More than 6,800 Real Estate agents from throughout North America recently attended Keller Williams Realty’s annual convention, Family Reunion, in Orlando, Florida Feb. 21-25. Starting 2008 as the fourth-largest Real Estate company in the United States, Keller Williams Realty is powering through the shift and now claims the No. 3 spot, said Mark Willis, CEO, during the State of the Company and Culture address.
This is solid evidence that the model works!” he told a cheering audience. “When you faithfully commit to our economic model, our operating model and our organizational model, and take advantage of the education and the resources that we’ve developed, you create an edge over your competition and disrupt your local market.
While we cannot escape the trends of the industry, we have definitely outperformed the industry,” Willis said, noting that compared to the National Association of REALTORS®, which lost 140,000 of its members, a decline of 10.5 percent between December of 2007 and December of 2008, Keller Williams Realty’s total active agent count declined by only 7 percent. “Comparatively, Keller Williams did more than 30 percent better than NAR.” Citing the 2008 REAL Trends 500 report, Willis added, “Keller Williams was the only Real Estate franchise that experienced a positive growth in the total number of sides, the total number of offices and the agent count per office. Between 2003 and 2007 Keller Williams Realty increased its U.S. market share by more than 161 percent, while only one other network gained, and their increase was less than 20 percent.
Comparing Keller Williams Realty to the 10 largest independents in the country over the last five years, Willis enthusiastically noted that “Keller Williams grew by 65 percent more in associates per office, 61 percent more in transactions per associate, and 32 percent more in sales per office. The model works! This is your money, your production and it thrills us.
From the very outset, the shift in the Real Estate market has been viewed within Keller Williams Realty as an opportunity, and never has that been more apparent than right now. “The promise of the shift for our market centers who nail the model, and grow in this market, is greater than in any other market, because this is when the best agents and brokers gain market share,” Willis added. “We have to gather ourselves, get focused, get a plan of action and CHARGE!”
Although the Keller Williams McLean Center was founded less than two years ago, it has quickly grown into the most talked about office in the Northern Virginia region. We hope to open an office in Great Falls by Summer 2009.
