This eXp Training Program Just Beat Out 3M, IBM, and Pepsi
The “Academy Awards of Training” just crowned eXp’s six-week agent boot camp. Here’s how eXp University’s FastCAP beat out several Fortune 500 companies.
When eXp Realty submitted one of its agent training programs for a major global award, the field was stacked with some of the biggest names in the world, including Microsoft, Visa, Pepsi, Lenovo, and even the University of Sydney.
That program was FastCAP, a six-week eXp University course that helps agents build productive habits, generate leads, and turn conversations into clients.
“People call it the Academy Awards of training,” says eXp Realty Chief Learning Officer Bryon Ellington about the award.
The Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards recognize workplace training programs, systems, and tools backed by measurable results.
“We were competing against Fortune 500 companies all around the globe,” he adds.
The result: gold all around. FastCAP brought home the highest recognition for “Best Training for Sales and Performance” and “Best Unique and Innovative Sales Training Program.”
The Numbers Behind FastCAP’s Double-Gold Win
The roster of esteemed competitors alone makes the double-gold win impressive, but FastCAP’s internal numbers clarify just how the program pulled it off. The program has logged 21,273 registrations so far. Participants who attended and completed just the minimum assigned work averaged 6.9 buyer or listing appointments and 3.9 signed agreements in just six weeks.
“For most newer or newish real estate agents, that would be a fantastic first year,” Bryon says. “And that’s just their six weeks.”
Passing the licensing exam prepares an agent to handle contracts and transactions. It does not tell them who to call on Monday morning, how to find their first client, or how to create a steady pipeline.
That gap can get expensive fast. New agents may spend months paying for licensing, board dues, MLS access, marketing, and other startup costs before earning their first commission check.
“Depending on who you ask, somewhere around 75% to 80% of real estate agents bail out of this industry in the first two years,” Bryon says.
He calls that make-or-break period the “real estate valley of death.”
“By the time you hit the ground as a licensed agent, your bank account has been drained down, and you have no idea how to actually generate a sale,” Bryon says.
eXp set out to solve that problem by creating a course that gives agents a clear plan before they reach that point, all at no additional cost for eXp agents. Participants also practice with business tools already included in eXp’s monthly fee, including its CRM and CMA software.
A Surprise New Boss, 70 ICON Agents, and One Big Promise
We know, “training program” doesn’t exactly sound like the setup for a page-turner. But if you’re picturing a bunch of people in suits sitting around a conference table and writing a curriculum that feels older than the office fax machine, don’t worry. FastCAP was not built that way.
The boardroom in this story was actually the site of a surprise meeting during eXpcon.
It was Bryon’s first day with eXp, and the eXp University team was pulled away from running event breakouts to meet its brand-new leader. Candice Garcia, VP of Learning at eXp University, remembers the group being “shell-shocked” as they tried to process the announcement in the middle of an already hectic week.
Bryon, who had previously built the gold standard of training for another brokerage, used that first meeting to tell the team where he believed eXp University could go.
“My goal for this team, right from day one, was that eXp Realty deserves that crown,” Bryon says. “It belongs on their head.”
Before the meeting ended, he made the group a promise.
“He literally said, ‘I can’t wait to win with you,’” Candice recalls. “The minute that we won the Brandon Hall Award, my mind instantly replayed that memory.”
That meeting established the goal. The actual FastCAP curriculum came from agents with real businesses, real clients, and real results.
To build the course, eXp University set out to find agents who closed at least two transactions in their first six months and at least 12 during their first year. Team members and agents with built-in lead advantages were screened out.
The search led to 70 eXp Cappers and ICON agents who had built their businesses from a cold start. Each sat for an interview lasting at least an hour.
“We asked them, ‘How did you do it? Why did you do it that way? What did you do first? How much did that cost? How exactly did you say that?’” Bryon reveals.
Their answers became FastCAP.
FastCAP turns those interviews into daily action, gradually moving agents from one real estate lead generating conversation per day to five.
“We’re going to provide the tools and resources, but more than anything, we’re going to teach you habits,” Candice says.
That approach has become trusted enough that many top eXp team leaders now use FastCAP during onboarding. The course covers foundational business-building habits, allowing leaders to focus on their team’s own systems and expectations.
The Online Course Bringing Agents Together Across the Globe
FastCAP also showed the judges that online training can connect agents across borders. More than 1,000 people can register for a single cohort, with participants joining from the United States, Canada, South Africa, and other countries.
“They’re finding connection with each other by going through this together,” Candice explains
eXp University has also hosted two FastCAP en Español cohorts, launched a French-language version for Quebec, and introduced a Canadian-led cohort. Another Spanish-language version for Latin America is planned.
The award also reflects the work happening behind each cohort. Bryon credits the instructional design team, Candice, Alyssa Specht, and the working eXp agents who volunteer to teach. Preparing to lead FastCAP’s 19 sessions can take an instructor between 50 and 100 hours before the first class begins.
“They’re doing it out of the generosity of their hearts and wanting to give back to the agent base,” Bryon shares.
eXp University Is Coming for the Training Crown
FastCAP may have brought home the awards, but Bryon sees it as the opening move in a much larger plan for eXp University.
While building FastCAP for emerging agents, the university has also developed programs for established solo agents, ICON agents, and team leaders. The goal is to give agents relevant training at every stage of their careers.
“However far you want to go in real estate, we have training to get you there,” Bryon says.
For Candice, the two gold awards bring the story back to that surprise boardroom meeting and the promise Bryon made on his first day.
“This is step one,” she notes. “It’s our first step toward eXp being recognized for our training.”
FastCAP may be the name engraved on the trophy, but the bigger story is how it got there: eXp agents shared what was actually working, eXp University turned those answers into training, and the result held its own against Microsoft, Visa, and Pepsi.
