The Importance of Training and Upskilling Your Agents

Agent Development is vital to sustainable Real Estate business growth and success. Real Estate agencies go through hours of sorting, filleting and interviewing to recruit and employ Real Estate Agents, but often the effort stops there, with some Principals and Managers forgetting the importance of developing the agent’s skills and training them.

Training and Education is of utmost importance, but more specifically, agent training involves programs that enable agents to learn precise skills as well as gain knowledge to improve job performance. The more you learn the more you earn.

The Benefits of Training and Upskilling your Agents

A changing and fast paced world means that Professional Development will always need to be pursued and prioritised. Agents play the most  important role in the Real Estate Industry and we should treat their education and training in the same way.

Here are some reasons why Agent Training and Development is important:

Better Servicing of your Client base

When real estate agents are trained, educated and competent and have the skills required they can service their clients with skill and expertise. This leads to increased sales for the agents as well as the Real Estate office.

A Trained and Competent Agent is a Happy Agent

A trained and competent agent is a happy agent. Happy agents lead to agent retentions. The hiring and retention of trained and skilled agents can be an ongoing challenge for Principals and Managers.  However one way to retain your agents is by providing them with career development opportunities to grow and upskill themselves. Career development growth also fosters loyalty and ultimate agent retention.  If an agent is better off with you than without you, they have no reason to leave.

Agent Empowerment

The more trained and skilled your agents are, the less supervision they need. A skilled and competent agent knows what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Less supervision is needed when you empower your agents with education and skills.

Increased Workplace and Industry Engagement

Regular development initiatives can help keep agents motivated, and up to date with what is happening in the Real Estate Industry. An engaged agent is a productive agent.

The Rise of Technology and an ever-changing World

With the rise of technology and an ever-changing world,  agents that are not upskilled or reskilled on a regular basis will be left behind. The Real Estate Industry is changing at a rapid speed when it comes to legislation and obligations. An agent that is not trained and educated on these changes and requirements, cannot service clients effectively and to the best of their ability.

Company Reputation and Future

When a Principal sends an agent out into the field, they are sending them out with the company’s name and future in the palm of their hand. An untrained and unskilled agent can destroy a company’s reputation without meaning to. As Real Estate Professionals we have an obligation to service our clients by providing them with relevant, correct and timeous information, none of which is possible with an untrained or unskilled agent.

Conclusion

Having trained agents is the most critical asset a Real Estate office can have. Having a high quality and comprehensive Agent Training Development Program enables you to strengthen the skills your agents already possess as well as to build up knowledge where it is lacking. A Real Estate Agent Training Development Program will bring all of your agents up to a higher standard of competency so that your entire team can share a common set of knowledge and skills. At Century 21 South Africa we ensure our training is of the highest standards, current and applicable to today’s market.

For more information about training please contact [email protected].

Author: Nicolene Hamaty – National Training Manager/Head of Training and Education at Century 21 South Africa

10 December 2021