Leading Through People

On day two of Mega Leadership in Austin, Texas, Vice Chairman of the Board Mo Anderson, interviewed Smokey Garrett, regional director for the North Texas/New Mexico/Memphis Region, about the journey of his growth path from agent to a regional leader.

Anderson recognized that Garrett had a deep passion for the Associate Leadership Council (ALC) even before he joined Keller Williams. Garret, who entered the real estate industry right out of college, was with Prudential for the first four years of his career. When he realized that sometimes what is good for the broker isn’t always good for the agent, he began to search.

Immediately upon joining Keller Williams, ALC membership was a top priority and he initiated the conversation on his first day with his market center.

Some tips from Garrett’s road map include:

Agent

Get Involved. Garrett didn’t always see the value in being on committees. However, he quickly learned that by leading committees, he could practice his leadership skills, which would lead him to the next role on his journey. Garrett lead several committees, including education, finance and growth; he felt that each one taught him something new.

Protect Your Investment. When Garrett was faced with an ALC member who complained and wasn’t part of the solution, he replaced them. He said: “I am investing my time and my time in them. And, they need to do the same. It is a 50/50 effort.”

Take Advantage of Profit Share. Within Garrett’s first six months as a KW associate, he was collecting profit share distributions from eight people. By the end of his first year, he had 15. Today, Garrett has 520 people in his profit share tree. “Profit share became real to me when I earned $4,500 in one month,” Garrett said.

Team Leader (TL)

The Arlington (Texas) market center had 60 associates when Garrett became the TL. During his nearly five-year tenure, the market center grew to 300 associates.

As a TL, Garrett focused on building the market center through his people, not around them. “When you build a market center around what associates want and do well, you attract more people,” Garrett said.

While TL, Garrett implemented a policy that all ALC members had to have a members in their profit share tree. The reason behind this decision was to ensure ALC members were vested in the growth of the market center. He taught profit share classes and educated associates on how to effectively refer leads. “Just like we teach our clients to refer us new clients, we would teach associates how to refer new associates,” Garrett said. This method worked. Ninety percent of the market center leads are through their own people.

Operating Principal (OP)

When Garrett became an OP he knew his role was to paint vision and deliver the models and systems to associates. Additionally, it was important to him that he teach people the benefits of wealth building through profit share.

Regional Director (RD)

In Garrett’s current role as RD, he leverages all that he has learned from the previous positions he held. Just as he did, he coaches TLs and OPs to build their market center through their people, not around them. He even invites selected ALC members to participate in leadership meetings. “The key to being a great team leader is to make the connection between the market center’s business and the agent’s business,” Garrett said. “As the TL, you build that bridge.”

Garrett’s path to OP illustrates the limitless growth KW associates can experience. “The destination is known; It’s the journey that makes it fun,” Garrett said. “We are all on this journey together.”