Ahead of his return to Keller Williams for his first family gathering as CEO, Mark Willis shares with Inman his excitement and his perspective on the changing real estate market A call to return to fundamentals.
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Keller Williams CEO Mark Willis has been in the industry for 37 years, but he still talks with the excitement of a new agent about to take over the world.
Willis told Inman that in his first 100 days since returning to the helm after rival eXp Realty failed to recruit the real estate veteran, he has been focused on reconnecting with agents and brokers and establishing a leadership team to advance Keller Williams without compromising Keller Williams. Culture of sacrifice.
Mark Willis
“It doesn’t feel like work,” Willis said during a 10-minute conversation between a series of meetings to finalize franchisor details. Annual Family Reunion Meeting. “When we were a small regional real estate company, our vision was to become the largest real estate company in the world, and I was the driving force behind that goal. Now I can focus on maintaining that position, which is fun.”
Willis said more than 16,000 Keller Williams agents, brokers and franchisees are expected to attend the five-day conference at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, including more than 100 Sessions covering everything from mastering a positive mindset to successfully building large teams, like Adam Hergenrother or Tim Hale.
However, Willis said that of all the tips and tricks he will share, his main goal is to teach agents how to cut down on the noise and focus on the fundamentals of good business — a strategy he says is what drives Keller Williams Sri Lanka achieved today’s achievements.
“Do less, do more,” he said. “(That’s) our mantra.”
Inman: This is your first family gathering since you returned as CEO in November 2023. How have your first 100-plus days back at the helm been? What are you most excited about in the week ahead?
The first 100 days were amazing. This is about reconnecting with our leaders on the ground and understanding how we can serve them at the highest level.
“Do less, do more” is our motto. This means focusing on important fundamental activities that drive the key outcomes desired by our market centers. Keller Williams has a very special culture that is second to none—we know that when we take care of our people first, everything else becomes easier. When you focus on relationships rather than business metrics, your daily work becomes easier and smoother.
It’s all about serving our people, pouring their energy into them, helping them get what they want (and) teaching them how to think so they can thrive in this market.
What’s the theme for this year’s family gathering? What do you think KW agents, brokers, etc. need to hear to thrive?
First of all, we expect 16,000 attendees this year and we believe (the house party) is the largest and most important event in the real estate industry. It’s really about connecting with our people and creating alignment and clarity on how to leverage market opportunities with the education, training and data they need.
We are excited to announce progress on the Command technology platform. We have Tony Robbins and Mel Robbins as our keynote speakers. Of course, we also have Gary Keller’s (State of the Markets) speech and my State of the Companies speech on Tuesday. Here we will present our current situation and the future of Keller Williams.
When thinking about the future, we certainly have to look to the past – 2023 has been an extremely difficult year for the industry, dealing with both market volatility and a series of landmark buyer-broker commission lawsuits. What challenges do you think will be faced in 2024? What’s the plan to help agents meet these challenges?
Twenty-three is definitely an interesting year. This was a year in which the industry was shocked not just by the market, but by the challenges we all faced when it came to collaborative compensation. I believe what we do is one of the most important services provided in any industry, and one challenge is teaching our agents to articulate this value proposition to the public. We’re launching a program called Value Squared that’s designed to help our agents do just that.
Overall, we’re excited about 2024. There is also some cautious optimism. We always act like we’re in the worst market we’ve ever been in and work hard. We’re seeing some downward trends in interest rates and we’re seeing opportunities emerging in the market. Those who are in the market to serve consumers and have the ability to respond to market challenges will continue to grow their businesses.
Externally, KW appears to be maintaining strong brand growth despite facing market headwinds.You just launched a new certificate through Coursera and were named one of the Top 500 Franchises entrepreneur Magazine. What are the growth goals for 2024?
I believe we’ll see positive growth in agent numbers, and we’re already seeing a slow increase in our volumes compared to 2023 numbers. As I said, I’m cautiously optimistic about the opportunities ahead, but there’s no question that if you’re going to own a real estate company, Keller Williams is the best — we’re one that has a very clear model Franchise system in our organization, operations, lead generation and more.
It is important to both our market center franchisees and our agents to not act like salespeople who have a job. It’s about being a business owner who is building a business, getting opportunities and following our well-documented blueprint. We expect positive things to happen in 2024.
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