The National Association of REALTORS® has a terrific opportunity to do something truly extraordinary for its members with regard to its Internet-readiness certification program. The original intention of the e-PRO certification was to educate and train Realtors to a high standard of Internet service so they could attract and serve the increasingly errant tech-enabled home-buying consumer. This was an incredible achievement, something that would finally distinguish Realtors in the eyes of the public. With e-PRO after their names, Realtors who work on the Internet are readily identifiable with the kind of expertise that the Internet Empowered Consumer(tm) wants.

But instead of giving Realtors something to aspire to, instead of helping them raise the bar of their professionalism, the way the CRS, ABR, and other achievement and experience-oriented designations and certifications supplied by N.A.R. affiliates do, the N.A.R. is considering watering down the e-PRO certification with Dumb and Dumber versions of e-PRO that will ultimately render the certification worthless.

Because of its mandate to serve all of its 750,000 members, The N.A.R. believes that the e-PRO certification should be open to all Realtors. But if it is, that means that the e-PRO curriculum will have to be modified to cater to the lowest common denominator - the agents who know little or nothing about the Internet or how to use it properly. That puts the N.A.R. between a rock and a hard place. It is serving its members with a certification program, but it is also disserving them by allowing them to be certified in skills they don't really have and diluting the marketability of agents who are truly Internet-able.

A great idea to raise the bar for all Realtors

To commit to the e-PRO certification program, the N.A.R. has undertaken one of the biggest internal initiatives of any trade organization in history. Among the hurdles to bring the course to market were: the research needed to create the program; conception of the e-PRO course and its objectives; getting the course through its bureaucratic channels to a decision point; working with content and technology suppliers; lining up sponsors; advertising, to name only a few. While the N.A.R. officials have demonstrated tremendous foresight and bravery in recognizing rapidly changing conditions in the real estate industry that will quickly make the Realtor business model as we know it obsolete unless Realtors make some important changes, they are blind to the fact that dumbing down the e-PRO certification will have the opposite effect of what they want it to do.

Already the course is accepting Realtors whose only qualifications to take the course are that they are N.A.R. members and can pay their tuition. But some graduates don't have basic e-mail or writing skills. These e-PROs are hardly going to impress the Internet Empowered Consumer® (tm.) Agents are exempt from spending time on off-site exercises which will strengthen their skills. If the certificate is theirs without the extra work, why should they?

Not only does dumbing down e-PRO neither serve the low-tech or high-tech agent, it opens the N.A.R. to unpleasant conjecture. If the e-PRO course doesn't serve the members it is supposed to serve, then who benefits? The N.A.R. because it has collected tuition from the Internet-inept? Homestore, the N.A.R.'s business partner, which will now have a bigger customer base for its application and technology services?

In defiance of its own subsidiaries who clamored to put the e-PRO under their own umbrellas, the certification program is offered directly by the N.A.R. The e-PRO certification program is, in fact, a scaleable business model. Not only is it an educational program for agents, but the program could also be expanded for MLS and Realtor association management and brokers as well.

According to the N.A.R. officials, the certification is so revolutionary that the organization has been approached by other industries to assist them to create similar Internet-readiness education/certification programs for their memberships.

The N.A.R. isn't interested, but expanding the e-PRO educational template for other industries was one of the dreams that Websuite, the supplier currently contracted to deliver the online educational platform, had. Such a business plan was enough to help take the young company to IPO heaven, but that was before technology stocks fell from favor in late spring. Those dreams are being put on hold while the company scrambles to get back on track with new investors, after derailing itself by expanding too quickly into other products - using the N.A.R.'s and other people's money.

Surely, the e-PRO program is more than a coffer-stuffer for the N.A.R. It was a valiant pioneering effort to raise the standards of professional practice for its membership, and it can be again.

But first it has to shed a few responsibilities it doesn't need and doesn't deserve. The Realtors who have taken the course span the spectrum from computer-illiterate to university-trained technology specialists, and each and every one of them wanted and expected the e-PRO certification to be "the answer" for them personally. Under that kind of pressure, the e-PRO is only doomed to criticism - that it's curriculum is too easy or too difficult. And the N.A.R. is doomed either way because the course either has to play down to or discriminate against either the Internet-dumb agent or the experienced agent.

Well, you can't please everyone. N.A.R.s solution is to try, but there is a better way. Don't try. Don't try to please everyone. Keep the bar of achievement high. Make the e-PRO stand for something.

The real solution is to fulfill the original intent of the e-PRO program and that can be done several ways:

1. Create a remedial or prep course for e-PRO.
   First things first. Create an Internet basics course for Realtors, but don't call it e-PRO, e-PRO Beginner or anything else. Call it what it is - an Internet basics course. But it could easily be programmed to dovetail with the curriculum that the student will have when he or she graduates and is ready for the e-PRO course itself.

2. Establish a barrier of entry to become an e-PRO.
   There's a reason why the CRS has to have two years of experience and the ABR has to have represented five buyers to closing before they can obtain their designations. All agents know that the bearers of designations and certifications have demonstrated commitment, time and effort to get special knowledge in areas of the real estate industry. Why should the e-PRO be treated any differently? No agent will feel shut out of the N.A.R.'s dreams of an Internet-enabled membership if they know that they can come in when they want to, and that there will be steps to help them along the way. Give these agents something to aspire to, and something they can be proud of when they accomplish their goals.

3. Support the e-PRO agenda
   The N.A.R. can be a tremendous resource for information, particularly for new agents. Let new entrants to the profession know that in addition to their licensure requirements, that they will be more successful if they are aware of changing market conditions, including the need to serve the Internet consumer. Along with good organizational and sales skills, hiring brokers and managers need to encourage applicants to brush up on their Internet skills or limit their hiring to agents who are willing to maintain their own skills.

The bottom line is that agents can and want to take responsibility for their own skill levels. Just as California schools were surprised to see non-English speaking student tests scores rise after English as a second language courses were eliminated, the N.A.R. might be surprised to see more agents step up to the e-PRO plate when they know that becoming an e-PRO really means something special.

Published: October 16, 2000

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