Keller Williams Realty

=History=

Keller Williams® Realty, Inc. is an Austin, Texas-based, real estate franchise company with over 74,000 real estate agents, operating in more than 650 market centers (offices) across the United States and Canada. Keller Williams Realty is the fourth-largest residential real estate company in North America.

Keller Williams Realty was founded in 1983 by Gary Keller and Joe Williams with the mission to “build careers worth having, businesses worth owning and lives worth living” for its associates. Within two years, Keller Williams Realty had become Austin’s largest single real estate office. In 1991, Keller Williams Realty began franchising and in 1998, the company expanded into Canada, completing its transformation from a U.S.-based, national company, to an international one.

Business Practices

Keller Williams operates real estate office in a non-traditional manner, rewarding agents who help the company grow in a productive manner, and uses the term "Profit Sharing" to describe this portion of their business.The company was studied by two business school professors, James N. Baron and Brian Tayan. The case study is published by Stanford University Press, and is available at "Harvard Business School Press online": [http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml;jsessionid=TOZMXIMODQ1TWAKRGWDSELQBKE0YIISW?id=HR29&referral=2340.] The Report describes the economic and cultural models that have led to the success of Keller Williams Realty.

By 2006, Keller Williams was one of the most profitable real estate companies in the United States; in addition, it was on its way to becoming one of the largest in terms of number of agents (over 70,000). Describes the factors that led to this company's success--including its operational model, compensation model, profit sharing model, and culture. Readers are asked to evaluate how these factors contribute to the company's success and whether they will continue to enhance the company's growth going forward. In addition, explores the critical role that culture and organizational practices can have on a company's operating performance.

Awards

2008

• "Swanepoel TRENDS Report" [http://www.retrends.com/]

Ranked as one of the Top 10 Titans of the Real Estate Brokerage Industry.

2007

• "Entrepreneur Magazine"

Franchise 500 List: No.66

• "Austin Business Journal"

Top 25 Private Companies in Austin, Texas

Top 50 Fastest Growing Companies in Austin, Texas

• "Franchise Times"

Top 25 Percent of Top 200 Franchise Systems

• "Selling Power Magazine"

Stevie Award for The Real Estate Organization of the Year

2006

• "Wall Street Journal"

Franchise High Performers List

• "Entrepreneur Magazine"

Fastest-Growing Franchise: No. 52

America’s Top Global Franchises: No. 61

• "Inman News"

Gary Keller 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders

• "REALTOR® Magazine"

Mo Anderson, Top 25 Most Influential Thought Leader

• "Texas Monthly" and the "Best Companies Group"

Top 60 Best Places to Work in Texas

• "Austin Business Journal"

Top 25 Private Companies in Austin, Texas

Top 25 Fastest Growing Companies in Austin, Texas

Gary Keller

As chairman of the board for Keller Williams Realty, Gary Keller is responsible for providing strategic direction of the company.

Keller was voted as one of the five “Most Admired People,” in a survey conducted by "Real Trends Magazine" in 2000. He was also named as Ernst and Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year for Central Texas and dubbed the second most influential person in the real estate industry by "REALTOR® Magazine" 2003. In 2004, he was he was a finalist for "Inc. Magazine Entrepreneur" of the Year award. In 2006, "Inman News" named Keller in their list of the 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders.

Keller has co-authored two nationally best-selling books—The Millionaire Real Estate Agent and The Millionaire Real Estate Investor—which have had tenures on "BusinessWeek"’s best seller list and an appearance on the best seller list of the "New York Times".

Keller, who is also an avid guitar collector and musician, has taken guitar lessons for more than 10 years from the Austin School of Music and collects Gibson ES-335 vintage guitars.

External links

* [http://www.kw.com Keller Williams Real Estate and Property Search]
* [http://www.agentmountain.com Gary Keller's Website]
* [http://www.kwcares.org Keller Williams Realty Non-Profit]
* [http://www.kwluxuryhomes.com Keller Williams Luxury Homes]
* [http://www.kwcommercial.com KW Commercial]
* [http://www.wealthbuildingwednesdays.com Keller Williams Radio]
* [http://www.kwconnect.com Keller Williams Online Training]