In a bold move to start the new year, a SERHANT. representative pitched the brokerage’s training and coaching programs to BHS CEO Bess Freedman, although BHS already has its own in-house programs.
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Ryan Serhant is known for making bold moves. But this time, the broker and CEO of SERHANT. may have overstepped his boundaries.
An unidentified salesperson at SERHANT. Ventures, the brokerage’s educational branch, sent Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman a pitch last week for a “tailor-made” training program for the brokerage’s agents, which would include a sales playbook, performance coaching, a social media boot camp and mentorship from Ryan Serhant himself, according to emails The Real Deal obtained.
To be sure she understood the offer correctly, Freedman reportedly asked if the deal was to pay Serhant to train her brokerage’s agents, and the SERHANT. Ventures rep said, “It may seem unorthodox, but you’re understanding it correctly.”
Freedman apparently wasn’t going to let that stand.
“There is a fine line between being unorthodox and being a schmendrick,” she replied, employing a Yiddish word that means “fool.” “Thank you, but we are going to pass.”
The president of SERHANT. Ventures, Kyle Scott, told The Real Deal the offer was made in good faith.
“We don’t view the industry so much as a series of competitors as we do one large community,” Scott said. “We partner with broker/owners all around the world to help train their agents.”
BHS has its own in-house training, marketing and technology programs for agents, including BHSOne, its digital hub for agent design, marketing, education and more, and a recently unveiled metaverse and cryptocurrency training program launched in…