« Back to Homeplace Front

« Back to Homeplace Archives Front

At Coldwell Banker Triad, Realtors, education is easy with on-site training programs

By Cindy Hodnett
HomePlace Writer

Successful real-estate agents will tell you that their most productive professional time is spent away from the office. A positive bottom line often follows showing property to buyers and making presentations to sellers, and for many agents, a lot of time behind a desk means less time completing transactions.

At Coldwell Banker Triad, Realtors, the training staff and management recognize the value of time to the company's agents. After polling all CBTR agents in 2007 to find out what they needed to be more successful, company executives found that many agents were commuting long distances to training classes, time that could otherwise be used to meet with potential clients. This situation prompted the CBTR training team to look for a way to eliminate the productivity time drain, and the on-site training program was created.

"Every year, we work to make our training more relevant, more interactive and more client-oriented," said CBTR's Jodi Tate. "Our job in the training department is to keep all our agents ahead of the curve so that they can best serve our clients and sell more houses.

"In 2008, we've once again grown our training commitment," Tate said. "Gail Pawlik, an 11-year real-estate veteran, has been named training director and is nationally certified to offer all levels of training from new agents to ongoing state continuing education. CBTR's training department and real-estate school is now made up of seven recognized full-time staff and resident instructors."

Pawlik said that the survey was an important first step in finding out what the agents needed for continued success. For two consecutive years, CBTR agents have ranked in the top 10 for per-person productivity in the National Association of Realtors' Top 100 Companies study, and the company's management team wanted to keep the trend going.

"Our agents are busy selling real estate, and that's what we want them to do," Pawlik said. "Coldwell Banker Triad covers a broad market with seven offices, and the agents had to come here for training. So we decided that we would take the training to them, and now, I take each one of our mini-skills series out to the branch offices each quarter."

The skills series includes topics of interest for real-estate agents at every stage of their careers. The first series includes Creating PowerPoints, Converting Op Time, Checklists & Systems, and Presenting Offers. Series II provides instruction on creating a Web site tour, using Microsoft Word and marketing techniques. In the third series, agents learn about Excel, time management, and how to overcome objections and prepare sellers to sell. For the final series, the CBTR training team provides information about Microsoft Publisher, new-construction paperwork, and marketing and blogging.

"Our agents told us that they needed as much time out there as possible to be selling," Pawlik said. "I present each series seven times, teach the same course at all seven offices, and I've been very pleased to see our seasoned agents coming in for the classes."

Many of the training classes involve some form of technology, and Tate said that the curriculum is another example of how Coldwell Banker responds to the real-estate market environment.

"The new consumer is very educated about the real-estate process, and they want a Realtor who will be a partner," she said. "We refer to it as high-touch high-tech. Our clients are much more technology-friendly, and our agents have to be as informed as the client. This isn't in lieu of the personal relationship with the agent, but in addition to that relationship. ... If we make the environment more nurturing for our agents, they sell more houses, and that's what it is all about."

For more information about Coldwell Banker Triad, Realtors or to schedule a confidential interview, call 336-659-3240 or go to www.cbtriad.com.