Any real estate agent who’s spent time in the field can tell you that licensing classes and continuing education courses don’t prepare brokers for the challenges of running a business.
The fact is, agents have three basic tasks they need to accomplish to be successful: working with buyers, working with sellers and working on their business.
But these three must-dos are not all equal in terms of how they’re accomplished and when. Working with buyers and sellers is almost unavoidable, and with the often rapid pace of transactions these days, it’s something that determines your schedule, rather than having to be worked into your routine.
On the other hand, building your business is often a task without a timeline, and it’s hard to feel the pressure building up behind it. If brokers don’t make time for it, this type of work often slips by the wayside when the market is busy.
For those who think of their day-to-day as a career, not just a job, turning to outside sources of learning and business workshopping is key. Agent Publishing, the parent company of Chicago Agent magazine, has a program called AgentEDU, which offers 10-minute video courses on a great number of topics vital to the idea of successfully running one’s business as a business.
You can get an idea of what AgentEDU has to offer by using the seven-day free trial available at AgentEDU.com. Whether you’re looking to ramp up your business or perhaps thinking about starting a team, there’s a course that will suit your needs. Here’s a quick look at a few classes that get down to the brass tacks of what it takes to build a real estate business that lasts:
Essentials
- Learning Your Real Estate Market
- Meeting Your First Buyer Client
- Build Your Real Estate Business Using Your Contacts
- The Best Real Estate Company to Work For
- Developing Your Professional Real Estate Image
- Creating a Business Plan
- Real Estate Mortgage Basics
Advanced
- Real Estate Leads
- Converting Real Estate Leads
- Real Estate Agent Advertising Basics
- Yelp for Your Real Estate Business
- How to Overcome the Commission Objection
- Advertising Rules Real Estate Agents Need to Know
Master
- How to Generate Leads With Open Houses
- Understanding Real Estate Lead Conversion Rates
- Are You Ready to Join or Start a Real Estate Team?
- The First Addition to Your Real Estate Team
- Real Estate Team Members’ Job Descriptions
- How to Manage Your Real Estate Team
- The Tech You Need to Manage a Real Estate Team
- Are You Ready to Open Your Own Brokerage?
- How to Use Real Estate Advertising
- How to Determine Your Listing Ad Budget
- How to Determine Your Target Market and Develop the Right Message
- How to Measure Real Estate Advertising Effectiveness
- Using In-House vs. an Outside Ad Agency