By the very nature of their profession, real estate agents are busy people, so when it comes to pursuing further study, the traditional process can be prohibitive.
Often, those embarking on the completion of their full licence already have successful careers, and in many cases have worked in the real estate industry for some time.
And that can leave students with two possible barriers – studying subjects they already know (and wasting precious time), or requiring support from others, but finding no one available when they finally have time to sit down and hit the books.
That’s where Entry Education comes in.
Seven years ago, the Entry Education team identified a gap in the market – the provision of high quality real estate education, delivered outside the traditional model, to enable professionals to access support when they needed it.
“We had identified a small gap in the market where traditional education was more of a one size fits all approach,” partner Cale Morton explained.
“We wanted to focus on support and developing tailored training programs specifically for the real estate agents partaking in the course.”
While online education isn’t new, Entry Education has taken a unique approach to combat the dismay often felt by real estate agents regarding support and direct communication.
Mr Morton said the key part of Entry Education’s service offering was one-on-one support, anytime, anywhere.
“It’s reaching out and being accessible to students, whether that’s outside of business hours or even on the weekends, not having them email you back within a couple of days,” he said.
“We’ll go and visit our students, one-on-one, at their office or workplace, or wherever they might need us to really develop that relationship with them. That’s what makes the difference.”
Unique to Entry Education is its personal approach to learning. The courses offered are by no means cookie-cutter; in fact they’re specifically tailored to cater to the needs of the individual agent completing the course.
To achieve that, the Entry Education team speaks with each applicant personally, to identify exactly what they’re looking for.
For many Entry Education students, that core need is obtaining a full licence – a critical step for any real estate professional.
“A full licence allows you to list and sell independently, whereas the entry level qualification restricts you in some of your activities,” Mr Morton said.
“At some point, real estate professionals are going to take the next step as an agent.
“So whether that’s in four months, six months or 18 months, we encourage people to take that step and become fully qualified, and build their own credentials and personal brand.”
According to Mr Cale, prior to Entry Education’s entry into the market, the real estate industry’s education sector had remained old-fashioned in its delivery, and out of touch in terms of support.
“It was old school in a sense, where education was boring. It wasn’t fun. It was just something that was required.
“So we wanted to take those requirements, and allow real estate agents to customise our courses to create something that’s both achievable and fulfilling.”
So if an agent can prove they have experience or sufficient knowledge in a particular area, Entry Education will give them credit for that, meaning they don’t have to complete unnecessary assessment tasks.
“We review every agent’s portfolio of experience individually and credit what they already know or have experience in,” Mr Morton said.
“We can have two agents from the same office completing a full licence course at the same time, but they’ll actually have totally different units to complete.”
And that support and relationship building extended beyond the life of the course, Mr Morton said.
In fact, Entry Education prides itself on its relationship with real estate agents after they’ve completed their course. It’s why the organic growth of the business has been fuelled by word of mouth referrals.
“After agents complete their course, to become fully qualified real estate agents working in the industry, we often keep in contact, have catch-ups and maintain the relationship with them.
“Those agents then go on to become advocates for Entry Education – most of our business comes from referrals, often from agents who have come through two or three years earlier.”
Entry Education also offers CPD training for agents who are required to complete this in NSW.
For NSW agents looking to complete their Class 2 or Class 1 Licences, Entry Education offers a variety of processes that allows agents to complete in a timely manner – Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice CPP41419 and Diploma of Property – Agency Management CPP51119
