Northern Westchester / Putnam
2649 Strang Blvd. Suite 103
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598

Office Email

Phone:
914-962-0007

Fax:
914-962-0004
Team Leader:
Walter Sadowski
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WELCOME TO Northern Westchester / Putnam

NORTHCOUNTYNEWS.com

At Keller Williams, ‘interdependent’ is the keyword    

By Amanda Hellerman

Keeping it real for sales associates  

An increasing number of the signature red Keller Williams Realty Inc.  are signs are sprouting on lawns throughout Westchester and Putnam counties. The international company, with over 600 offices, is the fourth-largest residential real estate firm in North America.  On May 17, the company celebrated  the grand opening of its new Northern Westchester/Putnam Market Center at the Taconic Corporate Park on Strang Boulevard in Yorktown Heights. 

The new market center was launched by Lou Cardillo, operating principal (broker owner) of the Yorktown Market Center, which he opened about a year ago. The new, larger headquarters, with more than 60 associates, occupies 2,500 square feet, and Cardillo anticipates doubling that space in the next eight months.

The success of the Keller Williams franchise, founded in 1983, can be attributed to the company’s management philosophy, which treats associates as partners, and fosters teamwork between agents. Keller Williams shares knowledge through system-wide real estate training, shares policy control through an Agent Leadership Council, and shares earnings through a profit participation program.

Bottom-up leadership

“One of the biggest things that makes us different is that every other office is a top-down organization,” says Cardillo. “We’re bottom-up leadership. We lead through our associates. Our associates say how they want things done, they vote on it and then we run the ship that way. So associates have a very powerful voice in our company. No other real estate company can say that.”   In contrast to the “dependent” or “independent” business models used by some real estate companies, Keller Williams says it operates on a hybrid of the two, which it calls an “interdependent model.”

Associates working within a dependent system rely on brokers for leads and for commission. Consequently, the disadvantage of dependent models, Cardillo contends, is that “financial gain is directed primarily to the brokers and the company. Associates have few opportunities for accumulating wealth.”

He says companies using the independent model provide nominal corporate support, and associates keep more of the commission. However, the drawbacks, Cardillo continues, are “there’s really no teamwork and associates assume responsibility associated with potential financial risk, legal liability, and management duties.”

The interdependent model, alternatively, initiates cooperation between associates and brokers to achieve financial goals as a team, and associates do not have to assume financial risks, legal liability, or management duties. And in contrast to the 50/50 commission split customary of the dependent model, at Keller Williams, splits start at 70 percent and go as high as 100 percent.

Increased earning power

“We are going into business with associates [who come] from the traditional and independent models and showing them there is a better way. Some associates were yielding $100,000, $250,000 a year and we’ve showed them that by coming over to Keller Williams, we can help them earn at least 50 to 100 percent more by going into business together,” Cardillo said.
At Keller Williams, if agents fail to sell one month they could still be compensated in the form of a profit-sharing check. After three years, says Keller Williams, an agent can leave and still receive monthly profit-sharing checks. As the company grows, it maintains, so do the checks.

“We succeed through our sales associates. We want to help grow their businesses and in turn they want to help grow our business, so every month we share profits with them,” explains Cardillo. “It’s basically money out of my pocket back to my associates for helping to grow the office. So what we’re going to try to do is help them build their wealth and build their legacy…if we build [our associates] to be the best [they] can be, it will make us money.”

In the Keller Williams system-wide training program, the company offers 30 or more courses in the office, as well as another 20 online that agents can access at any time to sharpen their skills while away from the office. Associates are taught how to grow their sales team with Keller Williams systems and models.