August/September Business View Magazine

82 83 we’re seeing appraisals being tested. That means prices are trying to go up. Every agent I’m meeting with is having a record month, but in our training, we’re preparing them for a shift.” Keller Williams believes in “for agents, designed by agents.” They call themselves a bottom-up com- pany– training is done to teach people how to be the best business person they can be, not just how to be a better salesperson. The compa- ny is unique in that you could start as a new Keller Williams agent and, within three to five years, grow your business by learning how to read P & Ls, how to hire, to train, how to run your own team, if you choose. Or, you could take those same concepts, as a single agent, and learn how to get more done in less time. Jones insists, “It’s not about the brand, although Keller Williams has a great reputation and you might as well use it. New agents get the benefit of the name and, as they grow, they start their own brand and use Keller Williams with it along the way.We’re always actively looking for more people for our company. Who’s a great fit? Anyone with high standards who wants to be part of a great culture; we’re literally going to overload you with technology and systems to plug in to grow your business.” Speaking of technology, KW Southern Arizona stands firmly on middle ground in that arena. It doesn’t believe brick and mortar is going away, because human beings will always want person- al interaction. On the other hand, an amazing amount of training videos, resources, and tools can be accessed and downloaded by agents on- line through KW Connect. A business tool called Career Growth Initiative (CGI) does lead gener- ation, tracks numbers, creates reports, all on the KW Connect website. Keller Williams also has high-tech referral systems and a virtual assistant called ‘Kelle’ (an artificial intelligence app for mobile phone use). Jones explains, “You access the app on your phone and say, for example, ‘Hey Kelle, help me find an agent in Kalamazoo.’When you get it narrowed down to the agent you want, you send them the referral. Because our whole system is interlinked, the referring agent can track it to see when the deal closes and make sure he gets paid. All the agent stats are available. Gary Keller was very straightforward to new agents, telling them they have to do some business to get their num- bers up on the system, to get some of those refer- rals.We’ve got 150,000 agents in North America and Gary Keller is in the office every day sitting in labs with people from around the country. That’s where they’re improving our AI, our referral sys- tem, creating the Keller Cloud to store our data. They’re really being innovative with technology to help people become connected, globally.” On a local level, KW Southern Arizona has great corporate tools to help people create their web- KELLERWILLIAMS SOUTHERN ARIZONA