Norm Fisher, a broker with Royale LePage in Canada, emailed me last week with some observations. This one really grabbed me:
I’m encouraged to see younger people coming into the business. Too often though they’re being mentored by old turds. In my market most of them are being taught to do things the way they’ve always been done. I pick up bits and pieces, here and there, about innovative and interesting things that new agents can do to develop business. Of course, there’s lots of good stuff scattered about. It would be really cool to see the real estate community come together and actually develop a killer business plan for a young, new, tech-savvy agent that went beyond “you should twitter and be on facebook.” Kind of a blueprint for success. I would love to see someone spearhead such a discussion that more complete and cohesive.
He’s so right. Remember that brand-new agent I wrote about last week – the one who pretends to be my neighbor and uses glossy stickers to ask for my business? Well, turns out she learned the ropes as an assistant in the office of a veteran “Top Producing Team.” These folks, who have been in the business for decades, have bequeathed to this young woman a perverse inheritance: An approach to growing a real estate businesses that lost its vitality at roughly the same time David Hasselhoff lost his beach body.
Brokerage mentorship programs should perhaps be turned on their heads. Or flattened, with new agents creating their own collaborative learning environments.
Some great sales trainers emerged from the 1970′s and ’80′s. A whole crop of web gurus hit the circuit between 1995 and 2000. These folks still dominate brokerage training programs and industry conventions even though the times have escaped them.
Or course, one could point out online communities like ActiveRain as the new locus of real estate learning. But I am not sure that gets us far enough.
I’m interested to know if any of you have seen innovative mentoring or training programs out there. If so, leave a comment!
Local, Mobile, Social and the future of real estate
20 Tools to Bring your Real Estate Business to the Cloud
15 Ways to Make Your Marketing Mobile
Finally !!!! I’m ready.
Check out M Realty and Garron Selliken (garronselliken.com) for exactly what you are talking about! Garron has setup M Realty to be all about the web, twitter, facebook, and embracing the internet and social media technology to be the best and most effective agent. Check out his software company too, which makes everything possible for his website.
I agree it is needed. I am a broker and have been training for along time. I have been working on changing the way my agents work for a while and found that some will adapt but most will not. I have had good luck with the young agents because the understand. This is why I like twitter so much is allows me to see what new marketing ideas are being used. Then I try to adapt them to real estate. Slow but I think it is working. Your ideas have been a help.
Our experience in talking to other Realtors around the country is that many know what they need to do, but lack the motivation or skills needed to succeed online. The new consumer is already there, using many of the new or newer online tools available, whether it’s checking their homes value on Zillow or Cyberhomes or looking at online listings.
Many Brokers and software providers offer agents IDX powered websites, but way too often they are poorly conceived and implemented – paling in comparison to the innovation and continued improvements that the likes of Redfin and Estately have achieved on their sites.
However it is perfectly possible for an agent to dominate the search engines and get motivated clients if they have the right tools. The agent chooses a niche or a market segment based on geographical boundaries and or price or type (REOs, short sales, luxury homes etc) and builds a site around that using web 2.0 tools. Optimize the site for the search engines and promote it using social media networking such as Facebook and Twitter.
My partner and I have created a site that has all the information a real estate agent would need in order to succeed online without spending a lot of cash. We decided to build an interactive site rather than take the seminar route trodden by so many. That way all the information is right there to be digested at the visitors own pace.
We also know what we are talking about with search engine optimization – our site has only been up for just over 2 weeks and we already rank 12th on Google for the term “online realtor tools” and first page results for the terms “how to work idx” and “web 2 0 idx real estate” (no tricks or black hat seo) just using the principals and techniques we teach on our site.
The unpalatable truth about new agents is that up to 60% of them fail within the first two years because of bad advice or terrible mentoring. To answer Norm Fishers concerns about the lack of “blueprints for success” we have developed a marketing plan for new agents that works – We are offering it for free here:
http://webrealestatetools.com/advice-for-new-real-estate-agents
Peter Toner and Drew Burks
Realtors
Brian,
I think the new training you’re speaking about imparts peer to peer collaborative styling with experiential modeling.
It is not perfected and currently moving out of the inspiration stages. There are programs that impart the coaching process with known social networking and market driven marketing versus the common situational standards of the brands and older brokers. The new training will focus on the mental side of the business with high level mentoring. This can’t be done with a workbook or a CD/DVD. Like the consumer, the gen x and gen y agents want it real.
Great awareness in your post!
Very interesting topic that I think about all day, every day! I am three years in the business, on my third brokerage and still fighting against the tide of “how it has always been done”. When I decided I wanted to start a real estate business I had no idea I was entering such an enormous time warp. There is a lot of quality training and mentoring offered at my current brokerage but unfortunately it is almost entirely centered around hours of door knocking, phone calling and sitting in the office waiting for a walk-in. Call me crazy but in 2009 I find it hard to believe that the only way to succeed in real estate is by knocking on people’s doors…hell, when someone knocks on my door my first thought is to knock them out! To really get mentoring I have to go to a lot of different places and people. Most of the advice I seek is online where there are lots of folks like me, doing their own thing and making it work in today’s world. At the office they call me “the blogger” and it’s not meant as a compliment
That’s ok…someday they’ll be calling me to beg for advice on how I became so successful!
Brian,
I have to say when I started with my current brokerage ( Liz Moore and Associates in Williamsburg and Newport News VA ) There was no agent training for Internet marketing. I had to learn on my own and plod along without any internal direction.
Through time I would bounce ideas of my broker for her insight. The company is now putting the majority of it’s marketing resources into internet marketing.
We recently explored all the training options available and elected to partner with the Online Dominance/ Michael Russer program which was by far the best option we could find.
At the end of 2008 we started 3 different e-Teams ( 30+ agents total) within the brokerage. Our goal was to educate and assist each agent in defining and selecting a niche market.
The first specialized website is launching soon.
We also have classes on creating blogs, social marketing and anything else that can help our agents succeed in today’s market. From what I hear from other agents it is the most in depth training around.
Given the conditions and trends of today’s market, specialized training is increasingly vital to any agent’s success.
AS an FYI I generate 90% of my personal business online and was in the top 5% of sales in the company.
I am happy to have such an insightful and motivating broker to work for. Don’t know where I would be today without her guidance.
I had a conference call with three virtual brokers yesterday to prepare for an upcoming panel I am moderating at Luxury Real Estate conference in Las Vegas.
About the panel –
All three brokers have between 10 and 20 agents and each does between $250MM and $500MM in sales. None of the brokers have offices, and none of the brokers spend any money in print advertising. All of their business comes from referrals and their online marketing efforts. They all specialize in Luxury Real Estate representing a balanced mix of buyers and sellers.
Requirements
They all insist that their agents publish articles on the company blog and participate in social networking. They publish information constantly about what is happening in the luxury market place for their area – they are the leading source of market data for an ever-expanding group of wealthy home owners and buyers in the areas they serve.
They are all age 50+, and have completely cut out the traditional agent and traditional marketing tactics. Their business is thriving in this difficult market with commissions averaging over the traditional 6%. They use the buddy system to get new agents up to speed and train the agent pool on their strategy and tactics. Their businesses grow as their opportunities grow, and an agent who fails to meet the standards for contribution to the effort is invited to leave. One has a list of agents standing by to join the firm if an opportunity arises.
Creating an environment like this in Real Estate is no easy task – it takes planning, education, training and dedication. Pulling it off is a special victory for those who have this level of commitment.
I have felt like a fish flopping on a deck gasping for air in the brokerages I have been associated with since obtaining my NC broker’s license. Just as mentioned above, the dinosaurs pass along what they have done for years, and their way of doing business is nothing close to my business plan. The Real Estate Tomato taught me about blogging and built a great site for me, and I go to every techie event like RETech South, etc., to keep up with what is going on in the real world. My present company asked if I would teach some ‘techie’ classes, and I was/am happy to do that. However, I can’t say too many are jumping on to the bandwagon. For me, I see what is coming, love it, and am doing what I can to be active, engaging, and a contributing member ‘out there.’ Kudos to the sites I see above who are ahead of the pack. Wish I was there!
Peter’s link to the website didn’t work for me. Sharon
Thanks for everyone for the comments/examples. All is not lost.
Seems the bottom line is that brokers who want to recruit and retain the best agents need to play to those who get it instead of placating those who don’t
[...] The training trap | 1000Watt Consulting [...]
I’m from Toronto Canada and I just finished my Phase 3 exam and just waiting on my marks then off into the wide world of Real Estate.
So far this process has been completely hands off:
No one has told me what to look in a brokerage
No one has told me about mentoring programs
No one has told me about IDX or VOW…I left a message for my local board and the guy who answered had no clue and passed me through to someone’s VM and it’s been over 2 hours and I still haven’t heard from them
I called a local brokerage and asked if any of the Brokers, not the salespeople blog and the receptionist was like “Blog…?” I had to laugh.
Any training programs I’ve seen I have to pay for…that’s after shelling out $$$$$ for courses, licensing, board fees.
I tell you that after it’s all said I done I’m gonna right the book about this!
Anyone want to collaborate?
My future board just called me and didn’t have an answer for my aside from that their IDX solution is in development.
When to be release…? They don’t know.
Do they have a list of IDX providers for Canada…? Nope.
Can I make a recommendation to the board as to the frustrations that I’m having trying to find an IDX solution…? Not my department.
What department are you…? IT (I had to laugh)
to the quick, here’s a sampling of the last 6 training workshops that I’ve run at my company, Century 21 Carole White Associates, over the past 2 months. Perhaps some might find value if not hope:
New Media Workshop Agenda
Workshop #1: Finding the Consumer Online (Where they at, what are they doing)
Date: February 17, 2009
Time: 10:00 am
Where: Conference Room
Summary: Understanding consumer behavior online. What are the most often things consumers do on the internet. How are they using Google and other search engines. How they make decisions based on what they find. How many use social networking and for what reason. What sites are they using most often. How are consumers collaborating and sharing information online. What is “Trusting” or Friend of a Friend (FOAF) and why is this important. How do people network online. Why does any of this matter? How to position yourself as a “Trusted Advisor” and a “Voice of Authority” on real estate related matters.
Workshop #2: Telling our Story (influencing consumer choice)
Date: March 3, 2009
Time: 10:00 am
Where: Conference Room
Summary: You need to live the real estate story in order to tell it well. We do this all the time in the real world (offline). People hire us because of our knowledge of real estate in the local marketplace. The idea is to bring this conversation online and, using a suite of social media tools, share your knowledge with the world (broadcasting your expertise instead of repeating your story one client as a time). C21 CWA is now, in part, a media company(explain). How to become the real estate HUB. Using your expertise to own the local real estate discussion. Position yourself to become the voice of authority for local real estate matters. Broker/Agent collaboration, sharing and delivering knowledge. Real expert knowledge is and always will be king.
Workshop #3: The Real Power of Social Media (Video, audio, photos, graphs, text)
Date: March 17, 2009
Time: 10:00 am
Where: Conference Room
Summary: People want to know what you are about before contacting you. This get’s back to the power of consumer choice. People using the Internet, quite naturally, are going to seek the best information and find the best resources available to help them with the decision making process. There is where the power of social media really kicks in. Video, for example, is a multi-sense medium (visuals, sounds, audio and text). It’s well documented that appealing to more senses increases the chance that people will remember you and your message. We need to learn how to re-purpose or transform content from one medium to another more effective one. In this workshop we will explore how social media tools are changing the real estate marketing landscape and what you need to do to take advantage of this emerging trend. BIG STUFF.
• Show Videos
• Discuss new website
Workshop #4: The Future of the Internet is the Distributed Web
Date: March 31, 2009
Time: 10:00 am
Where: Conference Room
Summary: It used to be that the primary goal of being online was to drive traffic to your site, and then to CAPTURE the consumer as a lead. Well, consumers don’t want to be “captured,” like mice in a trap. In fact, they find it insulting and will dismiss you and never return if you employ this strategy. While driving traffic to our site is still important, there are way too many sites out there trying to do the same. A better strategy is to understand the fragmented, distributed nature of the Internet and that the audience is on a multitude of platforms. The trick is to find out where they are and meet and greet them on their terms. For example, if you have an agent profile video, you need to think about putting it up on Facebook, Active Rain, Craigslist, the online Yellow pages, Google email etc. Determine where your clients are congregating and then try and get in front of themnon-intrusively. This workshop will help you make sense of the distributed nature of the web and how to market yourself effectively.
Workshop #5: Leveraging SocNets (Facebook, Active Rain, Twitter)
Date: April 7th, 2009
Time: 10:00am
Where: Conference Room
Summary: Social networks are a great way to stay in touch with your friends and familyand they can also be a lot of fun. But there are ways to leverage these networks to generate business. There are also things you should not do on these networks or you will drive people away. Many Realtors are using socnets, but not many are using them correctly (example). This workshop will focus on how to successfully implement a social networking strategy that works for you all the time, whether your online or not. We will explore tactics and strategies and review case studies designed to make SocNets work to generate new business opportunities. Also, see distribution strategies.
Workshop #6: Developing and Implementing a Web Marketing Strategy
Date:
Time: 10:00am
Where: Conference Room
Summary: Bringing it home. Bridging the gap between the real and the virtual worlds (Facebook)
• How do brokers and agents differentiate themselves
• A WORD About Agent Video Profiles
Ian, I’m with you! I’ve been keeping a journal for the past few months on my start up success’ and perils as a General Real Estate Broker. Painful to read!
I think the new 2.0 agents handbook is NEEDED!
Too many old school trainers, books, and advice. It’s time for some new blood, fresh ideas, and progressive paths to achievement. (if I read one more article about direct mail I’ll toss my cookies!)
Look at the M Realty Model, Garron does it the best, he is light years ahead, I love it!
estate agents john…
Well Google loves you! I typed in estate agents john hoping to find my site and I found The Park Paradigm – Data, AI, Web, Repeat. on the first page in the UK, Well done….
I agree it is needed. I am a broker and have been training for along time. I have been working on changing the way my agents work for a while and found that some will adapt but most will not. I have had good luck with the young agents because the understand. This is why I like twitter so much is allows me to see what new marketing ideas are being used. Then I try to adapt them to real estate. Slow but I think it is working. Your ideas have been a help.