RealNet Learning Services has given Realty Times an exclusive on the release of its research report examining the current issues, trends and opportunities in the education, training, and career advancement of real estate professionals in 2004.

The white paper produced by Bruce Finland, CEO of RealNet Learning Services is the result of interviews with brokers, franchise operators, professional speakers, strategists and observers, trainers, coaches, educators and others associated with broker, manager and agent advancement.

While learning is central to advancement, the industry, the report found, is going about continuing education backwards. In short, Finland concludes that the business of "educating, training, and developing the careers of real estate professionals is haphazard, uneven, and generally runs the gamut of being extremely poor to adequate."

"This is not a scientific survey, and the results shouldn't be taken as such," says Finland, "I put it together for internal purposes because there is little research available."

Finland decided that his results were too important not to share. "Agents want training, and they are willing," says Finland, "but you don't count on it unless they buy it themselves. Then, they've made a real decision, so it's important to know what's working and what isn't."

Among the trends noted by Finland is that more agents are taking it upon themselves to hire coaches, but that they go into their coaching relationships without knowing many of the basics of how to run their businesses.

This is primarily the result of an agent-centric, low-barrier-entry industry in which "the responsibility for career development has largely fallen in the lap of the individual agent."

With brokers clearing $137 per side in transactions, according to some sources, it's no wonder they aren't springing for training. "As commission splits and other financial elements of the business have increasingly shifted in favor of the agents, so has the manager's traditional role of control and career guidance."

With an economy driving more people to the real estate industry, with over 30 percent growth in membership reported by the National Association of Realtors reported over the last five years, and few company-sponsored training programs for these people, agents are turning to a legion of coaches, mentors and gurus to fill the void.

The rise of the "guru," is a "phenomenon unique in scope to the real estate industry." Finland defines guru as a charismatic speaker/personality who replaces the broker/mentor/manager with coaching programs that offer easy fixes and increasingly commonplace customer acquisition techniques.

"Development training is skill building," defines Finland. "Coaching is behavior modification. Agents are finding they aren't successful because their behavior is getting in the way of skills, but what's happened is that they are going into coaching without the skills they need."

Everyone hits a ceiling sooner or later, and guru-based coaching can help identify issues and help agents work through them. But Finland believes that if they were in ongoing training programs, that the agents' level of professionalism would be raised and the rapid turnover of the industry would be diminished.

Among the deficiencies in agent training Finland found was a lack of instruction on how to run a business. He believes this should be a topic delivered to agents in advance of selling skills, marketing and customer acquisition modules of training.

Another deficiency is the amount agents spend on technologies, estimated to be about $10,000 a year, to little effect. This is another area where companies are reluctant to invest in technical development due to high industry turnover.

Agents are also challenged to find prospects, and to build and maintain a database of customers. What's changed, notes Finland, is how prospects are qualified, contacted and closed with a tremendous shift from cold-calling to relationship-building and referral marketing.

Published: February 4, 2005

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