Why I Joined Keller Williams

It's been ten years now since I joined the Keller Williams Allen, Texas office and to this day I'm periodically asked why I joined them. Sometimes it's by agents and other times by the general public. Strange, isn't it?

I'd already been the #1 Realtor in my area of the MLS by a wide margin for the 12 consecutive years before joining KW. I'd already built a strong reputation for selling high end luxury estate homes. I had my broker's license so what did I need Keller Williams for? Why would I put my brand under their brand and give them money?

I didn't join KW to build my "downline" for additional passive income. Nor did I join KW for leads. I've never received a single lead from KW and never expected one. I didn't join for their agent training either. I already knew how to sell homes.

I joined KW for one and only one reason, to learn how to build a strong, self sustaining team. And we've done just that.

What's Your Exit Strategy?

At some point in your real estate career you may burn out. I know I did. You might also ask yourself "Am I ever going to be able to retire? Am I going to have to sell real estate the rest of my life?" Those were the things my wife and I were thinking the day before we got our last recruiting call from KW.

Several different Keller Williams team leaders had tried to recruit me for at least ten years. Every time they called I told them politely I just wasn't interested.

To be perfectly honest, I felt KW needed me more than I needed them. They didn't have any type of presence in the high end, luxury home market in my area of specialty and I had already built it. I'm not bragging, it's just a fact.

But I was just plain tired. I couldn't work any harder, there were only a limited number of hours in the day, and my income had plateaued. I wanted to get to a higher production level of income but also get my life back. How could I do both?

I knew the only possible answer for me was build a team. I also knew KW had built the model for successful teams. I'd seen them in action and I liked what I saw.

That's how the decision was made to join Keller Williams and I've never looked back. Erin Clifford, my senior vice president and I didn't follow their model exactly but pulled out the things that worked best for us.

We have a very smooth running team now comprised of 8 luxury agents and 3 full time administrative assistants. We'll sell around $117 million in 2022 and have increased our sales volume every year we've been there.

Most of all, we're all happy. All the money isn't being made at the top, it's spread around the entire team. We rarely have turnover and we really work as a team.

In future posts I'll be sharing many of the valuable ideas I've picked up from KW in the way of team building and also explain why we went in a different direction in other areas.