‘We need to do more,’ CEO tells Keller Williams faithful 

Turning the page on a difficult 2023 for the real estate industry, Keller Williams CEO Mark Willis talked about "rallying around one another as a family" and leveraging AI to support agents.

Growth is "1,000%" the top priority, Willis said, warning that "in our world, stasis is a killer and stagnation is death." He spoke on Feb. 27 at the annual Family Reunion event in Las Vegas, which was attended by more than 14,000 agents.

Willis' presentation followed co-founder Gary Keller's message about the real estate market remaining in "winter" for another year and bounced between wins and the push to do better.

After listing a series of achievements, which included KW's recent $70 million settlement in the nationwide buyer commission cases, Willis said it was time to put more fuel in the engine and for agents "to own your full potential."

"If I'm being honest with you, it isn't enough for a mature company like ours. We need to do more," Willis said after ticking off some of the financial numbers from 2023.

A closer look at KW performance

It's unclear exactly how the privately owned company performed in 2023 compared to 2022, but it wasn't a growth year. Willis announced the number of agents worldwide was more than 180,000. The company declined to provide an exact agent total for 2023; a year ago, it disclosed an exact count for 2022, which was 191,877.

Willis did say the agent count was following the general trend seen at the National Association of Realtors, which posted a decline in membership.

KW reported sales volume of $472.9 billion in 2022; last year, the global total was around $396 billion, according to slides shown during the presentation.

With the message that 2023 was a difficult year, Willis challenged the audience to reject the status quo and remain hungry.

"We have an opportunity to take our models and disrupt the industry like it's never been disrupted before," Willis said. "Our destiny is to be the largest real estate entity on the planet."

Leveraging new and evolving technology to spur growth

With that growth goal in mind, Willis brought in Chris Cox, the company's chief technology officer, to explain what's coming in 2024. Cox described a series of additions, including new consumer websites and apps as well as the company's ongoing efforts to use artificial intelligence to enhance "agent intelligence."

Command, the company's CRM and technology platform, was updated late last year to include generative AI for copywriting. Coming soon: A ChatGPT-style tool powered by Keller Williams' library of educational content and books, including Keller's bestseller "The Millionaire Real Estate Agent."

Cox also said Command, which is used by 75% of KW agents, will soon have a propensity tool that can predict the likelihood of a property going on the market or when someone is ready to sell.

"Our everyday objective is to put that information to work for you," Cox told the audience.