Seven Carol Jones agents achieve national ranking

by Maria G. Hoover

SBJ Contributing Writer

Seven female agents working for Carol Jones, Realtors, were included among the 500 Most Powerful Women in Real Estate and Relocation for 1999, a nationwide listing compiled by The National Relocation and Real Estate Magazine.

Six agents working in the Springfield office of Carol Jones, Realtors achieved recognition on the list: Letty Van Kleeck, Donna Crosby, Jane Chenoweth, Indy Wallace, Carol Jones and Beverly Stenger. Another recognized agent, Dorothy Jacobi, works out of the company's Branson West office.

Bob Fitzgerald is vice president and general manager of Carol Jones, Realtors. He said it means a lot to the company that the seven agents were included on the list.

"I think they exude the professionalism of our company," he said.

He said all the agents on the list were nominated by their companies. He noted that although not all the agents nominated by Carol Jones, Realtors, made the list, he still thinks seven out of 500 is a pretty high percentage for a single company.

"If you look at the list (as a whole), you'll see that these seven are movers and shakers in this market," he said.

Fitzgerald said among the seven agents are women who have been in real estate for many years, as well as some who are fairly new to the business. But all seven do share certain qualities.

"They are all professional folks who are goal-oriented and driven to succeed," he said.

Fitzgerald said there's a strong market for real estate in southwest Missouri, but added that the market doesn't have anything to do with the success of these seven agents. They would have been able to achieve just as much success in a down market, he said, adding that it can actually be harder to succeed in an up market because there is more competition. But for the seven on the list in particular, he said, the market isn't an important factor.

"Again, they're goal oriented, they're businesspeople, and they have big goals for themselves. They're going to make those goals and achieve for themselves, regardless of the market," he said.

Fitzgerald said the company makes a variety of marketing tools available for all agents to use. However, he said more important than those things is the fact that successful agents each do something individually that makes them stand out from the competition. That "something" is a point of difference, and each of the seven women has it in her own style.

"This is a business where a point of difference is key. It might be the level of service they provide, it might be a different piece to the marketing tools they use, but it gives them a different look than other Realtors have," he said. "It's something that's above and beyond what the company does ... that sets them apart from the others."

Fitzgerald said Carol Jones, Realtors, has a total of 10 offices throughout southwest Missouri and about 275 agents.

Company founder Carol Jones opened her company in May 1983. She said she had always planned on having a company where women could succeed.

"My intent, when I started the company, was that I'd have a small real estate company with about 15 ladies who dressed nicely, drove expensive cars and sold expensive homes," Jones said.

She added that she'd only planned to specialize in the sale of high-end homes, and she never intended to sell commercial or other property. But she said she's glad it didn't work out that way.

"The second Sunday I went to church after I'd announced I was opening my business, on the way out of church, I got six listings from six different people, and they weren't all expensive homes, so we started off listing all kinds of things and just went from there," she said.

Jones said since she started the company, she's worked with both female and male agents, and at different times, there were more male agents than female agents on her staff. But she said although real estate used to be thought of as a man's business, that has changed.

Fitzgerald agreed, and said women have excelled in the real estate field, particularly during the last 15 to 20 years. Jones' original goal of helping women succeed in the market seems to have paid off as well in addition to having seven of its women agents listed among the top 500, Fitzgerald said, 13 of the top 20 agents for Carol Jones, Realtors, are women, the honored seven among them.

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