RISMEDIA, September 27, 2010—Educating agents on the realities of today’s market is one of the easiest ways for real estate professionals to drive success to their company. Here, read how Patti Siebold, president/co-owner/operating principal of Keller Williams Realty Premier Partners in Vancouver, Washington, goes above and beyond to make sure her agents are equipped with the tools they need to be successful.
Patti Siebold
President/Co-Owner/Operating Principal
Keller Williams Realty Premier Partners
Vancouver, Washington
Years in business: 20
Number of offices: 2—Vancouver and Battle Ground, Washington
Number of agents: 250
Region served: Northwest Washington
Best tip for getting the right listing price: Educate, educate, educate. This enables your customer to make the best decision regarding their timing and their family’s needs. We use a consultative approach, offering competitive data, sales history and market trends so the seller understands fully what the pricing options mean to their home sale.
What strategies are most effective for you in recruiting?
We are dedicated to a culture of support and teamwork. Environment is crucial and at the end of the day, agents need to be productive and make sales, so having the tools, resources, systems, models and training to compliment the culture is an enormous advantage for us. We invite and inspire participation of agents from outside our office—but in our marketplace—to attend our meetings and training sessions. Getting into a consulting relationship allows for us to truly understand someone and their goals.
I understand you hold two training classes per day?
We train in a way that agents can go out and implement what is taught immediately, and we teach what is relevant in today’s market. There is a whole new list of challenges agents face today that were non-existent four years ago. If agents don’t master what clients are struggling with in making decisions now, agents will be at a disadvantage. Our top agents help train. This is part of our culture, which also feeds how we all help one another.
What are two fundamentals that you feel are essential to your company’s continued success?
First, maintain a culture of high energy, enthusiasm and positive attitudes, as well as teamwork in supporting one another in attainment of goals. Part of our culture is that we share the decision-making process with our associates via an ALC (Agent Leadership Council). It’s our version of a board of directors. Then we share our owners’ profits with our agents, which also feeds our culture of helping each other. We are a company built by agents for agents, so each of our agents is a stakeholder in the business.
Secondly, continue working to be the market leader in training, education, support, technology, tools, systems and proven models.
Education keeps our agents on the cutting edge of how to succeed in their business. We also promote effective time management by encouraging our agents to get all their highest priority tasks done as early in the day as possible, while taking time to also be sure they are at their best.
