Do you train yourself and your Agents regularly?

[Mitch]

Hi Everyone!

Any of you who know me know I'm very into training and keeping my staff updated on their training etc. Without awesome training, you will never take yourself or your company to the next level.

Since the beginning of the year I have been working on how I can take my team of 20 Agents to the next level. One of my goals is to help all my Agents become successful. I'm truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of Agents working for me. Even though some might be struggling and not working as hard as I like, they are all great people. With that said, I also have a business to run and to grow. I won't be happy until my Agents are all doing at least 36 transactions per year each or more. I know they can do it, and I'm learning day by day how to be a better teacher. Up until recently I had always blamed my Agents for not working our system strong enough. But, recently I realized that I have been training all wrong and have to change the way I teach.

Here is what I've learned so far:

1. The only way you can become better is to commit at least 1 hour per week to training and becoming an expert in just a few skills. Just 1 hour per week can have a profound benefit to your business. The key is to be working ON my business and not IN my business. (Read Michael Gerber's eMyth if you haven't already)

2. It's not about knowing and doing 4000 things a few times. It's about doing 3 or 4 things 4000 times. Once you do, you are an expert!

3. Training has to be mandatory and it has to be interactive. Agents must be involved in the process, not just told how to do things. It must be fun, valuable and exciting. Your Agents are going to need to look forward to training, not dreading it. If you can get your entire staff energized about training and working together to become successful, will that help your company or your business?

4. Accountability is almost as important as training. If you train your Agents and have no way of measuring their progress, then your training might be for not. For every training program you have, set up a system that holds everyone, even yourself, accountable for their success. This might start out slow, but as they realize you will be reading and checking everything they do, they will start to perform at a higher level. They will respect everything you inspect.

5. Pick 3 things in your business as an Agent or Broker and think about how your business would improve if you excelled at those 3 things. How many transactions would you add to your total at the end of the year? In my company we are working on Time Management, Our Lead Conversion Process and Phone Call Follow Up. I know by becoming experts in these three aspects of business, my Agents will double their business.

6. Train, retrain and retrain until there are no more questions. Then retrain again. You can never over train a procedure that will increase your bottom line. You have nothing to lose by training, and everything to lose by not training.

These are just a few of the things I am learning and implementing. This week we had our first mandatory meeting and it was a complete success. It was 3 hours on how to use our CRM better to create more sales. It was amazing that everyone showed up with no excuses and they all stayed the entire time. All my Agents learned how powerful our sysetm really is and if they use it as designed, they would only be more successful. I think once they realized it was really easy to use, they all saw the potential for them to work much smarter.

The one thing I thought I would have to fight with was their schedules. All our Agents are very busy, but they also know that I won't lead them down the wrong road. They have all commited to our training, every week, for the next 52 weeks. I'm actually amazed, but I know they believe that if we can master just a few things, they will be extremely successful.

So, the question is, what are you doing to change and build your business? Do you have regular training schedules to improve your skills and your Agents skills? What are your three biggest challenges in growing your business? What's holding you back from mastering the skills needed to slay your biggest challenges? My guess is it is probably yourself.

One final thing before I go back to work. You must understand the learning curve. Have you ever had a training session you attended that was awesome? I'm sure you have. The next day you get back to work and are super productive. The next day you have a good day and by the 5th day you are back to your old routine. Does this sound familiar? Of course it does, we have all been there.

Here is what happens. When you train yourself or a group, you or your Agents only retain a small amount of what you have learned. You also know that what you have learned is very powerful and the adrenaline gained from that training carries you through a couple of days. Now what would happen if every week, you had the same training on the same subject? The next week you would carry out a little more of that enthusiasm. The following week, yes, the third week, you train on the same subject. Do you think by now you would be getting stronger in that skill. Of course you would. It's like playing golf. The first time you golf you are terrible. You then take a lesson and you learn how to hit the ball straight. The next time you golf you can't remember how you hit the ball so well. If you practiced golf daily, wouldn't you become better at what you are doing? You would have to hit 500 balls a day if you wanted to really improve...and many of you have done this. What would your business look like if you made the same determination in becoming a master of three producing areas of your business? What have you been a master of in your life? What did you do to reach that level. Business is no different.

Take the time to train...just 1 hour a week to start. Each week make the commitment to that training and do it for at least a year. If you devoted 52 weeks (52 hours) to just three things, don't you think you could become incredible. I know you could, I plan on it and plan on helping my agents be incredible Agents! I hope you do to!

[SLP-NYCT]

I think a lot of people on here are agents not brokers like you and I. The state mandated education here as well as NAR, but as a Broker...I can not MANDATE, REQUIRE or FORCE a Sub Contractor to Train, Take Continuing Ed or Practice. Of course I can also NOT renew our sub contractors agreement if they don't but I can not have language that says this is mandatory! Why? As soon as you are I do (this is a Federal Law) I have violated the Sub Contractor qualification and turned ALL my agents into employees.

I must make sure you don't violate the law and I can set policy, but I can not force you to do anything.

My policy can say that you should take classes once a month or that you should be dressed in a suite when in the office or hosting an open house. You should keep your car clean, etc. If you don't do this stuff, well so be it, but I can also terminate you without cause.

Just be sure your language does not violate sub contractor law/guidelines. Other than that, I think you are dead on.

[Mitch]

I totally understand what you are saying. The way I look at it though is if they are not going to come to my trainings to become better then I can terminate them and I have and will. I don't regulate their hours or anything else for that matter, just that they attend our training. You are right though, I can't make them. But I can get rid of them!

Good point and well taken. My point of my post was to hope that Agents will understand that to become the best, to become excellent, it takes practice and training. Unfortunately most Agents do not get any formal training or any training at all. By obtaining training and retraining and more training you will become excellent. All it takes is being excellent at a few different aspects of this business to really kick it.

I know a lot of the people on here are small teams or just starting their teams. It's important to have excellent training programs if you want your Agents to not jump ship as well as make money. Most of the Team Leaders and Brokers here are supplying leads to their Agents, like I do. There is nothing worse than giving good leads to bad agents!

[Ryocheck]

Mitch,

Great insight into a team. I am just starting one and only have one buyers rep right now. It does seem to be a struggle to get everything done. I have a contract for buyers reps completed of course but I find myself working almost non stop on the new REW web site and a policy and procedures manual for the team. I do not want to neglect my new team member and not train them properly but where do you find the time to plan a training course on top of everything else. BTW - I am still actively selling because I have to pay the bills.

[Mitch]

Hey Ryan! Starting a team can be tricky. It's ALL about hiring the right people and making sure everyone works as a team, not as a bunch of Realtors under one roof. Then, when you have the right Agents, training is key.

You are on the right track with documentation. If you have't read eMyth yet, I highly recommend it. I have owed 15 companies and didn't understand systems until I read that book. I have always used systems, but didn't understand. Now I understand that it's all about building the McDonalds of your industry, in our case, Real Estate.

Training is vital to any businesses success. I continue to educate myself so I can help my Agents become the best they can be. As far as finding the time, I can't afford not to find the time to train. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, there are plenty of good training courses.

One of the problems with building a team and continuing to sell is it makes it difficult to grow. In my first year of my team, 2004, I sold a ton of homes. However, every morning we got together as a team and worked on our system and our goals. Of course I had the experience of running many companies so from day one I ran my business as a business. Even though you are still selling, make it a "Must" to spend each morning, for an hour, training with your Agent (s). It will pay off big time.

I am extremely excited about this new training program. I know it's going to not only help me, but it's going to grow my company. Over the past year, since I started the Network, I have let my staff training slip a little. Our new program is going to make every agent in my office better. They might not be the best Realtor, but they are going to be the best trained!

[Ryocheck]

Alright Mitch, you talked me into it. I am going to go buy eMyth and read it. I have seen you mention the book before so there must be something to it.

Yet another thing I now have on my plate. LOL

[Mitch]

Good! When you are done with that one I have more!

[RESteve]

Amazon just released a Kindle for the iPhone application, and I went ahead and bought eMyth revisted to read. Let's see what all the fuss is about.

In regards to training, it's my belief that if you ever deter from being learning-based, you become ignorant-based (opposed to learning new things and think that your way is THE way). Consistent training is a vital ingredient to real estate success from both a broker and agent aspects.

[SLP-NYCT]

Ya gotta love this guy! ^^^^^^^^
Something about the way you write Steve, you say so much with so little, unlike me

[RESteve]

Ya gotta love this guy! ^^^^^^^^
Something about the way you write Steve, you say so much with so little, unlike me

Thanks Larry!

I started reading that eMyth book at lunch today, and wow; the first hour of reading really hit the nail on the head when it comes to running a small business. I actually laughed out loud in a couple of parts of the book; oddly enough.