As far as $12,000 per year for office fees??? I don\’t know what office you signed up at but the offices local to me are more like $1,200 per year even when you cap at 100% commission. You can find \"Free\" brokers everywhere but you have to weigh what you get with that \"Free\".

By the way, great article Lee. Got your license?
http://www.JoinKeller.com

Thanks for providing your feedback regarding Keller Williams Realty. I like your idea of passing the trust on to future generations.

- Lee

Attention KW Agents – Great Company – Way over priced!

Let’s start off by addressing the three most glaring differences between the KW profit sharing model and a MLM or pyramid scheme type business opportunity. First of all, the traditional pyramid scheme model is no longer a legal business model to operate. Keller Williams Realty is now the fourth largest real estate company in North America, and since being founded in 1983, our business model has been approved in every state around the country and Canada.

Secondly, multi-level marketing opportunities usually require both buying inventory/services upfront and mandatory quotas to reach any real incentives . At Keller Williams Realty, their are absolutely no costs and no quotas associated with participating in profit sharing.

Thirdly, multi-level marekting models are typically designed to make the majority of the profits rise to the top of the multi-level tree. The reason that this happens, is that there is typically no limit to how many levels and people you can have underneath you. At Keller Williams Realty, our profit sharing model is ‘capped’ at 7-levels. This makes the KW profit sharing opportunity equal for everyone in the company. The top profit sharing real estate agents in our company, are only making money off of the profitability of the agents seven levels below them. As of right now, there are over 60+ levels in Keller Williams’ company tree, and many of our future profit sharing leaders are not even with our company yet!

It is also critical that you do not confuse the KW profit sharing model with other revenue sharing real estate companies. Typically, in a revenue sharing real estate company, every time someone that you brought into the company closes a deal, you make a percentage of their commission. At Keller Williams, our business model is tied to profit sharing. This is the catalyst for what most of the real estate agents in our company truly believe is the biggest benefit of running their business at KW… the culture!

Whether or not you make any profit sharing money through our company is a distant second to the the effects that the profit sharing model has on our training, education and culture. In an industry that has historically always been a ‘dog eat dog’ type business, you now have a company where there is a real incentive for the real estate agents to share their ideas, secrets and models. That is why at KW, our most successful real estate agents are the ones teaching the classes. The idea is very simple: TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More!

Another perspective to consider, is what the effect of treating your real estate agents like shareholders has on the growth of your company. Keller Williams was the only one of the top five real estate companies to grow in agent count in 2007 and also saw a 37% increase in market share. The bottom line, is that there is no other industry where the sales force(real estate agents) are more of the product then in the real estate industry. If you treat the agents as partners(share the profits, offer them the best commission splits, open the books, provide the best agent training & support and create a culture where agents share ideas), why would they want to every leave your company.

To really put our amazing growth in perspective, you need to also consider the fact that KW does not spend any money marketing the ‘KW’ brand to the consumers like every other real estate company. Instead of spending millions of dollars a year marketing our brand to the consumers, we invest our money and resources into our real estate agents, because unlike other real estate companies who see their greatest asset as their company’s brand recognition, our growth is based on agent productivity and more importantly….agent retention.

http://moving-careers.com/kellerwilliamscareerblog/

It’s really a pretty simple concept….it’s called creating loyalty!

A National Association of Realtors survey of consumers determined that 86% chose a real estate firm for no other reason than because of an individual agent. This fact is proven time and time again. Whenever an agent switches from one brokerage to the next, ‘their’ clients follow. YOU are the reason people do business with you and you should build your career on this fact! At Keller Williams Realty, we recognize that the agents are the reason we do business. Our agent-centric business model is based on the belief system that the agents should be treated like partners. As stakeholders in the company, our agents:

■Share in the profits. In 2008, Keller Williams Realty distributed more than $30 million in profit share to associates who have helped to grow the company.

■Learn how to generate their own leads and run their own real estate business, so that they can create the leverage needed to create careers worth having, businesses worth owning and lives worth living.

■Take home more of their commissions with our unique commission structure.

■Are empowered to take leadership positions that impact the direction of the their office and the company. Only national real estate company that ‘opens the books’ to the agents.

■Share their ideas, secrets and models by teaching the training and educational classes It is this unique culture, that continues to be the greatest benefit of affiliating with our company. By sharing ideas, all of our businesses go to a higher level, thus creating more profit sharing for the office and the agents. A True Win-Win! This is what gives our agents an advantage over other agents at more traditional companies, where typically an agent’s greatest competition is within their own company and office. As a result of this innovative model, the secret of our growth (Now the 3rd largest company in the country!) continues to be our high level of agent productivity and agent retention.