You should totally call the company up and ask them whether they know how to ship good from carmesh to Ur and what their deal is. Love the way you write marc.

The phrase about leading a horse to water comes to mind. Sometimes, it does not matter how much training you give some agents, they still don’t get it. Never will.

I really do believe that the real estate world and the agents who work in it are representative of the population as a whole. As with your example, 90% of the world just don’t get it, never will. That’s what I’ve found in all my experiences, not just with real estate agents.

Interesting note about firing weak agent and having them go elsewhere. I think that is an interesting phenomenon that has occurred over time but I have been witnessing some interesting developments of late.

For instance, one CEO of a company with 1500 agents, has been going through his company cleaning house. Hundreds have been removed from the roster. More to come.

He told me he doesn’t care if he cuts the number in half. All he wants going forward is a company filled with professional agents. There’s a lot more here that was discussed but as a branding guy I already started kicking around a variety of campaigns that would take his initiatives to the streets and make that mean something.

“But what good is that education if its practice is not encouraged or enforced?”

Therein is the crux of the problem. This stuff really isn’t rocket science. But the entrenched brokerage model of “Hire enough people with a pulse and a license and someone will get a lucky sale now and then” needs to change.

Too many brokers (the vast majority I’d say) won’t release non/under performing agents. They have non-existent selection and hiring skills. Hire the right agents, help them, and if they don’t perform, help them more or show them the door.

Sadly, even for brokers that do this it doesn’t fix anything in the industry because I can fire an agent today and they can literally hang their license somewhere else inside of 10 minutes.

Whatever the rule is, flyer boxes IMO is not 1990′s. Case in point – I had a weekend house guest two months ago – a well to do chairman of a large company. He came here to unwind, catch up on sleep and escape the stress of he’s been under.

On Saturday morning, we loaded into my Rover and drove the five minutes over to Shell Beach. After about 60 minutes of walking around, breathing in the cool Pacific air and marveling at how pristine the Central California Coast is, he decided he wants to buy a home here and asked if we could drive the surrounding communities where he systematically had me stop at almost every home for sale so he can get out and grab a flyer.

Some yard signs had the URL’s, some did not. But as he sat in the car, going through the flyers, making notes, making a few calls, the value of those things resonated with me.

I too am certain Prudential offers some modicum of education on how to actually practice real estate. Most companies do. But what good is that education if its practice is not encouraged or enforced?

Look, this is not about flyers and whether or not they will sell a home. This is really about what an individual stands for and one simple way in which that individual can provide meaning to the public.