Keller Williams Realty - Why did you join?

by Cal on March 9, 2009 · 19 comments

Our Keller Williams Gulf States Regional Director asked our Team Leader to poll our agents about why we decided to join Keller Williams.

Well, I do have some very good and sound reasons and since I am a little tardy in some of my blogging efforts, I thought I would post my reply here!

So with no further adieu, here is why I joined Keller Williams Lanier Partners in the SouthEast Region and then Keller Williams Alabama Gulf Coast in the Gulf States Region:

My reasons:

Economics and limited risk - cap out at 100% with minimum upfront expense - if not sure, plug the numbers in the 36-12-3 spreadsheet and not only see what the numbers are at current brokerage versus Keller Williams, but also walk away with real numbers on touches that need to be made per day to meet your GCI goals for the year.
Education - great classes in house, but ability to learn most anything related to real estate business generation via KWConnect, KWU, Mega Camp, and Family Reunion Classes. Taking it one step further would be coaching and accountability partners to push those that are truly motivated and committed producers to the next level. Motivated producers that seek, will find!
Profit sharing has always been the least of my reasons, but it definitely should not be overlooked. Fully understanding the profit sharing will reveal that this is owners sharing profit, not downline agents having commission taken by upline agents.

While detractors call us Kool Aide sippers, we are truly motivated business people with models and plans implemented through economic analysis, education, and tool useage.

KW agents tell us why you joined Keller Williams in the comment section below! Be sure to link back to your site and forward to your fellow KW agents!

E-mail Rachel for more info

Cal Carter and the Gulfshoreslife.com Team

Keller Williams Realty
Alabama Gulf Coast
24390 Highway 98, Suite 1
Fairhope, AL 36532

www.gulfshoreslife.com
251-928-9890 Office
251-990-4935 Fax

Diggdel.icio.usFacebookFurlStumbleUponTechnorati

Tweet This Post Stumble This Post

February 26, 2009 -- Master the market of the moment! (5)
May 1, 2009 -- Free Class on Lead Conversion and Buyer Urgency for BCAR Agents (3)
March 17, 2009 -- Baldwin County Subdivision Builder Paracel Homes partners with Keller Williams Alabama Gulf Coast (2)

Tagged as: Keller Williams, keller williams alabama, keller williams alabama gulf coast, keller williams fairhope, keller williams gulf shores, keller williams gulf states, keller williams orange beach

{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Cal March 9, 2009 at 9:39 am: KW Agents, please leave a comment as to why you joined! Be sure to link back to your website!
2 Rachel Tullier March 9, 2009 at 10:15 am: My first introduction to Keller Williams was a Lead Generation class taught by Dan Harker. Even though I had invested in real estate, owned several properties, and been an agent for over 2 years, I felt like a newbie. The Keller Williams agents in the seminar had a business model that they knew by heart, had a database (what is that?) and knew the psychology of the market and the key players in it. These people were not an answering service for their brokers, begging for bones, they were business owners, in charge of their business and the quality of it.

I wanted that foundation. Then I found out about the leadership model of Keller Williams and how I could incorporate my love of training into my business. After not even 2 years in Keller Williams, the international office recognized my passion and offered me a position in leadership of a franchise.

I came to Keller Williams for the training and models. I stay for the growth opportunities, the second to none coaching, and most of all the phenominal people who have lifted me up and changed my life. I grow as a person and as a leader everyday that I am in business with Keller Williams.

It is my hope that other agents around our nation will take advantage of the tremendous opportunity to build their business with proven models and systems that work!

Rachel Tullier
Team Leader/CEO
Keller Williams Alabama Gulf Coast
251.928.9890
racheltullier@gmail.com
3 Cal March 9, 2009 at 10:28 am: Thanks for the comment Rachel, perhaps we can get some comments from your fellow agents back in Louisiana as well as from Dan Harker. How about sending them a link to this post and ask for their comments.
4 Rachel Tullier March 9, 2009 at 10:43 am: I will send the invite. It would be great to know the why’s!
5 LaSha Powell March 9, 2009 at 2:37 pm: I think anyone in their right mind would be crazy not to join us at Keller Williams Alabama Gulf Coast. We are just a wonderful professional group of kind, loving, optimistic, fun-loving people who enjoy working as a team and having a good time while we are making a living in real estate.

If the choice is between running your own business and KW, KW agents make more money on the bottom line after paying the small commission cap to KW each year and reaping the benefits of all the vendor discounts without paying the other office expenses necessary to operate your own business. If the choice is between any other company and KW, the answer is the same. There is just not as much math involved.

The networking opportunities are amazing. The education is phenomenal. The profit sharing aspect of the market center creates a very team oriented atmosphere where everyone encourages each other and wants to help each other grow and excel to be their very best in real estate and in life.
6 Christian Green March 9, 2009 at 5:48 pm: Keller Williams truly understands what a 1099 contractor means. I agree with everything already posted about the education and business model as well. Perfect company!
7 Missy Caulk March 10, 2009 at 6:38 am: I had been at RE/MAX for 12 years. Long story but when they closed there was no other place to consider but KW.

I am too used to being my own agent within a large franchise.

The move has been great, for the first time in 12 years I had an accountability partner (Team Leader in KW lingo)!

I love the culture - God, Family and then business.

Missy Caulk’s last blog post..Ann Arbor Housing Market Data Graphs
8 Matt Warmack March 10, 2009 at 8:50 am: We just opened a new downtown Seattle Keller Williams Center at 45th & Stone and I’m on the Agent Leadership Council. Keller Williams is an amazing company for the culture it brings to it’s agents. The education and support at Keller Williams has made us #3 and growing fast. We will be #1 before long. It’s a great company that has helped me build my business.

-Matt
Matt Warmack
Seattle, WA
http://www.mattwarmack.com
http://www.myurbanabode.com

Matt Warmack’s last blog post..10 ways to improve your Keller Williams eAgentC website
9 Mike Giles March 11, 2009 at 9:20 am: Hi Cal,
I started my career with KW five years ago fresh of of the licensing exam. I was drawn to the educational opportunitiies within a market center. Not only would I be out of the business with out the lead generation and everyday Real Estate skills that I have learned, but I know teach classes on website design, internet marketing and database management. This blog makes for an interesting read, Thanks!

Mike Giles’s last blog post..Should The Stimulus Include Responsible Consumers Too?
10 Steve March 11, 2009 at 1:20 pm: My wife and I joined KW because they dominate our local market, have the right values and provide great education and training.

Steve’s last blog post..Austin Real Estate Market - Feb 2009 Update
11 Cal March 11, 2009 at 2:36 pm: Hi all, thanks for stopping by and leaving your comments. I am in hopes of getting a very broad response here. @Mike, next time you teach some technology classes ask your students to drop by this post and leave a comment too! I gave a blogging class today and getting over the fear of posting a comment will set your students on their way!
12 Cal March 11, 2009 at 3:32 pm: Here are 3 more comments from a Keller Williams linkedin.com group.

Richie The Realtor

Agent at Keller Williams Realty and Consumer Services Consultant
My Wife & I owned a local breakfast place in Phoenix, Az. Every day agents from many Companies came in to eat. When I began to go for my license I decided to join Keller Williams Realty because those agents were the only ones to come in to the restaurant with a smile on their faces as if they couldn’t wait to get to the office. True story that I tell all the time and I use it to recruit.

Don Lawyer

Realtor, Keller Williams Realty
I was with Century 21 for 18 years and once I found what I didn’t know about running a business and large team, I knew I had to make the move. Having top agents across the country actually share what is working for them was something I had never seen before.

Don Lawyer
Keller Williams Realty
Arlington, Texas
http://donlawyer.blogspot.com/

John Bakker

Sales Representative at Keller Williams Ottawa Realty
This is VERY easy to answer. It was because of Keller Williams business ethics, what it stands for and how the company has it’s priorities in line. The Belief System is like nothing else I have seen in any other business and the company sticks firmly to this. I have spoken and met with many of the KW International management and they live the belief system as well something many companies and individuals need to learn how to do, is walk the talk.

John Bakker
Sales Representative
Helping To Make A Difference One Home At A time
Keller Williams Ottawa Realty, Brokerage
610 Bronson Ave., Ottawa Ontario

Email jbakker@ kwottawa.ca
Web http://www.johnbakker.com/
13 Cal March 11, 2009 at 5:20 pm: Diana Curtis

Realtor at Keller Williams Realty-Mid-Town Direct Realty
I couldn’t wait for KW to come to my area because it seemed that they corrected everything that was wrong with the company I worked for for 8 years. It has an open book policy;every agent is treated equallyr with the same responsibility and the same opportunity, there is a sharing spirit of personal growth and creativity.My choices in being the best that I can be for my clients are supported not deterred. Best business decision that I made.
http://www.DianaCurtis.com
http://www.20chestnutrd.com
14 Colleen Younger March 13, 2009 at 10:27 am: I joined Keller Williams because I finally found a company who core values matched my own personal values.
15 AJ Ferguson March 14, 2009 at 12:32 pm: I joined KW looking for FAMILY and STABILITY. I wanted to work and share with agents that had the same FEELINGS I had about real estate and my career in it. You can talk about splits, caps, and profit sharing but what really matters is the ENERGY! My office has a LIFE and a PULSE you can feel walking through the doors! I stay to feed off of that energy! I could survive a 100 ” slow markets” with the FUEL I have at my market center. That is why we are moving up the ladder guys. People are starting to realize we have what it takes and we have the HEART!
16 Lisa Luke March 14, 2009 at 2:22 pm: I joined Keller Williams Realty after receiving an invitation to a team meeting from another KW agent that attended one of the 30hr provisional broker courses. Sibrina briefly expressed her reasons for being at KW without over emphazing the real truth.

I had the opportunity to meet a room full of motivated agents, and I knew immediately that that was the energy that I was looking for.

I had an appointment to meet with the BIC the same afternoon and signed on the dotted line.

As long as I am conducting my real estate business, KW will be my home.

Lisa Luke
N. Raleigh, NC
17 Cal March 15, 2009 at 5:14 am: Barbara Cohen

Owner, Lead Designer and Wedding Specialist at Petals and Stems Florist
We read Gary Keller’s Milionaire Real Estate Agent (Red Book). We saw that Keller was designed the way we would design a company. The decision to affiliate was crystal clear.

Pamela Meyer

Broker Assoc./Your “navigator” for metro Denver real estate!
I made the move because KW has a national presence, a published belief system that I support, and their priorities are in order.

Bill Fung

Broker Associate, Owner at Keller Williams Real Estate, LLC
I joined KW in 1999 because I knew NRT (coldwell banker, etc) would not buy it out. I liked KW because they cared about their agents. First ran into KW in 1995 in Denver. But wasn’t ready at that time. Could tell by their marketing and business plan it would work.

Sean Keene

Broker at Keller Willaims reality
I joined because there belief system and just the up beat attitued that everyone has.

Sandra Newman

REALTOR®, e-PRO®, GRI® I & II at Keller Williams Golden Star Realty
I joined because they offer incentives that no one else is able to. I stay because of the family we’ve built. This organization cares for its agents and others. It gives back and takes care of its own.

Joanna Quan

at Keller Williams Realty East Bay.
I first looked in to it because I went to a business meeting that happened to be in a KW MC. When I started to look for a company to join, I looked at the KW website and was impressed that they put God first in their values. My meeting with the Asst Team Leader was scary. When he was asking me questions, the answers I gave was SOO in culture. I didn’t know how in culture I was till a day later I searched youtube for Gary and I basically echoed his words before ever hearing him speak.

I knew this was the place for me.
18 Sandra Henderson March 16, 2009 at 1:09 pm: I joined because of the Culture.
God First,Family, Business.
It feels like a family and we really do care about being the Best in The Business.
The training is great!
There is just something about a KW agent.
19 Brent Mitchell April 9, 2009 at 6:40 am: The main attraction to KW for me was the business model. All I had to do was follow the model, be consistent and I would be successful. The fact that KW would teach me how to balance my work-personal life also showed a company that cared about my success, not just their own.

There are 100 more reasons that have kept me with Keller Williams, so if you’re interested in knowing them, just let me know.