Started by Mark Leader over five years ago, the Leader's Choice is a productivity program for agents that covers nine weeks of intensive training. But the first one to start boot camp is the broker.

"It's a 21st century partnership," says Marylyn Schwartz. "We teach hands-on selling. It's not theoretical. We teach what agents need to run 'Me, Inc.'"

What makes the coursework unique, says Schwartz is that the program is unusually intensive, and that takes some fancy selling to many brokers. The program is designed to fill-in, replace or augment training that the broker may have. The course is designed for large classes of agents.

There are a few steps that the Leader's Choice staff need to get rolling -- they need the broker's management staff to get excited.

First, Schwartz (or another Leader's Choice trainer) meets with the broker/owner decision maker.

"A face-to-face meeting ... ," she explains. "We tell them about the program, then we ask them to bring their managers in and we present to the managers. If the managers get excited, then step three is a bridge to success -- we invite the agents in."

Schwartz then does a three and a half-hour educational seminar. "And then the last half hour, I close them on the program," says Schwartz. If you liked this seminar, imagine if you spend 5 1/2 hours a week with me. The management team and I decide how many weeks and agents I will need train, and if there isn't a big enough consensus, then they had a great national speaker come in."

She says with confidence, "I have never gone to a bridge without getting the program going. If agents are in the room, I'll close 35 percent of them."

The brokers pay for Schwartz's room, flight, overnight expenses and the bridge to success seminar. The agents pay for the training to follow. Agents get course materials, 12 CDs over the course of 9 weeks, and Schwartz returning once a week for 5 1/2 hour sessions. She utilizes the broker's selling materials, encouraging agents to use and integrate the in-house mortgage broker and other ancillary services into the agent's marketing, presentations, and general awareness.

"Any agent who supports the mortgage company is supporting their company," says Schwartz. "That's why we tell the broker -- what can we do to help you achieve your goals? To get your agents to promote your services? One-stop-shopping is very important, when you consider that the NAR's buyers and sellers' profile says that consumers want to streamline the transaction process and have more control over the transaction. A nice neat package of services shows how much we care. The only thing that matters is to build a relationship, so that we aren't continuously churning new business. The best use of time is to build renewals."

The training covers all facets of prospecting, closing, and business, says Schwartz.

"It is listing, sales, managing your business, time management, working as a team, and more," she says. "It's spaced training. We teach some things, and then you go out and apply it. There is also classroom drill practice and mandatory assignments. Each module over the nine weeks intersects with the next. It holds you accountable, because we teach you to separate activity from productivity, and gets agents to work more productivity in less time. It starts new agents out on the right foot."

Topics include:

• Schedule three bonafide listing appointments weekly
• Control the listing appointment
• List properties at the right price, terms and commission
• Separate lookers from buyers
• Close more sales with fewer offers
• Negotiate successful sales offers
• Apply over 100 successful techniques for handling objections
• Apply over 25 techniques to help you to work fewer hours
• Learn to think and work like a winner
• Stay motivated and turn adversities into opportunities
• Stretch your goals and achieve them
• Sign buyer agency agreements

Schwartz maintains that the average production of the agents is about $1.2 million, with 1.5 per week in transactions. "In nine weeks, you could be doing 13 transactions," says Schwartz.

"The bottom line is this becomes a profit center for the broker," says Schwartz. "Agents are more loyal because they are more productive. Brokers are surprised at how many experienced agents sign up for the program, as well as the new agents."

The Leader's Choice is featured online at NAR's Realtor University.

Published: September 23, 2003

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.