How do trainees track their performance?

Following each part is an open book test and a closed book exam. For the open book tests, trainees are given the questions and are asked to go through their notes and the written material to answer the questions in essay form.

At the completion of both Part 1 and Part 2 of training, a closed book test is taken in the office without any notes or study materials. I go over each test with the trainees. No formal grades are given out. I just want to ensure that the trainees “get it.” We go over any topic that they are unsure of until they understand the subject.

And the seminars?

We have seminars scheduled every Tuesday and Thursday.

Neil Binder gives the Tuesday seminars to go over the material relating to selling and negotiating strategies. Those seminars include a lot of role playing and mock situations. Every Thursday there is a seminar given by a Bellmarc sales manager or outside expert on issues agents confront in the field, including board package preparation, mortgages, handling exclusive listings and pricing properties.

Where does training take place?

Bellmarc has a Learning Center, which is located in our Broadway office. It is a space dedicated to training purposes. We built a bright and cheery environment that includes a conference room and study stations.

Many of the trainees find the space so comfortable that they spend a lot of time here reading, working on their open book tests, or just chatting with each other about the business and sharing tips on real estate.