A Conversation With ... Michelle Cantrell

What brought you to Keller Williams?
I was at Carol Jones for 15 years, and I was a managing broker the last two years I was there. I was a managing broker along with still running my team, which was basically two full-time jobs. I decided to go back to just running my team, and at that time, I decided to make a move and went to Murney and was there for two years. Then, when they contacted me at Keller Williams about this position, I really looked into the company, went to a meeting in St. Louis … and once I started looking at it, I got really excited about the opportunity in Springfield.

I took on this position, and we have hired 64 agents in 2011. We’re launching two Branson-area offices, (and with those agents), we’ve got about 156 agents.

What is your role with the company?
It’s a team leader position, basically recruiting, training and helping agents develop their business.

Keller Williams is really a training company that trains people on how to sell real estate, totally different than the other companies I was at. I enjoyed every company I was at. I think they’re all really good companies, but once you get out of real estate school, they teach you … as far as new agent training – contracts, listings and open houses.

At this company … you still have your new agent training, but my job is to work with my agents, and once I see that they are developing to the point that they’re maybe hitting a ceiling and need help, then (I) help them develop that business and get a business plan. We have a personality profile that I do with the agents on their potential hires, to help them hire the right person. … I go to a training at least once a month.

How is technology changing real estate?
When I started, in the days of new construction when it was so great in this area, we put signs in the yard and sold houses for full price all the time. Now, it’s really changed … people do all their searches online.

We have a program through Market Leader, developed just for Keller Williams agents, called e-Edge, and it’s a lead-generation and client contact (program). And we also have KWLS, which is like (Multilist Service). An agent would put a listing into MLS, and all the agents in the area could search it. Through KWLS, we can put a listing in, and all 80,000 Keller Williams agents throughout the country can search it. If they have an investor in another area who’s looking here, they can search our listings. And once that listing goes into KWLS, it syndicates to about 500 search agents and Web sites.

What trends are your team members seeing in the market?
We’re definitely seeing buyers who are coming to us more educated. They’ve been online and researched these properties, and they really know more of what they want. Most of them already have been qualified through lenders when they come to us. Buyers are really doing their research.

Are your recent hires new agents or those from other companies?
We do have new agents, but it’s probably more experienced agents. ... Even in a down market, people have the potential to make more money compared to most other careers, in real estate. It depends on how much time you’re willing to put into it. It’s definitely harder now than it was, but that’s why (agents) need more tools and more training.
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