From Marian McPherson at Inman News….
Former Keller Williams CEO Mark Willis poised to jump to eXp Realty amid legal dispute
Former Keller Williams CEO Mark Willis is poised to join eXp Realty in an undisclosed executive role, a major revelation from an 11-page bombshell countermotion eXp World Holdings filed on Monday to dissolve Keller Williams’ temporary restraining order against Willis. Willis helped grow the Texas-based behemoth from a regional firm in 1991 to a worldwide force with more than 112,000 at the time of his departure in 2014.
I tweeted about this being a possibility but to be honest the “Mark” I thought was jumping name ended with a “c”, not a “k”.
But the story is still crazy good and has everything. It’s almost like a Greek drama. Student outshining the master. Jealousy. Payback. Grudges. Betrayal. And lots, and lots of money.
Love this tidbit…
“Sanford and Keller’s relationship allegedly turned sour in the early 2000s when Keller reportedly snubbed Sanford, then a top-producing team leader, by not including him in an elite company group. The tension between the two remained in the background until 2018, when Keller dismissed Sanford’s earlier praise of his leadership.
“Love it, great. Good for him,” Keller told Inman Founder Brad Inman onstage. “I don’t care.”
“I’ll show them” has gotta be the single best motivator in anyone’s life.
And this…
“A source familiar with the matter backed up eXp’s claims and told Inman kwx Founder Gary Keller “went ballistic” when Willis, who’d spent 25 years helping KW rise to the top of the industry, said he wanted to sell his interests and join eXp.
Despite Keller’s personal feelings, eXp said Keller Williams’ interference in its recruitment of Willis is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, as Keller Williams hired former eXp President of Operations Stacey Onnen on Feb. 4.
Et tu, Willis?
This is going to be fun to watch.
Keller Williams has more agents than all other brands in the business. eXp is the fastest-growing brand nationally based on its growing agent count. However, BOTH brands fail miserably on the all-important metric of annual closed units production of active agents.
As these and other brands focus on attracting agents instead of consumers because of their fee-for-affiliation business models, it will be interesting indeed to see which models prevail. For the industry analysis record, Redfin has the highest per-license production among national brands in the business, based on its model of few agents and its focus on tech and lead generation through its digital presence. Redfin has attracted its agents by attracting its brokerage customers.
Time. Will. Tell.
I’m not going to argue stats with you Pat! ; )
I should have disclosed that none of the brands I mentioned are clients of my firm. I have no vested interest in promoting or criticizing any of them. I try to keep all of my opinions rooted in facts, driven by data.
“If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.”
— James Love Barksdale, Former CEO of Netscape Communications