This business is always changing, but as I think about my long career, some things never change.
For instance, many professionals in this industry will pass on any training sessions offered by their brokers and managers. “I’ve heard all this stuff before. What, I have to pay for it on top of what I give you brokers? I don’t need it, I’m too busy…”
Can anyone really say there are no new strategies or techniques to canvassing, or to do presentations for offers or for listings? It’s just as foolhardy as when you first learned to ride a bike and fell off so many times that you wished your dad never bought you the darned thing. But guess what, you learned by sheer determination. You learned balancing and steering and by golly, you even got so you could ride the bike with no hands.
You felt extremely proud of your accomplishments once the training wheels came off.
Everyone I knew as a kid had those training wheels. They gave us confidence and safety. Just as those first real estate sales training sessions did.
Somewhere along the line, many of us forgot some of those skills we received in those early years. We started to rely on referrals. Such sweet deals they were! We didn’t need training wheels any longer.
But some of us forgot to be in touch. We forgot to be in touch with those who gave us referrals and forgot to stay in touch with those buyers who were happy with our services and would have been more than happy to refer us to others.
There may have been a course that would have been particularly useful to help set up a system. “I don’t need that stuff. That’s for other guys… always taking courses.”
We got too busy. We had to move on to search for the next commission instead of nurturing our past clients.
Here’s what I see and what I’ve learned: agents who continue to take courses and use the information offered will excel. Those who don’t will eventually wonder what happened to their share of the market. Maybe it’s time to put those training wheels back on for awhile.
Stan Albert, ABR, ASA is a consultant with Re/Max Premier in Vaughan, Ont. He can be reached for consultation by email. Stan is now celebrating his 45th year as an active real estate professional.
