KW Utah Proudly Welcomes 50 Agents in November 2017!

KW Utah Proudly Welcomes 68 Agents in October 2017!

KW Utah Proudly Welcomes 60 Agents in September 2017!

KW Utah Proudly Welcomes 56 Agents in August 2017!

KW Utah Proudly Welcomes 47 Agents in July 2017!

Business by the Book - Coming to Salt Lake City October 25th!

BUILDING A STRONG CLIENT RELATIONSHIP-BASED BUSINESS

Relationships have formed the foundation for successful businesses for centuries, but how those relationships can benefit a business has evolved over time. Today, client relationships that result in referrals can fuel your growth and success both online and off.

Christie Cannon, a Keller Williams Luxury Homes International agent who specializes in Frisco and its surrounding communities north of Dallas, has put those referrals to work for her in a Texas-sized way.

“More than half of our business comes from referrals,” Cannon says. Through sourcing her business, Cannon finds that many new clients heard about her from a previous client.

Cannon’s results speak for themselves. Her team closed $112 million in sales in 2016, a 28 percent increase from the previous year. The results are particularly remarkable given the unexpected challenge they were presented.  

Cannon’s husband and team member, Kevin Cannon, was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. He began aggressive chemotherapy, followed by a double mastectomy and 30 radiation treatments.  

“It was heartbreaking for us. We were unsure where the situation would take us,” says Christie. “Thankfully, Kevin is now fully recovered and back to working full time. The challenge really brought to light how strong our team is. Everyone rallied together to create the best year yet.” 

Upward momentum continues for Cannon and her team.  They currently have 65 active listings and 50 pending transactions, not to mention plans for a 20 percent increase in production this year. This projected growth undoubtedly will be aided by her strong referral program.

Cannon builds a strong referral program 

“Reaching out to current, past and future clients is so important because they all have a referral to give,” she says. “The most important part of building a referral-based business is building strong business relationships with your clients along the way.”

In order to build those relationships, Cannon and her team have created a solid referral protocol for each and every one of her customers and clients. “Every person in our database is on an action plan of some kind. Each action plan is set up to cater to the specific needs of each contact. The activities in our action plans will vary, but they all include offering something of value to each person. Our contacts are the heart of our company, and we treat them as such.”

When the team receives a referral, the client is sent a handwritten thank-you card as well as a small gift. That strategy has paid dividends dating back to Cannon’s very first client in 2003.

“Ironically enough, one of my very first transactions was a small $48,000 home, and to this date, that client has completed five other transactions with me and is still referring business to me,” she says. “I started getting my systems in place early on, and the systems are what helped me get organized and get in touch to grow and foster relationships with my clients. They have helped us maintain a consistent year-over-year growth pattern and get to where we are now.”

The value of referrals

Now that Cannon and her team are part of KW Luxury International, she has discovered that those referrals are even more valuable to her success.

“Luxury home buyers and sellers are very seasoned,” Cannon says. “They rely heavily upon advice from people they trust. Keeping your name in front of the luxury market is important in maintaining a strong referral base.”

While clients are the first ones that referral strategies are typically aimed at, Cannon also works hard to earn referrals from her local real estate colleagues and peers. To that end, she is committed to participating in networking events with other agents in and around her area. The best method she has found for earning those referrals is an unyielding dedication to professionalism.

“We have had agents – even within our own area – refer business to us,” she says. “It is such an honor to get a referral from another colleague. It’s important to maintain a professional relationship with not only your clients but also with your colleagues, as you may work with them multiple times over.”

Keep clients first

For agents who are working to assemble a solid referral strategy, Cannon suggests keeping the client as your central focus.

“A big mistake I see in a lot of agents is making this business all about them,” she says. “While we want to brand ourselves and relate to our clients, it’s not about you. This business is about catering to the needs of our clients and offering them a service and skill they can’t get anywhere else.”

Lead generate, lead generate, lead generate 

In order to increase the amount of referrals you receive, Cannon suggests going back to the basics. “The models and systems are there, so don’t skimp on your lead generation,” she says. “As part of your lead generation, you should be reaching out to your sphere and past clients every day. Put everyone you know into your CRM and get them set up on some type of action plan. Reach out to your contacts on a regular basis by sending handwritten notes, making phone calls and sending items of value to them. This is all part of an action plan.”

Cannon stresses that an action plan only works if you keep your clients’ needs in mind.

“If you’re sending something of value to your contacts, they have a reason to continue to receive information from you,” she says.

At the end of the day, Cannon credits the Keller Williams models and systems for her team’s impressive growth.

“It took me trying to invent my own models and systems several times over and failing before I realized how much Keller Williams has to offer,” she says. “We will continue to improve and streamline our systems as we grow and plan on attending Family Reunion and Mega Camp each year. The best is yet to come!”

Cannon’s story illustrates how past clients are one of the most reliable sources for leads, but it takes consistent follow-up with your database to ensure that you remain top-of-mind.

Download our Lead Gen for Listings toolkit for resources to help you leverage your past clients and land more listings.

Download The Toolkit!

KW Utah Proudly Welcomes 52 Agents in June 2017!

10 NETWORKING TIPS FOR WORKING ANY ROOM

          Networking

Networking is essential for building relationship and referral-based businesses.

While every real estate agent understands the value of networking, some are

more effective than others. Whether you are at an enormous convention like

Keller Williams Mega Camp or attending a small local gathering, these 10

networking tips will help you make the most of your time and conversations.

Practice, especially if you don’t like networking or you are shy. Find someone

who will role play with you and help you practice different scripts that concisely

introduce you and your business to others. By planning ice-breaker conversations

in advance, you will go into the networking event with more ease and confidence.

The more you network, the easier it gets, but you have to keep at it.

Start with talking about yourself, not your business. Even though the main goal

of networking is to get the other person to have confidence in you and your

services, don’t lead conversations with talking about your business. Allow the

person you are talking with to get to know you as a person before you shift to telling

them about your business. People do business with people, not companies.

Set a goal. Prior to attending the event, set a goal for how many contacts you want to

make. Make sure that you have enough business cards to hand out to everyone you

meet. Do not stop working the room until you have met your goal.

Write reminders on business cards. When you are meeting a lot of people at once,

by the time you get home you might have forgotten who is who. When you conclude

a conversation, write a key fact about that person on their card. This will help trigger

your memory after the event and allow you to send a more personalized follow-up

email.

Put your phone in your pocket. Nothing screams “I am not interested in what you

have to say” like someone who is checking email or texting while they are talking to

you. If you need to check your email or take a call, excuse yourself from the

conversation and do so in private.

Know in advance who you want to meet. Before you head out to the networking

event, do your homework and see who will be there. If you are comfortable doing so,

before the event, reach out to the people you want to meet. For example, send a

LinkedIn InMail message introducing yourself and asking if they will have time to

meet you during the event. Be specific in your request and suggest a day, time and place.

Keep the initial meeting to 30 minutes or less. If you suggest anything longer, such as

lunch, they may decline for lack of time.

Do not add LinkedIn connections until the next day. You don’t want to add a LinkedIn connection 30 minutes after you meet someone, but you also don’t want to wait until next

week. Wait until the day after you meet someone to send them a connection request. You

will still be fresh in their memory yet not seem too eager.

Go light on the alcohol. Many networking events include drinks. While a glass of wine

may take a little bit of the edge off, having too many can cause you to embarrass yourself.

Pace your consumption and be sure to eat food. Networking is like a job interview and you

wouldn’t drink at a job interview would you?

Bring breath mints, not gum. You want to have fresh breath, but you don’t want to be

chewing on anything while you are talking.

Be yourself! Let your natural personality shine and just be yourself. Try to enjoy meeting

new people and enjoy your time networking. People will sense that you are genuine and you

will have more networking success.

Put your networking skills to use at Mega Camp 2017, September 12-15 in Austin,

Texas.  Hosted by KW Maps Coaching, Mega Camp is where you can build your referral

network with top-producing professionals and make QUALITY connections with the industry’s

most esteemed leaders!
To give you an idea of the kind of agents that you’ll be networking with, here is the profile of the average Mega Camp attendee from last year.

• Average GCI: $186K
• Average number of Units Sold in the Past 12 Months: 26
• Average Volume in the Past 12 Months: $7.4M

Set yourself up for success in Q4!
Register for Mega Camp 2017 Today!

KELLER WILLIAMS OUTPERFORMS INDUSTRY ON LIST OF TOP AGENTS AND TEAMS

Strong Results

Keller Williams, the world's largest real estate franchise by agent count, has more agent and teams ranked by closed transactions and sales volume than any other franchise in the 2017 REAL Trends'  "The Thousand."

REAL Trends, Inc., a leading source of analysis on the real estate industry, partners with The Wall Street Journal each year to compile an industry summary of the Top 1,000 real estate agents and teams in the United States. The report categorizes the Top 250 real estate professionals by transaction sides and volume, as well as team sides and volume.

"The average U.S. real estate professional sold 8.6 homes in 2016. The average agent ranked in The Thousand sold 192 homes and the average team sold over 470 homes,” commented Steve Murray, president of REAL Trends and publisher of The Thousand. "These kinds of results show that those who commit to being full-time professionals can build meaningful businesses and succeed beyond expectations."

The report features 89 Keller Williams agent teams in its Top 250 ranking of real estate teams by transaction sides. Collectively, those Keller Williams teams closed 39,709 transactions last year.

“We’re incredibly honored to be home to 147 representatives on the REAL Trends/Wall Street Journal list of America’s top agents and teams,” Keller Williams CEO John Davis said. “More important, we’re thrilled that these extraordinary business leaders helped buyers and sellers close more than $8 billion in home sales!”

The 2017 report also features 45 Keller Williams agent teams in its Top 250 list of teams by sales volume.

“Our agents are local market experts. They have elite skills. And they’re committed to delivering an exceptional customer experience,” Davis said. “Together, they’re delivering great value and getting results. They’re also building big businesses that are creating opportunities for people to fund their lives and make a difference in their communities.” 

For the complete list of Keller Williams agents on the 2017 REAL Trends "The Thousand,” visit the REAL Trends website or click the image below! 

KW Utah Proudly Welcomes 53 Agents in May 2017!

POLICY ISSUES, UPSTREAM AND MORE – HERE’S THE LATEST IN REAL ESTATE

Industry Updates

Keller Williams associates recently traveled to Washington, D.C., joining nearly 10,000 real estate professionals at the National Association of REALTORS® 2017 Legislative Meetings. During their time at the Capitol, they met with federal lawmakers and staff, learned about real estate’s top policy issues and connected with industry leaders.   

Read on for highlights of their trip and the latest information on industry happenings!

POLICY UPDATES - HOUSING

Government leaders, including Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Deputy Associate Administrator for Insurance and Mitigation at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Roy Wright, were on hand to speak about the state of homeownership and proposed regulatory changes.

Secretary Carson noted that everyone should have the chance to become a homeowner. He also spoke in support of a proposed HUD rule regarding the approval process for condominium developments.

Wright’s comments provided insight into the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Wright emphasized the upcoming Sept. 30 deadline for Congressional reauthorization of NFIP and steps the agency is taking to improve and stabilize the program.

Midweek, KW agents joined fellow NAR colleagues on Capitol Hill for meetings with their respective members of Congress. REALTORS® focused on three legislative priorities – 1) tax reform, 2) flood insurance, and 3) protecting sustainable homeownership. Congressional leaders and staff were urged to support tax reform that preserves provisions tied to homeownership and real estate investment. They were also encouraged to reauthorize NFIP and responsibly reform the secondary mortgage market.

Learn how you can help protect home ownership here.

UPSTREAM  

Since its announcement back in November 2015, Keller Williams has played an integral role in Upstream, an effort to create a centralized data repository of listing information.

Alex Lange, CEO of Upstream, was available throughout the week to share updates on the Upstream rollout and oversee live demonstrations of the platform. He also explained the platform’s expanded “broker input of choice” method to populate listings. This enhancement will allow brokers to enter data into their MLS(s), which will send it to Upstream. This solution affords brokers the ability to utilize Upstream more quickly, while simultaneously allowing the MLS community/MLS software providers to integrate Upstream into their development schedule.

The conference concluded with a meeting of the NAR Board of Directors, during which the board authorized NAR to fund $1.5 million for administrative costs through 2018, as well as up to $7.5 million to support deployment of the technology by Realtors Property Resource®, the NAR subsidiary that developed the technology.

KW INDUSTRY LEADERS

The KW Industry Leaders community – a group of agents serving in industry leadership roles at the local, state and/or national level – volunteer their time and talent in support of the real estate profession.  These associates serve in a variety of roles, working to drive positive change throughout the industry. Engaging with real estate experts, colleagues and lawmakers at the NAR midyear meetings is one of many ways these leaders are helping to move the industry forward. While in D.C., KW Industry Leader community members were invited to attend a reception hosted by the KWRI Industry Development team at the Menkiti Group’s Capitol Hill market center. The reception included a Q&A session with Lange and an overview of the newly created Industry Development KWConnect page.

The real estate industry is changing at an increasingly rapid pace! Learn more about how Keller Williams is working to ensure that any changes that impact the industry keep our associates first.

 Visit the KW Industry Development page on KWConnect for more information!

KW Industry Development

MAY RED REPORT: KELLER WILLIAMS AGENTS CAPTURE $15.8 MILLION IN PROFIT SHARE

Red Report

Keller Williams, you are unstoppable! 

You broke all-time company records once again and the market is just heating up. Watch the May 2017 Red Report below to see how you are capturing profit share and funding the life you want to live. 

 

Zeroing in on the activities that drive results for your clients and your business as a whole is what sets you apart from the rest of the industry. And, it’s what has helped you capture incredible market share this year and break several all-time records for the month of April!

With a renewed concentration on taking listings, you are securing key business just as the market is heating up. And, with this focus, you are poised to take even more territory and serve more families.

Your commitment to production is showing up in the numbers and your pocketbooks. Predictable and sustainable growth through models like the Career Growth Initiative is what drives your bottom line and funds the life that you’ve always envisioned for yourself and your family.

All around the world, the Keller Williams family continues to grow, building careers worth having, businesses worth owning, lives worth living, experiences worth giving and legacies worth leaving.  

What activities are you leveraging to achieve more this month? Share your story on KWConnect! Thank you, Keller Williams! Until next time.

TOP AGENTS OPEN UP ABOUT WHY THEY JOINED KELLER WILLIAMS

Head-Turners

Every day, top-producing agents are turning heads as they make the move to

Keller Williams. While the reason for making a brokerage change is personal

for each and every agent, the desire to grow personally and professionally is

evident in all.

Meet two agents, featured in OutFront Magazine, who are now proud to call

KW home.

Melissa Machat

Las Vegas, Nev.
Melissa Machat of Las Vegas, Nev., has been 

a successful solo real estate for six years, but

in 2016, she was ready to grow a team.

“In January 2016, I decided that I wanted to

build a team. I had been relying entirely on my

own production, but I knew there must be a

better way to do business and balance my life,”

Machat says. “I re-read The Millionaire Real

Estate Agent and the dots connected for me;

this is exactly what I was trying to do.”

“It had been ingrained in me that the more I

produce, the more successful I am. But what

I really wanted was a successful business, a

company that was functioning and self-reliant.

Coming to Keller Williams literally saved my business.”

Machat says that the Keller Williams road map of models, systems, as well as

Mega Agent Expansion opportunities attracted her to the company. But that

wasn’t the only reason.“The amount of opportunity in this company is

unbelievable and what agents are achieving is inspiring. The idea of expansion

is beyond motivating to me, and I’ve already taken Career Visioning, BOLD

and ESO twice.”

Machat and her team joined Keller Williams in October 2016. She emphasizes

the importance of balance in life between her career and her husband and their

two dogs. “I want to be the best agent I can be. Now I know how to achieve it,

while also living the best life I can live.”

Alice Chin

Naperville, Ill.
Naperville, Ill., is recognized as a top

community in which to live.

The quaint and picturesque city has made

headlines for its outstanding quality of life.

Keller Williams associate and Naperville

native Alice Chin uses her in-depth knowledge

of the city to showcase herself as the local

expert.

The Alice Chin Team has been ranked the #1

residential real estate team in Naperville for the

last two years in sales units and total volume.



Despite the laurels in her business, Chin says that, for the last couple of years, she
actually felt like she was hitting a wall. “The spark of work was dulling and I started
to question what more was out there,” Chin says. “The team leader and operating
principal of my market center sought to understand how they could help me. They
listened to me, they got to know me and helped me to figure out what I was missing
in my business.”

Last year, Chin attended the Expansion Systems Orientation course at Keller Williams

Realty International in Austin, Texas, and says, “That was totally out of the box for me.

Doors were opening all over the place, and my future became brighter. The environment

at Keller Williams is like none other. It’s truly a culture of caring and has the agents’

best interests at the forefront.” Since making the move to Keller Williams in September

2016, Chin has assembled a brand-new team of nine including an inside sales agent,

buyers specialists, and a listing specialist.

Meet more top-producing agents who have made the move to Keller Williams in OutFront Magazine!

Download OutFront Here 

FIVE WAYS TO FILL YOUR PIPELINE WITH 10S

CGI

This year, Jin and Anna Ro were able to do the unthinkable – take a family vacation. What seems normal to most people wasn’t possible for the pair until joining Keller Williams in 2015.

“We were so burnt out we were going to call it quits,” Jin recounts. “There were times we didn’t close anything for 4 - 6 months. Our expenses were everywhere and we didn’t have any goals or a system. It was chaos, and it was wearing us out.”

After joining the KW Irvine (Calif.) market center, the downward spiral their business was on reversed into an upward climb. From April 2016 to April 2017, Jin and Anna’s GCI increased 372 percent, closed sales increased 158 percent and the average sales price doubled.

The secret to their growth? The Career Growth Initiative.

Jin and Anna’s remarkable growth was made possible through Keller Williams’ Career Growth Initiative (CGI), and, more specifically, the Pipeline Tool. The Pipeline Tool is an agent’s follow-up list for buyers and sellers so they can track how they’re turning their goals into reality.

“With the help of our assistant, we figured out there were 2,800 people in our database, and business was falling through the cracks,” said Anna. “We weren’t prioritizing our contacts. The Pipeline Tool helped us identify active clients and focus on moving level 6 clients to level 10.”

A level 10 client is one who is ready to list their home within the month. The closer a client is to 10 in the pipeline, the closer they are to listing their property with the agent.

Jin and Anna share five ways agents can fill their pipelines with 10s:   

1. Have a clear understanding of what your client’s motivation is and revisit it often, especially if it’s time sensitive.
2. Be clear whether the reason a client wants to wait is an objection or a condition.
3. For sellers, offer to pre-market their property to your database and gather a list of pre-approved buyers even before it hits the market.
4. Educate first. Provide your clients with valuable information (e.g., current mortgage rates, market activity, seller/buyer guides).
5. For buyers, talk about mortgage rates and how each increase lowers their purchasing power.

The couple also implores agents to use the CGI suite.

“Through Keller Williams, we have a system that is helping us create a business by design, not by default,” says Jin. “The CGI is helping us live the life we want to live and is allowing us to provide more opportunities to our children and leave a legacy.”

Dig Into the CGI  

Like Jin and Anna, the CGI’s suite of interconnected value tools can provide you an unprecedented view into your business so you know EXACTLY what needs to be accomplished in order to achieve all-new levels of production and profitability.

Take the first step to transforming your business today.

Download the CGI Tools Here

 

WINS IN RECORD TIME

Growth Initiative

In 2011, Operating Principal Ron Wexler of the Orland Park market center adopted the Keller Williams Growth Initiative without hesitation. The previous year, he had seen first-hand in another market center that the activity and focus-driven back-to-basics system for fueling growth worked.

“I knew it was time to listen to the people who had been there before.  The biggest curse being in real estate is we all think we know and can figure out everything. There’s just a point where we have to surrender,” Wexler says about wholeheartedly adopting a new way of doing business.

A Remarkable Turnaround

At the time the Growth Initiative was introduced to the Orland Park market center, Wexler’s team had nothing to lose in adopting it. In 2010, the Illinois-based market center suffered a loss of $59,000 and times seemed bleak. However, after implementing the Growth Initiative the following year, the leadership team was able to turn around the losses and net $8,000 profit. It was the start to remarkable growth and recovery. In 2012, the system really took root and profits jumped to $204,000. In 2016, the team had a 60 percent profit increase over 2015.

It’s a remarkable turnaround, but not a unique one. Since its company-wide introduction in 2011, the Growth Initiative has led to historic gains, including doubling the associate count, making Keller Williams the world’s number one real estate franchise by agent count, while cumulative profit share has surpassed $850 million, including $154 million in 2016.

Back to Basics

Each week, Keller Williams Co-CEO John Davis hosts separate conference calls with operating principals (OPs), team leaders (TLs), and market center administrators (MCAs) to discuss company performance and focus on activities that are working to drive that success.

For Karen Saut, Orland Park’s MCA, these calls and activities were a wakeup call. She began to better understand what her TL was handling and where she could help her be more effective in her job. It created leadership team awareness and got everyone on the same page.

“It helps us understand what is expected of us and our TL’s systems,” Saut says. “Everyone knows what their role is and what they need to do to be successful and how others can help.”

Team Leader Colleen Basinski says that the Growth Initiative gave her a set of standards she was expected to uphold and a system to teach her team to help them succeed. Initially, there was some resistance among the team with regard to more reporting and greater accountability. But Basinski says that when the leadership team began to show how rolling out their reports could lead to better systems and greater overall success and transparency, the team all got on board.

Building Careers

And while the Growth Initiative is primarily targeted toward the growth of the market center, in July 2016, KWRI rolled out the Career Growth Initiative for associates. This program uses similar goals, accountability and reporting to help individual Keller Williams agents achieve their own success and move forward in their careers.

Having experienced such great success with the GI, the leadership seamlessly rolled out the CGI, which was designed to be used in tandem with the GI language and tools already established.

Dave Auffarth, member of the Orland Park market center’s Associate Leadership Council (ALC), says he’s not really a “numbers guy,” but the Career Growth Initiative has changed that. By focusing on four key areas – listing appointments, listings secured, closings and profit – agents can see where their strengths lie and where they may need additional focus, training or coaching to improve.

“What this does is it allows agents to focus on running a business, because without these four conversations, you’re just running around for a paycheck. You’re not really focusing on being a businessperson and owning a business, which means watching the numbers, which is a lot more numbers than these four. But if you can get them focused on these four, it expands from there,” he says.

The Payoff 

The market center’s turnaround is a testament to what the Growth Initiative can accomplish, but the team members say that it’s been more than that. Better systemshave allowed the team to grow from 46 agents in 2010 to 425 today. The team is in the process of growing I've more leaders over the next two years – a goal that Wexler has made a priority

But it’s also personal. Everyone in the market center is earning more money as a result of the increased success and profit.

Auffarth says that the overall success of the market center has been inspiring to him and is helping him realize his own career goals.

Meanwhile, Basinski has helped agents grow their income to levels they never thought possible – and seen her own personal income more than quadruple during her six years with the team. “And that allowed for things like sending my son to college. Being able to write a check so he can go to any college and I don’t have to worry about it at all,” she says. “And our associates are earning more than ever before. They are going on vacations with their families and paying cash.”

For Wexler, building his market center has been both professionally and personally rewarding. After seeing some agents lose everything in the recession because they “were only as good as their next sale,” he takes the commitment to build a thriving market center personally.

The associates are also experiencing tremendous benefits from utilizing the CGI. “We have agents capping now who never capped before,” says Basinski. “The CGI breaks up activities into monthly, weekly and even daily activities so everyone can achieve their individual goals.”

“Just based on my production, these companies all wanted me. None of them had anything to offer except, ‘Come work at our company. We’ll give you money upfront.’ They were going to offer me a bounty to come join them. Ultimately, I wanted the personal growth. That’s what attracted me to this world. Now that’s what I want to share with the people here. I by no means think we’ve arrived. I think we’re on a really great track, though,” Auffarth says.