Cover Story: The Path Forward for Real Estate

Buffini & Company and NAR Team Up for Agents

2020 was an unprecedented year, with communities everywhere facing challenges like never before. Despite everything, however, people have still found a way to make progress and move forward. This is especially true in the world of real estate.

Historically, there has never really been a predetermined pathway to success that real estate professionals could follow. Too often, the industry has been a business of trial and error, with new agents having to learn on the fly. The changing landscape of social media, coupled with constantly evolving technological advances, mean it is even more difficult for agents to figure out how to move forward, grow and be successful in a crowded marketplace.

The great news is that the road to success has recently become much easier to navigate. In an industry first, Buffini & Company, the largest real estate coaching and training company in North America, has joined forces with the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) to introduce an innovative new training program for real estate professionals to get a kickstart in the industry, build a solid foundation and achieve long-term success in their careers.

With over 1.4 million members, NAR is the largest trade association in the world. This new partnership with Buffini & Company is part of the association’s ongoing effort to support its membership by providing access to the latest research and educational resources in the industry. This partnership adds a significant new layer to its benefit offerings.

Founded by motivational speaker and real estate industry legend Brian Buffini, Buffini & Company is known for its unique and highly-effective lead generation system and world-renowned coaching and training programs. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2021, Buffini & Company’s 240 staff members are dedicated to helping real estate professionals build strong, productive businesses and enhance the quality of their lives.

These industry powerhouses agree that solid professional training is the key to ensuring new real estate licensees establish themselves quickly and effectively. Training is a Buffini & Company specialty. The organization has trained and coached more than 3 million agents in 37 countries worldwide, with remarkable results.  While enhancing training opportunities, NAR and Buffini & Company are taking aim at the industry’s significant retention issue. Offering newly licensed agents a structured career path will ensure this ongoing problem is comprehensively addressed.

At the 2020 REALTORS® Conference & Expo this past November, Buffini and NAR CEO Bob Goldberg formally announced this collaborative training program, which includes a systemized real estate career path: 100 Days to Greatness®. Intentionally designed for new and incoming agents to jumpstart their business and set the foundation for long-term success, 100 Days to Greatness® is one of the most comprehensive, step-by-step training programs ever created for the real estate industry.

“I’ve long admired Brian’s ability to motivate and inspire our industry, and I know we have a shared passion for creating a strong path of success for REALTORS®, especially those who are new to the field,” Goldberg told thousands of REALTORS® who tuned in virtually to this year’s conference.

About 100 Days to Greatness®
100 Days to Greatness® is an intensive and broad-reaching 14-week program with 21 modules of video training, weekly action steps and important NAR resources for new members as they begin to build their businesses.

The program focuses on the nuts and bolts of real estate, teaching agents how to hone their skills in specific areas such as building a database from the ground up, generating a consistent and steady stream of quality leads, and mastering the listing presentation. New agents will also learn the best practices for creating clients for life, the special skills needed to close sales, and effective strategies for handling common buyer/seller issues, such as how to present a price reduction option if it’s in a client’s best interest.

Beyond that, agents learn the fundamentals of Buffini & Company’s “Working by Referral” system, simply defined as a consistent level of contact with and care for the people in their database, leading to a steady stream of repeat business and referrals from their friends and associates. Finally, agents will learn how to handle money and how to run the day-to-day operations of a professional business.

“We’re very proud to partner with the National Association of REALTORS® to help agents launch their careers,” says Buffini. “Real estate is the greatest business in the world, but it’s not always easy. The industry can be tough to get a start in since there’s a high turnover rate, and it requires an enormous amount of commitment to succeed. As a new agent, what you do in the first 100 days will affect your career for years to come. If you want to establish a solid foundation for a long-lasting business, there are fundamentals you have to get right. In 100 Days to Greatness®, agents will set that foundation.”

Through NAR’s REALTOR Benefits® Program, which connects members with savings and unique offers on dozens of valuable products and services, REALTORS® will receive a $100 discount off the standard list price of $495.

For Goldberg, adding the latest Buffini & Company training offering to NAR’s member benefits program empowers REALTORS® and is one more opportunity to increase professionalism in the industry. “At NAR, our job is to provide members with the resources and support they need to make their businesses thrive, and this program partnership is part of that commitment to their success,” Goldberg notes.

A Real Estate Career Path
Unlike much of the corporate world, the path to success in real estate has no set structure.

“In most professions, there’s a clear career path showing you how to get a promotion or move up the ladder,” says Buffini. “In real estate, that progression is often much less defined.”

Until now, agents have generally had to figure out for themselves what the top of the mountain looked like as well as how to get there. Buffini has been working for years to take the guesswork out of a real estate agent’s professional advancement. The career path defined in 100 Days to Greatness® is based on more than 25 years of extensive research.

“This program is a proven formula for success in real estate. It gives people the tools they need to figure out where they are and what they need to do to progress to the next level and achieve phenomenal success,” explains Buffini.

Buffini & Company’s career path as defined in the 100 Days to Greatness® training program.The career path for real estate agents resembles a staircase with four major steps. It starts with a new agent who has just received his or her real estate license. With the proper training, Buffini says these agents can expect to make up to $100,000 per year by learning and mastering the fundamentals of the business.

Next, the new licensee becomes a producing agent with potential yearly earnings of up to $300,000 as they master the Working by Referral system, generating referrals from past clients.

A producing agent, with advanced training to further expand a more extensive database and develop a steady stream of quality referrals, turns into a professional agent with earning potential of up to $500,000 annually.

Finally, at the top of the staircase, an agent will emerge as an industry leader with the ability to earn seven figures while building a professional legacy as they develop, grow and mentor their team, and invest their time and resources in their communities and their industry.

At each step along this career path, Buffini emphasizes that agents must actively and continually sharpen and hone their skills and improve their systems in preparation for the next level. For example, those looking to become a producing agent might look to master their negotiation skills, while agents working toward the professional category might work on perfecting the buyer experience.

Buffini teaches that skill building is especially important for those at the first step. An agent’s future in the industry depends on mastering the basics, learning how to run a business, and building real connections and long-term relationships with clients.

“People get into real estate with very high hopes and dreams of success. They want to go above and beyond in serving their clients and build a business that lasts. Unfortunately, many of them are woefully unprepared for the industry’s fast pace and many obstacles. They can quickly get discouraged by all the pitfalls and the hardship of finding that next listing,” says Buffini. “If new agents mastered the fundamentals early on and established a system for ongoing success, the stress would be eliminated. 100 Days to Greatness® gives an agent the tools, skillsets and mindset required to jumpstart a career and then watch it grow. This means less stress and more success.”

Helping Brokers Win
Goldberg notes that the association started looking for solutions after hearing from broker/owners concerned about the way new agents would come into the business with great excitement only to quickly fizzle out when they struggled with managing their day-to-day business operations. As a matter of fact, NAR research found that 85 percent of new agents will leave the business within five years.

“It’s bad for our industry that so many people get in, but then get out again so quickly,” says Buffini. When an agent is unable to sustain themselves during those first few years, Buffini believes it sends a message to the marketplace: Highly-skilled agents are a thing of the past. But there is a solution.

“When broker/owners offer state-of-the-art training, turnover dramatically decreases,” says Buffini. “We’ve worked with over 7,500 brokers/owners/managers during the past 25 years, and the data definitively shows that when you offer a solid training program at your brokerage, your recruiting and retention also become solid. It’s the secret sauce for brokerages.”

“Brian learned the real estate business from the ground up,” says Dermot Buffini, CEO of Buffini & Company. “Our coaching and training programs are built not only on his years of experience sitting at kitchen tables, but also on a structured road map that helps agents fulfill their potential and really succeed. We are 100-percent committed to partnering with agents and companies on the frontlines who want to build solid and long-lasting careers and businesses.”

Brokerages that embrace and promote high-level training testify to its success rate. At the offices of Century 21 Judge Fite Company in Texas, CEO Jim Fite aligns closely with the core values of Buffini & Company’s proven training programs. As a result, every new agent who joins the Judge Fite family is automatically enrolled in the Buffini “The Pathway to Mastery—Essentials” training program. “With that foundation, they learn how to develop business, generate leads, work those leads, give quality service, negotiate for the benefit of the client and ultimately make a friend for life who will give them referrals,” Fite says.

Bill Steddum, the Judge Fite Company’s director of training, says the power of these programs lies in results for novice and veteran agents alike, and that agents take notice.

“It increases our retention rate, slows down our turnover, and provides better service for buyers and sellers, while also increasing the quality of life for our agents,” Steddum says.

Real estate is a business with no ceiling—and no floor either. It’s an attractive industry for many, but it requires hard work to start out on a strong career path. According to Buffini, the road to success relies on exceptional training and coaching.

“One of my mentors, personal growth legend Jim Rohn, said, ‘If you work hard on your job, you can make a living, but if you work hard on yourself, you’ll make a fortune,'” recalls Buffini. In addition to 100 Days to Greatness®, designed to help new agents access the training they need, Buffini & Company has also partnered with RISMedia to offer quarterly broker sessions with Brian and Dermot Buffini to provide strategies, best practices and tips for helping agents become the most professional, productive and successful in the business.

The path forward for real estate is clear-cut. Successful agents mean successful brokerages; invest in getting agents the training and tools they need to follow a set career path that will help them master the fundamentals and build a long-term, thriving career, business and life. At the end of the day, this translates into a great experience for consumers, which is what being a professional, and successful, real estate agent is all about.

About Brian Buffini
Brian Buffini was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and immigrated to San Diego, Calif., in 1986, where he became the classic American rags-to-riches story. After becoming one of the top-producing real estate agents in the nation, he founded Buffini & Company, dedicated to sharing his powerful lead-generation systems with others. Buffini’s weekly podcast has reached 10 million-plus downloads in more than 178 countries. Buffini became a New York Times, Amazon and Wall Street Journal best-seller with his latest book, “The Emigrant Edge.” Today, he travels the world sharing a message of encouragement about how to “live the good life.” His wit, wisdom and motivational style make him a dynamic speaker, adept at helping people tap into their full potential and achieve their dreams.

For more information on real estate training options for both new and veteran agents, visit buffiniandcompany.com

Paige Tepping is RISMedia’s managing editor. Email her your real estate news ideas to paige@rismedia.com.