Who Cares About Realtor Professional Accreditations? Looking at it From a Realtors Point of View

This question for Realtors came up on Trulia.com recently:

 

As a Realtor, which professional accreditations (Such as GRI, ABR, CRS, SRES, etc.) do feel are:

1. Most meaningful, information wise?

2. Understood by Clients, Buyers and Sellers?

3. Have had a marked impact on your business?

Here’s my answer on Realtor Accreditations:

 

As a Realtor, I believe that the most meaningful designation for me, as far as other Realtors go, is that I have my broker’s license. I have had plenty of education, especially since I work for Keller Williams Realty. The training is phenomenal. We have guests and real estate professionals in to our Maple Grove office weekly to teach or speak about real estate related matters. We will be hosting David Knox in January which is 3 hours of continuing education. Last week, we had MNAR Senior Vice President, Chris Galler, in to speak to us about the market and we received 2 hours of continuing education. All agents from the Twin Cities area are welcome to these events. We also have the unique advantage of having Gary Keller, our co-founder and Chairman at KW write best-selling books that Realtors read religiously. (Millionaire Real Estate Agent, for example.)

My clients don’t give a hoot about me being a broker, what designations I have or who I work for. They want to see confidence, good communication, positive referrals from other clients, etc. If I don’t have the education to back me up, I don’t have the good reputation that I depend on for new and repeat business.

It’s like buying a car, you don’t have to know what degree and designations the engineers, product managers, etc. had to have to design and build the car, you just want to know that when you drive it out the door, it runs, looks good and has high performance.