Eastern’s new world class broker training program By Schnurman

As chief sales officer at Eastern Consolidated, one of my charges is to develop a world class training program for new brokers. Most of my career has been focused on developing brokers - at Morgan Stanley, Wachovia Bank and in the New York City real estate industry for the past 12 years - but I have never been impressed by the training models in real estate. There are two predominant training models for real estate brokers.  Model one, takes about 15 seconds, and provides a phone, a kick in the pants, and then training is essentially over because senior brokers abhor spending the time neophytes need.  Model two is a structured, classroom training model that lasts for a month or longer.  No need to address the failing of the former model so let’s address the latter’s myriad weaknesses. There are three components of performance; knowledge, skills, attitude and habits. A discussion in the training context is instructive. Important real estate knowledge includes things like real estate metrics, terminology and concepts, comps, technology, market trends, key players, etc. The challenge with a long training program is that there are diminishing returns, and people retain knowledge that they can assimilate and have reference points for. Subjects like development rights or rent regulation are difficult to learn, until you are managing real life issues. Academic knowledge is rarely retained, if never used. Communication, presentation and interpersonal skills are critical for brokers. Once again, training should cover basic skill development, but brokers learn by doing. Training should be long enough to highlight and develop basic skills, but short enough that it does not become a waste of time. Emotional intelligence, commitment and whether someone is positive or negative are some of the critical aspects of attitude. All training programs are ineffective in addressing this component. Successful brokers develop effective habits. Habits are borne from repeated action. Training can only create the habits associated with being a good trainee, but they do not determine whether someone will be a good broker. At Eastern, we developed a new world class broker training program. Initial training is one week, and is intensive. Then, our Eastern Institute kicks in which regularly puts our brokers in front of the best and brightest minds in real estate, and since they are brokers they can ask the right question and retain the most relevant knowledge. In addition, we conduct weekly advanced skills training sessions, designed to continually sharpen the saw. Finally, we have coaches in all of our divisions with significant brokerage experience whose sole job is to coach the brokers. The proof is in the pudding, as we have developed multiple million dollar producers since implementing the program less than three years ago. In a results driven business, Eastern’s know no peers! Mark Schnurman is the chief sales officer, principal at Eastern Consolidated, New York, N.Y.