David Farrugia, from Macquarie Real Estate in Casula NSW, spoke at Pittard’s Real Estate Agents’ Convention in Brisbane, November 2016. He made many interesting points, including explaining how he plans his training. David trains ‘on purpose’.
Each month, David selects a topic and studies that topic only for the coming month.
For example, if he selects Communication, David will train for the month exclusively on communication. He will enter this into the search box on Pittard’s streaming portal, iTrain, and listen to or view every program he finds there on communication. He will go through his and his company’s extensive training libraries and find what he can on communication. His reading for the month will also be on this topic.
This is smart – by ‘drilling down’ into one topic for one month, David gives himself every opportunity to develop his expertise on his chosen topic.
And by mixing his topics in such a way, David maintains his interest in training; variety keeps the training interesting.
One month, David read his stockpile of our Winning Ways Magazines. Another month he listened to Winners Live, interviews I do with winners in the field. Sometimes he studies Closing, other times Negotiation.
Is this right for you? Perhaps yes, and perhaps no.
David is a consistent high performer and has been for many years. By any stretch of the imagination, David is a winner. His planned-training strategy is perfect for people who have been training for a long time and who have a high knowledge and skill level.
For those who have not yet reached this level, new people for example, I recommend a slightly modified approach to David’s method: train your areas of weakness.
In the early years of my career, I conducted a personal inventory of my knowledge and skills. Through this self-assessment, I identified what I believed were my strengths and what were my weaknesses. My study in those early years was aimed at turning my weaknesses into strengths.
Topic of the Month
This is not a big departure from David Farrugia’s suggestion. David plans his study. I planned mine. We both chose a topic for a month. At David’s skill level, he can pick any topic and study it, and he will benefit enormously from that study.
Likewise, by targeting areas of weakness, you study one topic intensely. Over time, your weaknesses turn to strengths and you too will reach the stage where you can pick any topic that interests you.
Planning makes sense. Well done, David!