Keller Williams Realty, also known as KW, is an international real estate company with thousands of offices in North America. It’s a top-producing firm because it offers clients, agents, and Realtors® personalized service and innovative solutions for all of their needs.
The History of Keller Williams Realty
Keller Williams Realty started in 1983 with Gary Keller and Joe Williams, two entrepreneurial “real estate cowboys” who saw an opportunity to serve customers better than anyone else by providing them with more personal attention.
Gary Keller is the CEO and chairman of Keller Williams Realty. He is also the author of various real estate books and has been featured in magazines such as Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, and Time.
Joe Williams, the company’s vice chairman, is also a writer and motivational speaker. He retired from Keller Williams Realty in 1991 and wrote “The One World of Real Estate,” published in 1994.
Keller Williams Realty doubled in size every year during the early 1990s and 2000s. It made its initial public offering (IPO) of stock in 1997.
The company continued to expand during the 2000s. Since then, Keller Williams Realty has grown to include over 3,500 offices with more than 100,000 associates.
Keller Williams Accomplishments and Awards
Keller Williams Realty was named America’s fastest-growing private company by Inc. magazine in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. The company has also been featured on Forbes’ list of best franchises to buy.
In 2012, Keller Williams Realty was ranked number one in the top 50 real estate companies list by Inman News. In 2013, it was number two on that list and number three in 2014.
Keller Williams Realty has been named on Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list multiple times since 2003.
In 2016, Keller Williams became #1 nationally. More agents closed more sales in 2016 than any other real estate company in the world!
In 2017, Keller Williams Realty became the world’s largest real estate company with over 175,000 associates and $70.0 BILLION in total closed volume!
Keller Williams Philanthropy
Keller Williams believes in giving back to its associates as well as to communities around the world. KW encourages philanthropic efforts among associates by hosting fundraisers and charitable events that benefit local youths, animal rescue programs, and more.
Keller Williams Realty fosters a spirit of giving back to the communities it and its associates serve. For example, the company has donated more than $20 million and hundreds of volunteer hours towards improving children’s health and education since 2010.
In 2011, Keller Williams associates were recognized by Points of Light as “Community MVPs” for their volunteer work with Hands-On Central Texas and Interfaith Action of Central Texas. They also received this award in 2012 and 2013.
The company supports Junior Achievement through its annual Rockstar Recycling event that raises money for school-based entrepreneurship programs. It works with Boys & Girls Clubs of America by donating homes renovated by its members and encouraging its employees to volunteer their time at the clubs.
Keller Williams Realty has also partnered with Habitat for Humanity, supporting several initiatives to build homes in Central Texas. The company’s associates have donated several trailers full of food and other items to local food banks throughout the United States.
Its commitment to philanthropic work has earned Keller Williams Realty numerous awards, including the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, the President’s Volunteer Service Gold Award, and recognition as a “Top-Rated Non-Profit” by GreatNonProfits.org.
Why Keller Williams is Different
Keller Williams Realty is a progressive company and has been considered such for over 30 years. In fact, KW was one of the first real estate companies to become a certified B Corporation.
When they were starting out in the 1980s, Keller Williams Realty differentiated itself from other realtors by focusing on finding homes for clients instead of getting listings for themselves.
Today, it continues to be a customer-focused organization because it believes that providing personal service will give it an edge over larger competitors.
Another thing that sets Keller Williams apart from its peers is its unique business model. The company is a membership organization that gives its associates access to various benefits and a home office support system. It has attracted thousands of real estate agents because it provides training and business assistance for free, unlike most other real estate companies in the industry.
Keller Williams also makes itself unique by putting a priority on service and being non-traditional. Its commitment to outstanding customer service has made it one of the world’s most successful real estate companies.
Education and Training
One of the things that earned Keller Williams its stellar reputation is the training and educational opportunities it provides. The company has developed a solid and innovative system of training and support for real estate agents, Realtors® and Associates.
Keller Williams Realty offers online training that allows its associates to work on their real estate careers at their own pace. It’s an accessible way to learn about new programs, tools, techniques, and systems related to Keller Williams operations.
Additionally, much of KW’s training is free, which is another plus because it allows all of its associates the same business advantages.
Some of the more popular training programs offered by Keller Williams include:
- Ignite: skills to spark a great career
- Business Planning Clinic
- Leverage Series
- Agent Curriculum Path
- Leadership Curriculum Path, and more.
Keller Williams University offers a variety of downloadable guides and checklists to help you take action.
The real estate powerhouse also offers free coaching opportunities. It’s a fantastic way for real estate agents and brokers to obtain personalized support from an experienced Keller Williams associate.
Signature Events
Keller Williams hosts three annual signature events, including Mega Camp, Family Reunion, and Masterminds.
Mega Camp: The company’s biggest training event of the year is Mega camp. It’s held for three days at different locations around the United States each June. At Mega camp, more than 10,000 Keller Williams professionals and Realtors® gather to learn innovative real estate strategies.
They also come together to build lasting relationships with real estate peers. Mega Camp is one of the most popular events on Keller Williams’ annual calendar.
Family Reunion: Keller Williams holds its Family Reunion in late July. This event is a family fun gathering with special guest speakers and realtors, giveaways, access to top trainers, live entertainment, and more. At Family Reunion, associates and agents can spend a day with each other doing fun things while learning about the latest tools and techniques in the real estate industry. They can also network and build relationships with each other and company leaders.
Masterminds: The Masterminds event provides exclusive discussion groups for local leaders of Keller Williams’ offices across North America. During these events, associates can share their success strategies and best practices with one another for improved business results.
The Culture
Keller Williams has established a unique and reputable culture that attracts thousands of real estate agents and Realtors® worldwide. The company places high value on personal development, continuous learning, giving back to communities, and helping its associates achieve the success they desire.
The Keller Williams culture emphasizes professionalism by encouraging individuals to treat themselves and others respectfully. Associates are held accountable for their actions because it shows the company cares about those who interact with it every day.
The company’s culture is grounded in several core values that guide everything it does:
Communication: Keller Williams believes communication is vital for effective leadership and team building. Associates are encouraged to ask questions and share feedback with one another because it allows them to get things done more efficiently and builds trust within the organization.
Openness: The real estate agents at Keller Williams embrace openness because they understand that knowledge is power, both personally and professionally. They encourage creativity, candor, teamwork, transparency, respect, and accountability.
Wisdom: KW associates are encouraged to foster knowledge to improve decision-making, communication skills, and satisfaction. Associates learn from each other and clients during the real estate process, which helps them become more insightful individuals.
Professionalism: The company’s culture emphasizes professionalism because it shows respect for those people an organization interacts with every day: agents, customers, vendors, employees, investors, and communities. Associates value themselves and others by holding themselves accountable for their actions and treating people the way they want to be treated.
Results-Oriented: The company believes effective leadership requires results, so its experts focus on what’s important to drive performance. Keller Williams gives employees the resources they need to succeed in their roles and encourages them to develop professionally. Associates also have the autonomy to make decisions and get things done.
Keller Williams provides its associates with a supportive work environment where they can build meaningful relationships with their teams. The culture of this company makes it one of the top places to work in real estate.
How Keller Williams Benefits Agents
When associates join Keller Williams, they benefit from outstanding training and coaching. This support system helps them become more effective marketers who can attract their own business. They also receive valuable lead lists that help them grow their client base quickly.
Associates are given access to one of the largest real estate databases in the world, which is used to complete transactions at the local level. All data within this system is clearly defined to ensure agents maintain current information on properties. Associates also have access to lead-generating tools like online ads, social media posts, websites, email campaigns, and more.
Keller Williams offers its associates multiple opportunities for career growth. The company believes its team members should be able to advance based on hard work and performance, providing a clear path for success. There are also multiple career paths within the Keller Williams system, so agents can pursue those that interest them the most.
Associates have the chance to become managers of their own branch offices if they meet specific requirements. They can also earn designations and certifications in their specialties, like luxury real estate or short sales.
The company gives back to its associates in the form of paid time off, educational opportunities, and training seminars that help them grow professionally. It also offers agents maternity/ paternity leave, adoption assistance, continuing education reimbursements, conferences, and other advancement opportunities.
Keller Williams has an outstanding support system for its associates. Associates are encouraged to ask questions continuously because they’ll be given all the necessary information to get the job done well. If associates do not have access to knowledgeable team members or tools, Keller’s mentoring system is available 24/7, so they can get quick answers from experts in the field. This business model helps agents enjoy their work more by eliminating stress levels often associated with long work hours.
Keller Williams also provides its associates with a safe work environment that protects them from situations that could cause physical, mental, or emotional harm. This company has high standards to ensure agents are always providing ethical service to their clients. It gives team members the resources they need to feel comfortable and excel in their roles.
Agents and employees can grow personally and professionally because this organization supports education efforts through paid time off, continuing education reimbursements, conferences, seminars, books, leadership courses, etc.
Team members are recognized for their achievements with the Outstanding Achievement Award, which they can earn multiple times, along with other awards through Keller Williams University.
Keller Williams is one of the best places to work for agents because it offers an engaging environment where people can thrive. Associates are given all the tools they need to enjoy their jobs and benefit from working with this team.
Technology with KW Command
Keller Williams is known for its philanthropy, education, culture, and for its powerful grasp on technology through KW Command. The agents at KW love technology because it saves them valuable time to focus on their number one priority: serving clients.
There are many benefits associated with working for Keller Williams and utilizing KW Command in real estate. The software can enable agents to focus on customers rather than data entry, provide access to information from anywhere, help them grow their business and increase productivity, bring all the tools they need together in one place, and much more!
What is KW Command?
KW Command is a real estate technology platform that assists associates in growing their business and exponentially increasing productivity. It is a cloud-based CRM system that houses all the company’s technological tools. This allows KW associates to possess a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips, which empowers them to accomplish more.
What Does KW Command Do?
KW Command provides access to information from anywhere with internet connectivity to make each agent’s life easier. Associates can log on from any device, whether it be a computer, smartphone, or tablet. They can:
- Manage leads
- Schedule appointments
- Track emails, texts, IMs, phone calls, and tasks
- Customize website content via multiple listing feeds
- Upload property details using floor plans or photos
- Add notes about each client’s property.
- Customize all forms to fit their individual needs
- Keep track of sales-related expenses and much more
With this system, associates can do much more than simply maintain existing client relationships. They can also:
- Search for new clients
- Market properties
- Build websites to promote property listings
- Upload property details into the system immediately
- Access information in real-time
- Avoid data entry errors
- Use analytical reports that help them see which marketing strategies are most effective
- Manage their calendars seamlessly
- Locate properties for sale easily
KW Command has enabled its team members never to worry about forgetting to do something or spending too much time on a specific task; they can track their efforts and see how effective they are with each transaction.
Keller Williams team members also benefit from Microsoft Outlook integration, which keeps all of their email communication in one space, so they never miss out on any opportunity that comes their way. With this system, associates have the ability to:
- Schedule meetings more efficiently
- Keep track of important emails
- Organize contacts
- Send personalized text messages
- Create custom lists for events
- Manage projects of multiple people at once
- Stay up to date with internal company announcements via web feeds
- Share calendars with colleagues or clients for convenience
- Collaborate on documents seamlessly across devices without worrying about compatibility issues
Communication with KW Command
KW Command harnesses technology in real estate websites and communication, making it easy for agents to produce high-ranking sites with automated email campaigns, text messages, and access to design print advertising materials. They can also track which marketing strategies are most effective, so they know where to allocate their resources. Here’s how KW communicates with leads and clients:
Email Campaigns: With this feature, associates can create and send automated email campaigns to prospective clients or prospects based on their criteria. For example, they can target people who have engaged with them on social media, researched a property online but haven’t contacted an agent yet, or met the client at an event and expressed interest in purchasing a home. Emails are automatically personalized based on each recipient’s demographics and saved preferences.
Text Messaging: Associates also gain access to the company’s text messaging system, which allows them to communicate via text message instead of calling. This is beneficial for both parties because individuals can have their calls returned more quickly when using this option.
Advertising Materials: Partnering with KW Command provides agents with full access to design templates that can be personalized to promote listings, sell homes, offer tips on buying or selling a home, and more.
Social Media Content: Agents have the opportunity to create social media content based on specific criteria so they can execute digital marketing campaigns for their own personal or team accounts. This allows them to stay up to date with companywide announcements, industry information, new properties coming on the market, local news affecting clients in their area, etc., without being overwhelmed with posts that are not relevant to them personally.
Customized Forms: Associates can also customize all of their printed resources by converting templates into the format that works best for them. This includes everything from real estate contracts, brochures, flyers, business cards, and more.
Managing Contacts with KW Command
KW Command integrates with Microsoft Outlook, which is the preferred email client of many real estate agents. These two systems work together to keep associates organized and better equipped to manage their clients’ information. Here’s how it works:
Associates can import contacts from Outlook into KW Command, which means they don’t have to manually enter contact details such as phone numbers, email addresses, and mailing addresses. Contacts also live in one place, so agents won’t have trouble finding what they need for future or past transactions.
Once a client or lead is in the Command CRM, an agent can establish lead pipelines with each person’s name, phone number, email address, and the industry they are in. Pipelines ensure that leads are constantly moving forward toward a sale or purchase so that agents can adjust their strategies accordingly. For example, an agent may want to pursue leads who have been on the market for six months longer than what is considered normal in their area.
Managing contacts in KW Command is a very intuitive process. There are several fields to complete, including contact notes, client information, external leads, and more. Agents can sort leads based on their property search criteria, which makes it easier to find them when they’re ready to make an offer or ask for referrals from satisfied clients.
In addition, there is a dashboard that provides agents with detailed analytics of every lead in the system. This feature allows management teams to monitor which agents are receiving the most activity and prioritize them for high-value transactions. By tracking this data regularly, companies can ensure that their most productive associates have access to the best deals and work with prospects who reflect company standards in terms of price range and geographical location.
KW Command Smart Plans
A KW Command Smart Plan is a premium product that includes all of the features listed above, plus several additional upgrades to provide associates with a comprehensive real estate management system.
The client management tool is more robust, allowing agents to track their clients’ conversations, places visited, property views, and budget information.
For example, an agent may choose to work with a lead who has shown interest in purchasing a house worth up to $500,000 within 30 miles of their current home. Or an agent can sort leads according to their social media activity because these individuals are likely moving into the area soon and could be looking for homes within six months.
Lead-to-client matching is available for KW Command Smart Plans, which saves agents time when they’re trying to contact a lead. This process matches what a lead is searching for with properties handled by their agent’s branch, prioritizing clients who have been in the system longer or have pending requests.
The KW Command Website
KW Command also has a website where real estate transactions can be conducted. Associates and their clients can use this tool to search for homes, schedule appointments with agents, request property tours, and conduct other crucial activities related to buying or selling a home.
All of the usual contact information is readily available on the site, along with customized lead forms that allow visitors to submit requests in order to receive more information from agents. There’s even an option for users to create a personal account if they’d like to track specific searches and save properties in a favorites section. These features make it easy for prospects and clients to get in touch with sales associates when they’re ready to invest in a new home.
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In addition, once an individual is inside KW Command, they can use their profile to track the property’s status in a dynamic activity stream. This feature notifies users when certain milestones have been reached during a transaction and keep all parties up to date with progress being made.
The KW Command website platform is also integrated with social media, so individuals can add Facebook friends who are looking for homes to follow them on Twitter. In addition, there’s a feature that allows agents to syndicate content from their private blogs into the site in order to promote themselves and provide valuable information about real estate trends.
These tools allow home buyers and sellers to make informed decisions before starting a new real estate search.
KW Command Integrations
KW Command currently integrates with popular CRM tools, including Salesforce and iFusion. These platforms connect agents to their prospects in real-time, allowing them to maintain strong rapport without having to worry about missed connections.
Real estate websites like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com can also be integrated into KW Command, which allows sales associates to share listings on all of these sites with one click.
This feature is very popular with digital marketers because it saves time and improves conversions.
KW Command has made it easy for agents to achieve growth in this space by capitalizing on today’s technology trends. Partnerships with CRM providers and other software companies ensure that associates get the most out of their platform while saving them time. These integrations are designed to improve productivity and streamline day-to-day operations for modern real estate firms.
Other integrations include Twilio, MailChimp, Facebook Ads, Dotloop, and DocuSign.
KW Command Reports
KW Command includes reports that agents can use to track their progress and identify areas for improvement. These tools allow them to maintain a competitive edge because it helps them see where they stand among other professionals in the industry.
Since KW Command is integrated with devices like email, smartphones, and tablets, sales associates can work remotely and keep up to date with all of their activities. For example, if an agent wants to find out how many leads they received last week or how successful those contacts were at converting into new clientele, they only need to log into KW Command’s website from any internet-connected device.
KW Command Designs
KW Command is great for teams as well as individual agents. For example, managers can use the website to streamline their workflow and keep tabs on all of their team members.
This kind of real estate software empowers supervisors with tools that give them greater visibility over the activities taking place within their company. By using KW Command, they can communicate with prospects and clients more efficiently and set up automatic notifications through email or SMS messaging services.
Implementing KW Command
KW Command is also friendly for beginners because it provides training resources. Sales associates can learn about the software in a classroom setting or by practicing on test listings before moving on to their next big transaction.
Since agents don’t have time to mess around with complicated platforms, KW Command is designed to be intuitive for new users. It’s a one-stop solution for people looking to buy and sell homes because the software comes fully loaded with all of the tools needed to conduct exciting and successful real estate transactions.
Conclusion
Keller Williams Realty is a successful company that has an established track record of success. The company was founded in 1983, and now, over 30 years later, it continues to grow stronger. The company has been able to grow and thrive in the real estate industry because it offers a culture that fosters innovation, collaboration, creativity, and respect.
This company focuses on team building and empowering agents with the necessary tools to succeed. The agents are able to offer their clients personalized service by giving them the most innovative technology that enables communication with ease.
KW Command is one of the most valuable tools in their arsenal, which is why it’s so popular with agents. The software helps them attract new clients and close deals faster than ever before.
Keller Williams Realty is setting new standards within the real estate industry by focusing on what matters most for each of its customers.
