Day 20 of 30 – Robert Earl’s Prospective Agent Mentorship Guide – Digital Agent Show
The real estate industry is always on the move, whether it’s a hot new marketing strategy, the latest market fluctuations, recently-passed legislation, or upcoming interior design trends. You indeed learn a lot in your pre-licensing coursework—nobody can dispute that. But if you want to stay on top of your game six months, three years, or two decades into your real estate career, you need to join a company that puts training and education at the forefront.
The best training real estate company year after year is Keller Williams (#1 on the Training Top 125). KW offers unrivaled new agent training (Ignite), Mega Agent Expansion to extend the reach of top-producers, BOLD to send revenue and sales through the roof, and Family Reunion for all agents.
You might be thinking to yourself, “All real estate companies have training. Why is Keller Williams any different from the rest?” To learn about why Keller Williams is at the top of the list for best real estate training programs, read on.
Before You Join a Brokerage: Pre-Licensing Training
Keller Williams is the best brokerage for you if you value education, training, and efficiently building your business. However, to get to your end goal of being a KW agent, you have to start back at square one—in this case, that’s completing your state’s required pre-licensing first.
But with hundreds of real estate schools to choose from, both in-person and online, it’s easy to get into the mindset that any school will work.
That’s not true!
If you want to complete your 40-180 hours of pre-licensing quickly, conveniently, and affordably (and also finish the course with skills you can bring forward through your career), it’s in your best interest to choose a real estate school like Colibri Real Estate or The CE Shop.
Let’s talk about why these schools are a fantastic choice.
Colibri Real Estate
Colibri Real Estate is one of the most popular online real estate schools today, responsible for training over 400,000 new real estate agents over the last 20 years. Now offering pre-licensing courses for 30 U.S. states (and with some still in the works), Colibri Real Estate (formerly Real Estate Express) sets the bar high for what a digital real estate school should be.
Rather than fulfilling your state’s bare minimum pre-licensing hours and courses, this online school also offers:
- Competitive pricing (many state courses valued at less than $200)
- Multiple packages to choose from (including exam prep)
- Digital textbooks (aka, eBooks)
- Instructor support and a live Q&A (get the answers to your questions)
- Exam prep with practice exams (“Pass or Don’t Pay” Guarantee)
- A 90-Day Boot Camp for new agents (scripts, pipelines, and business planning)
By choosing Colibri Real Estate as your real estate school, you’re not just completing your state’s pre-licensing requirements. You can also guarantee that you pass your state exam on the first try and learn a few pro tips to begin your new career on the right foot.
The CE Shop
The CE Shop is another wildly popular online real estate school on the pre-licensing, post-licensing, and continuing education fronts. Not only will attending The CE Shop fast-track your licensure, but many of their programs also come with an incredible 90%+ pass rate on the state exam and a student satisfaction rate of 96%.
Along with the basic state-mandated coursework, exam prep programs, and a “Pass” Guarantee at a fairly reasonable price, The CE Shop offers incredible benefits like:
- Career-building tips (learn about your career before it begins)
- Flashcards, glossaries, and textbooks (plus a study schedule to keep you on track)
- Q&A sessions with instructors and online webinars (learn more than what’s on the real estate exam)
The CE Shop is a few steps beyond the average online real estate school, making it an excellent choice if you want to learn more than how to pass your state exam. You’ll have every career-building tool at your disposal regardless of the type of package you select.
Why Keller Williams Is the #1 Training Company
Keller Williams began in 1983 in a small office in Austin, Texas, with just a few agents.
Today, 37 years after its inception, Keller Williams now has more than 150,000 real estate agents in America, closes more than a million transactions (worth over $350 billion) a year, and has more than 1,000 offices across the globe.
This highly-awarded company has also ranked on lists like:
- Best Employer For Women
- Most Innovative Franchise in Real Estate
- Best Companies For Diversity (2020)
- Best Places to Work (2020)
- Top-Rated Workplaces for Veterans
- Top Work-Life Balance Company
- America’s Best Employers
- Happiest Company to Work For in America
And that just within the last year. Keller Williams consistently earns recognition for being one of the top-ranking companies in both the real estate industry and across all industries.
What you’ll notice about these awards is that they don’t revolve around the business end of running a real estate company, but rather how much Keller Williams agents like working for the company. The satisfaction of being a KW agent stems from the incredible company culture, Profit Share System, and—most of all—unmatched training opportunities that ensure success across the board.
Let’s review all of the best real estate training programs Keller Williams has (and just how big of a difference they can make).
Consistently Ranking on the Training 125
Every real estate agent with an ounce of loyalty toward their brokerage will claim their company is the best there ever was.
But with Keller Williams, the proof is in the pudding, especially on the training front. The year 2017 marked KW’s fourth appearance on Training Magazine’s Training 125, a ranking of the best companies globally with unmatched employee-sponsored training opportunities.
Keller Willams claimed the #1 slot on the list in 2015 and has ranked within the top five consistently between 2014 and 2017. The same year KW reached #1, the company recruited 18% more agents and 16% more commission than the year prior—all thanks to stellar training programs that KW offers.
Not only does Keller Williams provide the best training to its agents among all other franchise brokerages, but it’s also one of the top training companies across all international industries.
Now, Weichert, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, and REMAX probably can’t say the same.
Best Training for New Agents: Ignite
New agent training isn’t a ground-breaking idea with Gary Keller or Joe Williams as the mastermind. These days, any real estate company knows that training is a central sticking point among younger and newer agents looking to break into the industry, so “new agent training” or “orientation” is now the norm.
The problem is this: What many of these companies call “new agent training” is nothing more than hours wasted learning about why the company is “the best” and encouraging agents to build pride in their new company—that’s it! You don’t learn a thing about building your business, generating leads, or learning vital communication skills.
Keller Williams’ version of new agent training, something called “Ignite,” is ground-breaking in its own sense. The Ignite program lasts a month and extends across 18 three-hour sessions, which is already far more comprehensive than most companies will provide their new agents.
A top-producing agent in your Market Center will teach each class, guiding you through many helpful activities and lessons you can put into action on day one.
Your instructor can also serve as your unofficial mentor during your first month as an agent, who’s a reliable source of industry and business-building knowledge.
Throughout the month-long Ignite program, you’ll learn about things like:
- Expanding your database
- Generating leads
- Communicating with clients
- Learning scripts that convert
- Setting business and personal goals
- Fundamentals of real estate (setting sales prices, negotiating deals, etc.)
While attending the Ignite program, the end goal is to adopt the habits of top-producing agents and learn to live the belief system of Keller Williams (WI4C2TS).
Ignite is also where you’ll pick up on Keller Williams’ 10-4 strategy:
- Adding 10 new people to your database a day
- Calling 10 people in your database a day
- Writing 10 notes to your database a day
- Previewing 10 homes a week
Most Keller Williams agents who attend Ignite conclude the training program with several hot leads, and it’s not unusual to leave Ignite with your very first listing or a pending sale. With any other company, it may take you six months or a year to see the same results.
Take a look at the video below, which comes from the perspective of Ignite program facilitators explaining the program’s wide-ranging benefits and what type of materials you’ll cover:
Best Training for Top-Producers: Mega Agent Expansion
Right now, you may be an up-and-coming real estate agent looking for a fantastic brokerage to join after you get your license. But somewhere down the road, you might be closing several deals per month with the hopes of expanding your business even further.
Keller Williams doesn’t only mold new agents into successful agents—it also turns its exceptional agents into “mega agents.”
Enter the Mega Agent Expansion program from Keller Williams.
This training program is specifically for top-producing agents who already “own” the local market and want to expand into other counties, states, and countries. As a result, top-producing agents can bring their success over state and county lines while producing profit margins that didn’t even exist even a few years or decades ago.
Some Mega Agent leaders close thousands of deals a year with their team’s help, worth over $600 million in volume. Mega Agent Expansion is possible thanks to KW’s own Expansion Systems Orientation, also known as ESO.
Through this unique training program, you’ll learn about things like:
- The economics of expansion (and how to do it efficiently)
- Generating leads on a nationwide or global scale
- Leading and developing a positive company culture
- Figuring out where to expand and who to add to your team
- Breaking through the myths of expansion
You can’t be in California, Virginia, South Dakota, and Maine all at once, which is where this new ESO program shines brighter than any other program. Instead of jetting around the nation to work with clients, you’ll build a team of trusted agents across the country that you can rely on.
The days of sending your leads through a referral system and hoping another agent finishes the deal are officially gone—it’s time to build your real estate empire!
Do you want to learn a little bit more about the Mega Agent Expansion initiative? The video below explains the logic behind this program and how it’ll send your potential soaring:
Best Training for Higher Commission: BOLD
Now, we’ve gone over the training that Keller Williams provides brand new agents, and we’ve discussed the training for those at the top of their careers. But if you’re somewhere in the middle, it can be a bit awkward—you know the industry and business fundamentals and all you want to do is take them a step further.
Fortunately, whether you’ve been an agent for six months or thirty years, BOLD (Business Objective: A Life By Design) by Keller Williams can be an excellent career-changing decision.
BOLD is a seven-week program hosted in dozens of locations across the United States, giving KW agents from coast to coast the opportunity to succeed. This program is about learning to adopt a growth mindset, improve your communication skills, expand your business-building tactics, and learn to generate leads like a pro.
What makes BOLD a leap above the rest is that you get to take what you learn and put it into practice while still in the class.
You’ll learn how to use the scripts that convert, put them into practice during each training session, and walk away with leads you didn’t have before. You’ll also be in a “team” through the course’s duration, allowing you to meet other local agents, build a referral network, and lean on one another for support as you work to grow your business.
According to Gary Keller himself, agents who participate in BOLD finish the seven-week course with an average of:
- 14.2 contracts
- 50% increase in written units
- 50% increase in sold units
- 114% increase in GCI
Looking at these results from the mathematical side of things, the average agent leaves BOLD with a whopping $70,000 in commission (in just seven weeks) and the potential to draw in over half a million in sales by the end of the year.
But the best part is: These astounding results hold regardless of how long you’ve already been in the industry, assuming you’re willing to dedicate four hours a day to lead generation!
The BOLD program by Keller Williams is top-of-the-line, and that’s something we can prove too. In the video below, you can hear from Gary Keller (co-founder of Keller Williams) as he explains the undeniable benefits of attending BOLD:
Best Training for All Agents: Mega Camp & Family Reunion
Both company culture and training opportunities are the main focuses of Keller Williams as a whole. And in true KW fashion, the company hosts multiple annual events throughout the year that bring both of these concepts together like never before.
We’re talking about Mega Camp and Family Reunion, two of the hottest KW-sponsored events that attract tens of thousands of agents to one place.
You may be wondering: What are these events, how will I benefit from them, and what makes them different from conferences hosted by other franchise brokerages?
Allow us to explain.
Mega Camp
Mega Camp is a real estate summit exclusively for top-producing Keller Williams agents.
While attending this week-long conference that’s so large that they need to book a massive convention center to hold all attending agents, you can attend sessions focusing on building your business and expanding across the country.
You can choose a training track for the week, such as lead generation or commercial real estate, and hone in on your business areas that need a little extra molding.
Family Reunion
Family Reunion, on the other hand, is a Keller Williams training event for agents young and old.
For four jam-packed days, you’ll hear from keynote speakers, Gary Keller, and industry leaders about what works, what doesn’t, and where the market seems to be heading.
You have full control over the breakout sessions you choose and, with hundreds to choose from, you can learn about lead generation one day and hosting open houses the next. There’s no doubt that you’ll leave Family Reunion with something worth sharing with your Market Center.
While national conferences aren’t exactly a brand new idea, the way Keller Williams goes about hosting them is far better than other companies. Not only can you expand your knowledge base and learn new skills, but you can also meet new agents, build a wide-ranging referral base, and begin each day with a glimmer of positivity and inspiration.
Best Training Anywhere & Everywhere: KW Connect
Training programs, live events, and in-office educational sessions are already enough to set Keller Williams apart from nearly every other brokerage out there.
But when you’re a successful agent or even a new agent needing a little extra guidance, it doesn’t make sense to enroll in week-long courses with hour-long sessions. As a Keller Williams agent, KW Connect gives you access to the unmatched KW training that you know very well while condensing it into an easy-to-use online module.
Through KW Connect, you have access to things like referrals (find them and send them), script videos (memorize the lines that convert leads into clients), and listing presentation clips (learn how to impress sellers and convince them you’re the man for the job).
With troves of articles, videos, and modules on KW Connect, you can learn about topics of interest to you that can help you grow your business as an agent, like:
- How to choose a list price
- Improving your daily productivity
- Using social media marketing
- Hosting an open house
- Reaching out to FSBOs
- Setting realistic business goals
The training opportunities are practically endless thanks to KW Connect.
Not only do you not have to wait until an in-person training class you’re interested in pops up on your local Market Center’s schedule, but you can also find what you need with a search of the platform. It’s all about efficiency in real estate, and KW Connect surely puts that on display.
Best Training for Readers: The Millionaire Real Estate Agent
As a real estate agent, you may not have the time to curl up with a good book and a cup of coffee to start your Saturday morning off right. However, it should give you a little peace of mind that, when you choose KW, you also happen to be selecting the company behind The Millionaire Real Estate Agent.
Gary Keller, the co-founder of Keller Williams, wrote this ground-breaking book over 16 years ago, and it’s still going strong and making waves in the industry.
The best part about having this book in your real estate company’s history is that the KW belief system and strategy come directly from the ideas written in this piece. With that in mind, if you plan on joining Keller Williams, reading this book is an absolute “must.”
As the name suggests, reading this book will give you every bit of information you need to know to break $1,000,000 in commission in a single year as an agent.
The book will delve into the best tactics for becoming a top-producer (slow and steady wins the race), the behaviors and habits of high-volume agents that work, and begin your path toward pocketing your first million. The best part about this book is that you don’t already have to be earning half a million in commission to be able to relate.
And assuming you’re willing to put what you learn in the book into practice, you can achieve these goals regardless of your industry experience.
The life of a real estate agent is busy, and there’s not enough time in a day to set aside a few hours to read The Millionaire Real Estate Agent. Check out the video below, which will explain the book’s key points in just five minutes:
Why Is Training So Important for Real Estate Agents?
If you’ve been following along closely until now, you can see that Keller Williams goes well beyond what other companies are willing to do in the training sense.
While impressive, you may not entirely understand why KW puts such an emphasis on training or whether attending a training program or conference can make a difference in your career.
As we mentioned earlier, the real estate industry changes with each decade, year, month, and even day that passes.
And that goes for every minor piece of the industry (laws, trends, markets, tools, etc.).
So, just how much change are we talking about?
Think about this:
- The Fair Housing Act didn’t exist until 1968.
- Lead paint in homes became illegal in 1978.
- Google Ads saw its beginnings in 2000.
- Zillow wasn’t around until 2004.
- Facebook marketing started in 2007.
- The housing market burst in 2007.
- Instagram became famous in 2010.
- Mortgage rates dropped to as low as 3% in 2020.
Every single one of these events and innovations contributed to how the real estate industry functions day-to-day and how real estate agents run their businesses.
For example, plenty of agents in the 1990s prioritized cold-calling and door-knocking to generate leads. But with the growing popularity of the internet and real estate agents taking notice, many “old school” agents had to learn how to use social media and PPC ads to compete with tech-savvy agents.
The same idea goes for changes to laws and trends in the market. At a certain point, your old strategies won’t always work or be legal anymore. To remain successful as a real estate agent, you have to learn to adapt to how the industry changes to maintain a positive trend in building your business.
Otherwise, you’ll get left behind.
Now, say you avoid training programs and classes for a year or more. Will you miss anything substantial enough that’ll cause your entire career to tank in a few weeks?
Probably not.
But you’re only shooting yourself in the foot by sticking to what you know because “it works right now.” With that in mind, it’s important to pursue training as often as possible while not letting it consume too much time that you could be spending with clients.
And the best way to do that is by joining a training-based company like KW, where the opportunities are endless!
Conclusion
Year after year, Keller Williams does the impossible and proves itself to be the best training company for real estate agents. But while being an agent with KW already gives you an advantage that other agents will never see, you won’t reap the benefits without putting forth effort.
Commit to lead generation, building your client communication skills, setting realistic goals you can stick to, and pursuing additional training as often as possible.
Remember: No amount of training will make a difference if you don’t take what you learn and put it into action.
