Crossing the Chasm: Gaining Academy Adoption with @properties

Name a bigger challenge than academy engagement. 

We’ll wait. 

Nothing else comes to mind? Same.

Launching an academy is great, but all that time and effort is for naught if you can’t get your agents to repeatedly flock to your academy. 

As you may very well know, that’s easier said than done. 

To consistently generate academy engagement and adoption among your agents you need a plan—or you can just read what Kevin Van Eck, EVP of Innovation at @properties, had to say about the topic.

Just want to watch the webinar? 

1. Make Learning a Habit

   Your agents have a lot on their plates.

   Meeting with clients (and prospective clients).

   Staging and showing homes.

   Scheduling appraisals and inspections.

   The real estate agents constantly have their plates full.

   What’s not always on their plate is ongoing learning to level up their skills—the same skills necessary to deliver exceptional client experiences and put the most money in their pockets.

   Here’s the thing: The lack of learning doesn’t stem from a lack of interest.

   Instead, it comes from a lack of familiarity. Most agents aren’t accustom to weaving learning into their day-to-day routines. Historically, most agents moved at breakneck to close deals now, not necessarily position themselves to close more in the future.

   So, whether you’re launching your academy for the first time or onboarding an influx of new agents, your first step to engagement and long-term adoption is to make learning a habit.

   Do this by getting each agent into your academy and completing their first course or activity as quickly as possible.

   The sooner you can do this, the sooner you ingrain learning into their routines.

2. Get Everyone Excited

   As the leader of your real estate agent academy—or someone on the team—there’s no doubt you’re excited for what’s to come. (I’m just as excited for you!)

   Unfortunately, others may not share that same sentiment for no other reason than they don’t know to be excited.

   This is especially true for real estate brokerages launching an academy for the first time. Simply put, they don’t know what to expect or what’s in it for them (like more money, faster closing times and more). 

   It’s your job to create this excitement. To do this, team up with local office managers, the rest of the team and anyone else learner-facing to spread the word about what you’re up to.

   When you’re doing this, focus on agent benefits and how your academy will help them. Sure, your academy is to help the brokerage grow, but that’s not what your agents really care about.

   They’ll get excited when they find out how it’s going to help them.

3. Be Buzzworthy

   Historically, learning teams of all stripes have fought for academy engagement with tactics like emails, social posts, texts and in-app messages (which aren’t worth put if people aren’t in the academy).

   There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with these tactics—you’re still going to use them—but they’re going to get lost if you don’t approach them the right way.

   This is why any academy promotion, either on launch day or ongoing, must break through the noise on these channels.

   Your goal: Create as much buzz as possible.

   A great way to do that is to scroll through popular social platforms and see what’s trendy (dare I say, going viral?).

   This could mean short videos, punchy headlines, humor or anything inbetween. If it’ll help you stand out from the crowd, consider it worth it.

4. Be Valuable

   Think about anything in life that you use frequently. What do they have in common?

   They provide some value in some way. If they didn’t, you wouldn’t use whatever it is.

   Apply this to the way you think about how you market your academy.

   Is the message you’re sending out to your agents clearly articulating what’s in it for them?

   Does it make it clear that you’re doing this for their benefit and not yours?

   If not, switch up your messaging.

   At the same time, make sure your content delivers on that promise.

   Whether that’s helping agents stay current on local markets, allowing them to better market their services or closing deals faster, it’s imperative that everything you get in front of them from day 1 to day 100 (and beyond) is valuable.

   If it’s not, engagement will drop. I promise. 

5. Use Testimonials

   Influencer marketing works because people trust their peers more than they do anyone else.

   In fact, 80% of marketers say influencer marketing is effective and 89% say it works just as well (if not better) than other channels.

   Even more impressive is that 92% of consumers trust word-of-mouth or recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising.

   Clearly, words matter.

   Use that to your advantage when you’re promoting your academy by getting a handful of your best agents to speak openly about why they love it and how it benefits them.

   Even better, get them on camera and use those clips to launch ads across social media channels.

6. Pay for It

   Most forms of academy marketing will be of the organic variety. That said, don’t discount paid tactics (if you have the budget) as a way to significantly increase the likelihood that you get in front of your agents with the right message at the right time.

   If have the budget and resources, target your agents across Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and other channels they use daily to let them know what’s going on.

   For example, you could launch an ad that lets your agents know there’s a new course live or that you’ve made a new certification available to them.

7. Track KPIs

   You don’t know what you don’t know, which is why paying close attention to certain key performance indicators (KPIs) is so important.

   After you launch, keep an eye on KPIs related to completion rate and returning learners to guage academy impact and if your marketing efforts paid off.

   Then, take those learnings and apply them in the future to maximize initial engagement and long-term adoption.

Take Your Real Estate Academy to the Next Level

Want to learn more about how gain academy adoption now and for years to come? Reach out today and one of our real estate learning experts will be in touch.