your agent base and get a feel for the concerns and challenges that your agents are having.
3. In-office trainings
If you’d like to take a more “hands on” approach, in-office training is a great way to engage agents. Tommy Camp, president and CEO of BHHS Carolinas/YSU/Yost & Little Realty, says that this type of training allows agents to interact easily in the comfort of their own office. “We partner with our agents to create an environment that fosters success, and in doing so we have found in-office training to be the most effective approach for education,” Camp says. His offices make a concerted effort to provide hands-on training from managing brokers, a director of training and other home office staff, as well. These initiatives pay big dividends and are a great way to cultivate an environment of learning.
4. E-books
Agents love tools, and providing e-books and other supplemental learning tools can be beneficial. Whether you’re creating these e-books yourself or hiring an agency to create them, they can be a cost-effective way to educate your agents. Similar to conducting seminars and webinars, e-books should focus on one single topic and cover it extensively. The benefit of e-books as opposed to other forms of documents is that they can be highly engaging. Be sure to add lots of pictures and infographics to keep your agents intrigued in the message you’re trying to convey.
These are just four effective ways that we have found to educate your agents.
What are you doing to successfully educate your agents? Please continue the conversation in the comments section below.
Justin Kerby is the co-founder of CAVE Social, a digital marketing agency specializing in real estate. He is passionate about working with clients and finding solutions that help them operate more efficiently.
