I just finished a two-day CRS class in Victorville, CA. CRS stands for Council of Residential Specialists, which is a special designation that Realtors can achieve by taking extra education courses as well as completing a certain amount of transaction. There are approximately 50,000 CRS members in the world, with the vast majority of them located in the U.S. This was my first class and my intention is to take a few more this year in order to achieve the CRS designation.
The particular class I took was the Listing Course (CRS 201), which included such topics as performing an effective listing presentation, seller guidance, pricing a home to sell, marketing plans, determining seller’s needs & motivations, and customer service. Although I have been in the business over 8 years and think I have been pretty successful at it, there is always room to learn.
The instructor for the course was Mr. Gee Dunsten of Salisbury, Maryland. Not only was he very humorous, Gee brought up countless numbers of practical examples of how we as Realtors could be more effective and provide better service our clients and other colleagues. It requires a bit if thinking outside of the typical real estate box, which in today’s market, is required. My task now is to take the top 5-10 items that I learned during the 2-days and schedule an action plan to implement them. As Gee mentioned (and I know this all too well), if you do not take action on the items you learn here within the next 2 weeks, then the chances are very high that you will never take action on them. They will be shoved in that file cabinet labeled “gotta do sometime.” That is a life lesson right there! I learn a lot about life everyday by selling real estate.
The ultimate goal here is to be better at my job and provide more value to the clients I serve. In further pursuit of this goal, I plan on taking Business Planning and Marketing (CRS 200) & Technology Course (CRS 206) this year. After that, I should be able to achieve the CRS designation. I encourage all interested Realtors to check these classes out as well.
