Training, Education, and Professional Development - Do you know the difference?

The month of November has been deemed Designation Awareness Month by the National Association of REALTORS® and  online courses are being offered at 20% off.

REALTORS® are bombarded with opportunities for education, CE, training and coaching. Today’s technology makes these opportunities more convenient than ever before.  With the availability of online and virtual sessions, there is no need to visit a classroom or interrupt your schedule to be somewhere in person.  However, training, education, and professional development are not all the same so the real question is –  do you know the difference?

Training is defined as “the action of teaching a person a skill or type of behavior.” So think of this as the initial steps to getting your real estate license. Real estate school prepared you with the training that would help you take and pass the licensing exam. But as many quickly found out, that doesn’t nearly prepare you for the skills that are needed to be successful in this business of real estate. Next, you join a brokerage and get started in your career and there begins the education part. Education is defined “as the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction.” There are several options that fall in this bucket: the required kind AKA continuing education credit or CE, process and forms with things from a company or local board standpoint, and then there’s the elective kind that is typically in an area that you have an interest in learning more about. A strategy of completing CE and doing education is a pretty good one as you get busy working with clients. Some of these are readily available and offered at no charge and some have small fees attached. For the most part, these offerings are good enough to get you by and there is always something you pick up. Pretty soon getting the required hours completed becomes an easy task for some and for others, they rally and knock it all out online in the few remaining hours of the deadline.

So that leaves professional development.  What is it? And how is it different?

Professional development is defined as “learning to earn or maintain professional credentials such as academic degrees to formal coursework, attending conferences, and informal learning opportunities situated in practice.”   The value REALTORS® place within this category of offerings determine whether they are a knowledgeable and professional REALTOR®. The value organizations place on providing or encouraging this type of development speaks volumes to the caliber of professionals they seek to invest in. This curriculum is found in the form of designations and certifications along with attending and participating in industry related events and conferences. Some of these time tested credentials are the  Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) designation  and the  Graduate REALTOR® Institute (GRI)  for residential practitioners and the  Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM)  or  Certified Property Manager (CPM)  for those on the commercial side. There are even credentials for the  Certified Real Estate Brokerage Manager (CRB)  or for a  Team Specialist. The National Association of REALTORS® and its affiliated Institutes, Societies, and Councils provide a wide-range of programs and services that help members increase their skills, proficiency, and knowledge. In Louisiana, the  GRI program  is made up of 96 hours of curriculum and doubles as credit for many of NAR’s designations and certifications. These offerings typically require more of an investment both in registration fees and of time in order to earn them. However, the profile of REALTOR® members attributes an increase in annual income for those that have earned credentials versus industry practitioners who have not.

What is the bottom line?  

You get out what you put in, and in this case a commitment to professional development can increase your success as a knowledgeable and professional REALTOR®.  Minimal preparation, minimal passion, and minimal growth will only create minimal results.  Take time this November to take advantage of the 20% savings on the National Association of REALTORS® online courses and look for our schedule in 2020 to maximize your skills and earn maximum results. For questions about education or to talk more about developing an education plan that works for you, contact Angela Walters at angela@larealtors.org or Amy Fennell at amy@larealtors.org.