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Thanks to an anonymous email I'm blogging about the Realtor GRI program today. Don't know what the GRI is? Apparently neither does most of the world. This doesn't stop the National Association of Realtors from charging their constituency extra money for additional training - and the right to use the GRI logo (and taglines! - but we will get to those in a moment) on their business cards and other marketing materials. GRI stands for Graduate REALTOR Institute. As stated here,the GRI symbol "is the mark of a real estate professional who has made a commitment to providing a superior level of professional services by earning the GRI designation. REALTORs with the GRI designation are highly trained in many areas of real estate to better serve and protect their clients." Okay... so if GRI's are trained to better serve and protect their clients, then what are the normal everyday vanilla kind of REALTORs trained to do? Does this make sense to anyone out there? The NAR is investing huge sums of money on marketing the Realtor designation to the public, but appears to believe that this designation alone doesn't adequately prepare their members to best "serve and protect their clients." (If the GRI better prepares them, then it seems to imply that Realtor training isn't enough.) And then there's this. The way in which NAR says GRIs should market themselves to their clients. Per the website - GRI's are:
First, from what I can determine, one just pays some extra money, gets training, and can stick the GRI logo on their business card. This doesn't sound like national recognition criteria to me. Sure, it implies professional training and additional knowledge - but that's about it. And it doesn't actually say why how more training helps anything. The final reason for choosing a GRI? "You can count on gettng the best service available from a real estate professional. Don't you deserve the best?" This doesn't pass the reality test for me - and it shouldn't for you, either. (What "best" is it that you're getting with a GRI - and how do they know that you deserve it?) Reading through GRI's own site, the classes seem to be taken by new and underperforming agents that need help to increase their business. So, for anyone that looks into this (not that anyone other than me ever would...) it's like having a big REMEDIAL STUDENT label on your potential Realtor's door. Two more items and then we're done. For an organization that says the GRIs are at the top of the pile, I find it odd that there has been nothing done by a GRI that the NAR has found worthy of crowing about since 2003. If these people are truly movers and shakers you'd think their own organization would trumpet their achievements (and sell more GRI designations) whenever possible. And last - the taglines. The NAR has helpfully put together the following list of taglines to help Realtors promote their accomplishments. Read on - and prepare to be compelled to work with a GRI!
(Note - these are all found in the "information for new designees" section of the website - so no fair saying that these are meant to promote the GRI to the Realtors themselves.) Personally, all I see here are ways to convince Realtors to get the GRI - but nothing at all that would give a prospective client a reason to work with a GRI. Not only do the five different taglines dilute the effectiveness of GRI marketing, they don't even speak to the audience. They're taglines to make the GRIs feel good about themselves... and they pretty much could be applied to any industry in the world - not just realty. See for yourself -
So - NAR... what gives? Why would I as an informed consumer want to work with your GRI designees? Right now all I've got is that being a Realtor isn't really that big a deal... so I should go for Realtors that have gotten training that actually matters... and I'm not sure that was the intended effect. (Thanks to "Anonymagent" for the tip to look into this.) (And I still have nothing against Realtors, realty agents, or GRI graduates. I just think that NAR could use a nudge in the right direction.) Tate Linden |
