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Fast-Forward ROI from New Agents with Better Training

Published Date
Author Joanna Harrison

Buckle up, Rocky (Cue ‘Eye of the Tiger’). It’s time to talk training.

It may not be as glamorous as the fanfare that comes after it, but it’s essential for success nonetheless. The truth is, the top agents and teams in the US have one thing in common – they never stop training.

Good training will help your team…

  • Avoid costly errors
  • Increase productivity, motivation and morale
  • Build loyalty and self-efficacy
  • Require less supervision from leadership
  • Facilitate growth and out-of-box thinking

Show me the $

When an agent joins your team, there is an inherent learning curve that they need to conquer before they close their first deal and become a profitable addition to your business. It may be tempting to forgo time-intensive training so they can hit the ground running in the field, but if you skip those steps you may ultimately elongate that window.

It can take months for agents to close a deal once they’ve joined your team. With more intensive and strategic training from the get-go, you can hopefully shorten this time frame.

We’ll break training down into 2 main categories; Initial Onboarding and Continual Refinement. Both are critical, and we’ll tell you why.

Initial Onboarding

This phase of training is everything your agent will learn as soon as they join your team. From mastering the systems that you use to aligning with your business goals – initial onboarding will lay the foundation for their future performance.

  • Thorough Systems Training

This is the big one. Are you all ears?
Whatever technology you are using within your business, whether it be a CRM, a piecemeal lead generation software, or transaction management tool, your agents need to know how to use it effectively. Technology is an investment, and a critical one in order to be competitive in real estate today. If you have low adoption from your agents, there is a problem. Don’t ignore it, because you’re losing potential ROI.

Capitalize on what your software company offers. At BoomTown, we offer deeply immersive onsite and offsite onboarding for agents and teams. After the initial onboarding, we have a team of experts dedicated to different areas of client success. Training is ongoing, because technology is always improving.

As a leader, part of the training liability falls on your shoulders. To speed-up your ROI from a new agent, you should:

1. Put them through every training opportunity that the technology company offers
2. Have an accountability system in place to make sure your agents are properly utilizing the technology
3. Hold regular team meetings/check-ins to discuss questions and concerns as well as any new features or updates from your technology

It may seem counterintuitive to allot this much time to training. We get it, time is money. Think of it like putting together Ikea furniture. You could skip the manual and spend 2 hours putting it together blind…or spend 10 minutes reading the manual and knock it out in half an hour.

  • Internal Operations

If you spend the proper amount of time training your new agent from the start on internal ops, you’ll avoid countless interruptions down the road. This means all things “day-to-day.” However you run your team, be clear about protocol, and give your new agent a thorough rundown of every detail. If your team is expanding and you think you’ll hire more agents in the future, it might be worthwhile to create a training manual.

  • Align with Business Goals and Mission Statement

Most of this should be taken care of through the interview process if your agent has been properly vetted, and you’ve selected high quality talent. It’s important to align your team with one another and with the business as a whole. Craft a mission statement and be clear about what your goals are as a team.

Continual Refinement

Having ongoing training practices in place will not only keep agent performance on par, it will also allow for a seamless transition for new agents. If training is a part of your company culture, when you add a new agent to the mix, they’ll fall into a rhythm much more quickly.

  • Stay Current

Like any industry, real estate is always in flux. Over the past decade we’ve seen a major shift in real estate with the boom of the team structure. With a market that is adjusting, growing, and trending in different ways, agents have to stay ahead of the curve in order to be successful.

Keep tabs on market trends and industry reports, sign up for newsletters and blogs, watch webinars, and attend seminars and conferences.

  • Update Your Marketing Strategy

If there is one thing technology is not, it’s static. Best practices for generating quality leads through digital sources are constantly shifting. Stay in the tech loop and keep up with your search engine marketing strategy. If you are using a CRM with a digital marketing team in place, communicate with them to make sure your strategy is getting you the ROI you want.

  • Refine Sales Skills

Agents need to keep their sales techniques current. Are you sensing a pattern here? Training will be valuable throughout your entire career. Whether you have brand new agents that need intensive basic sales training, or veteran agents that need some help adapting to new trends – sales training is crucial. Consider implementing a mentor system, hiring a coach, or requiring your agents to attend annual trainings and conferences.

 

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