What Realtor Certifications Should I Get?

all right so you're a Realtor and now it is time to add a bunch of letters at the end of your name so you can prove your expertise right my name's chance Brown I'm the broker owner of CB&A real tours and I would like to talk to you about designations and certifications what you should be doing which ones you should get and how they ought to really be benefiting your business I have I think 11 designations and certifications I've kind of lost track of them because I'm an instructor and so I have to have the ones that I instruct anyways it doesn't really matter here's what I can tell you never one time in my career ever has my phone rung and somebody said well sir I see that you're an accredited buyer representative I'm looking to purchase a home and I would like someone who is accredited to help me never not one time if you're thinking that putting a few letters behind your name is going to make your phone ring the likelihood of that happening is actually very very small so let's talk a little bit about why we should get designations and certifications we get designations and certifications for the purpose of differentiating ourselves from the crowd if you go to Every designation or certifications website it cracks me up because it's always like people who hold this certification make 47% more than the average Realtor and I'm like yeah no [ __ ] they do because they're willing to go out and get a certification they're actually serious about their business so of course they do even if they didn't get that certification they probably would still make more money because they're serious about their business what you need to do is put yourself in the shoes of your client and say what's important to them so I'm going to rely on a little bit of research done by the National Association of realtorss every year they publish a report called the Nar profile of buyers and sellers which is a great resource that people should read more and it talks about what they're looking for in their Realtor and more often than not they want to guide to make sure that they get through the process without making mistakes and they want to make sure that they don't make a financial mistake those are the two big ones so if I can lay some framework from kind of foundational certifications that I think fit that mold you can get those and then if you want to go down a specialty a niche in the future of second properties and be a resort Specialist or a senior or military or whatever those are all out there as well but if I were starting today and I was going to be getting designations and certifications I would start on the buyer side with the accredited buyer representative I think it's a great designation it's a very good class and on the seller side with the seller representative specialist those are two that lay the foundation of working with Buyers working with sellers that's the guide part so they said they wanted a guide those two are going to show you how to be a great guide next on the list are the financial things and so I would look at one of the negotiation certifications or designations there's one inside the N family there's one outside both are quality but get your negotiation certification whether it's the reene or the CN and then also look at the PSA I think PSA which is the pricing strategy adviser is one of the best certifications to come out from n in a very very long time it's really applicable you actually build out a CMA in the class it's a great class that's the foundation you've got I'm able to be a guide because an AB or an SRS I'm able to help you with negotiation I'm able to help you with pricing so we're not making any Financial mistakes that lays the foundation like I said after that if you want to go out and you want to get a specialty and something that's more Niche or that shows more expertise like CRS or gri or something like that great go do that that's awesome but lay the foundation for Success early then know how to use that designation when you actually get in front of a client so I'm in the living room with a seller and I know that it's a competitive listing appointment I going to talk to that seller about why they should use me and part of that is I'm one of very few agents in the area that has a combination of the sellers representative specialist designation which allows me to have specialized knowledge on Guiding you through this process but I couple that by being a negotiation expert and a pricing expert and there are very few agents in this area that can say that and that's why you should hire me that's what designations and certifications should be used for do they look good on a business card or on your email signature sure whatever it just enforces your brand that you're an expert and I get that keep it up but what it really does is it allows you to differentiate yourself from the competition when you're sitting in somebody's living room and that's the most important part so we don't go get certifications and designations for vanity sake or just to put letters at the end of our last name what we should do is get them so that we are experts because when we're experts we have the knowledge we also gain confidence and so when we're sitting in front of a client we can confidently say that we can do better than everybody else and that is going to help you win more business in the long run