Benjamin Stevens Estate Agents in north west London has launched a training academy for estate agents.

The Benjamin Stevens Training Academy trains those who have little or no prior experience in the property industry and have the desire to one day own their own estate agency business.

The training course is three months whereby trainees gain an in-depth knowledge of the sales and lettings process from beginning to end, and also learn the skills required for running their own business.

Head of recruitment at Benjamin Stevens, Elliot Graham, said: “Experience and motivation are the two main elements needed to be a successful Estate Agent. But what if you have the motivation and lack the experience? Everyone needs to start from somewhere and very few companies offer this opportunity to teach someone from scratch and nurture those developing skills.”

Through a mix of classroom training, on the job shadowing and mentor sessions, Trainees are developed into fully-fledged agents. The hope, or though it is not a requirement, is that after the training is complete, the graduates stay on and become a Benjamin Stevens Hub Partner, running their own territories.

The course also allows trainees the opportunity to earn whilst they learn, offering them up to 25% commission on deals they are a part of during the academy course.

Head of operations, Laura Clare, explained: “Each academy will be slightly different because property itself is a fluid business and anyone who works in the industry will agree, no two days are the same. This means, no two academy courses will be the same. This can be part of the fun! I might have a PowerPoint presentation at the ready, or we might plan to go out canvassing, and then unoccupied properties become available and we ditch the schedule  and head out for some practical training. The more hands on training the better because estate agents can’t fully operate from behind a desk 100% of the time.”

Steve Wayne, managing director of Benjamin Stevens, said The Training Academy is something he has been working on launching for a while.

Wayne added: “I’ve been running my own agency for over 17 years. I launched it with minimal experience and had to learn on the job. I’ve seen Negotiators come and go over the years but the ones who truly succeed are those that are willing to go out and canvass and door knock, and appreciate the power of social media marketing, and don’t just rely on picking up a phone and calling clients.

“I wanted to pass on knowledge to help launch people’s careers. What I’ve seen when people start out in this industry with no experience, is an immediate rush and pressure on them to do business. What happens is they then tend to overlook the basic skills they need to be a good Negotiator. What I hope to achieve with the academy is to take that pressure away and for our trainees to use their first 3 months, with no targets, learning all the skills and tools they need to become a good agent and, only then, put all that they’ve learnt into practice and do business hopefully with quick succession.”