The Loyalty Conversation

In the real estate industry there is a lot of conversation about loyalty. Companies use loyalty as a vehicle to make agents feel bad about making business decisions. We hear things like, “After all I’ve done for them, I can’t believe they were disloyal enough to leave the company!”

What are we – dogs? Real estate is a competitive industry. Each agent makes a choice to affiliate with a company based on the value provided by that company. Real estate companies vary greatly in their commission splits, their technology and training offerings, and their culture. Every agent should find the fit that works best for them in terms of what that agent needs to succeed. The office with the highest split is not always the best option as that might mean less technology and training provided. The office with the fanciest office might mean the commission split is more favorable to the company, making it harder for the agent to make money.

Do we hope our agents at Keller Williams are loyal? No. Not to us as a company or to us as ownership. We hope they are loyal to their faith, whatever that faith may be, their family, their friends, their clients, their inner conscience, AND their pets. Not to us. Agents should be enabled to make business decisions for the better of all those mentioned above.

If so much of the rest of the industry is focused on building loyalty, why aren’t we? Because we are focused on providing value. Loyalty is often misplaced. We want our agents to be business people. It’s better for their clients and everyone they care about. We don’t want our agent partners to be with the company because we make them feel guilty for considering leaving, because we threaten to keep their listings (in many states listings technically belong to the brokerage – regardless of the fact that many sellers sign up to work with the agent, and have never met the broker), pay them less than they earned, or threaten them with lawsuits.

We still don’t really understand these tactics. Sometimes agents leave a company to try something new and then return to their former company if their expectations weren’t met. When a brokerage treats them badly on the way out, they won’t go back to that brokerage. Reversing the loyalty conversation for a minute – does the brokerage forget that quickly about the thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue that agent helped generate for them?

We endeavor to build offices that support our agents with training and technology, pay them fairly from day one and allow them an opportunity to reach 100% commission each year for a reasonable production level, run transparent books showing everyone is paid the same, share 48% of our profits back to the agents who help us build our offices, and have a lot of fun doing it along the way!

Is Keller Williams for every agent? No. Absolutely not. We look for agents who are team-oriented and looking to help others as much as they help themselves, from their own clients to the agent sitting next to them. Our best cultural environment is created by agents who have a thirst to better themselves; in hopes of creating better customer service through training, understanding of new technology, and sharing what they've learned with others to keep their personal emotional buckets in check.

Keller Williams Legacy Group isn't that different in daily operation from most brokerages, we just have a different focus. We focus on providing what our agents need so they can take the best care possible of their customers, families, and friends.

Is Keller Williams right for you? Go here joinkwiowa.com to find out!

#realestate #loyalty #recruiting #kellerwilliamsrealty #kellerwilliamsprofitshare #kellerwilliamsculture