At Keller Williams Realty, we maintain an essential belief that fundamentally shapes our business: we consider our associates to be the driving force behind the success of their Market Centers and the establishment of Keller Williams as the dominant real estate company in every market we serve. This philosophy is the cornerstone of our unique culture and is how we continue to disrupt the traditional real estate industry. We view our associates not just as independent contractors, but as true partners in our collective growth.
This commitment to partnership provides our associates with an unparalleled and unlimited opportunity to actively participate in the growth and productivity of their Market Center, securing financial rewards from their dedicated efforts. This unique wealth-building platform allows associates to take on the mindset and opportunity of ownership anywhere in the world where Keller Williams operates a franchise. As partners, associates are rewarded for the activity that has the greatest impact on company expansion: referring to other associates.
The Foundational Principles of KW Profit Share
The concept of profit sharing emerged from a period of fundamental reinvention within Keller Williams Realty. In 1986, Co-Founder Gary Keller and the first Associate Leadership Council (ALC) convened after the young company, which was then operating with traditional commission splits, lost seven of its top ten producers. These top agents were simply seeking better deals elsewhere.
Learning from this experience, Gary Keller challenged the ALC with a pivotal question: “How can we build a company that no one would ever want or need to leave?”. From those ensuing sessions, the ALC established the foundational belief system (WI4C2TS), implemented higher commission splits allowing agents greater control over their business spending, and developed the KW Profit Share program. This system was designed to be a revolutionary mechanism that genuinely treats associates as partners in the business. An early iteration of the program was introduced in 1987, and by 1989, it had solidified into the Profit Share system that is still utilized today in the United States and Canada.
Unlike most real estate companies, where owners typically retain all profits generated by the business, the Keller Williams wealth-building platform is revolutionary. It created a model where agents and brokers became interdependent, sharing a mutual interest in success and collaborating to achieve financial goals. Critically, associates are rewarded for growth with a portion of the revenue, as if they were owners, yet they do not assume the financial, legal, or management responsibilities or risk associated with ownership.
Understanding the Global Scope of KW Profit Share
The comprehensive wealth-building systems at Keller Williams are designed to reward associates across international borders, recognizing their impact on company growth worldwide.
In the United States and Canada, this financial reward is delivered through the KW Profit Share program. This system is structured so that Market Center owners share their office profits directly with the associates who helped that specific office expand.
Globally, outside of the U.S. and Canada, Keller Williams utilizes a similar system known as Growth Share. This model was developed in 2010 when Chris Heller, serving as president of Keller Williams Worldwide, was tasked with creating a wealth-building model that could function universally, regardless of the real estate laws and structures in different countries. The Growth Share program complements how the real estate business operates internationally and provides associates with the opportunity to receive revenue like an owner, without any capital investment. Under the Growth Share model, the Market Center sends a portion of its revenue to Keller Williams and the Region each month, and the participating associates enjoy a share of their Region’s bottom line, rather than that of the Market Center directly.
Because any Keller Williams associate can participate in either program, and distributions are managed across borders globally, these two distinct systems create a powerful, synergistic wealth-building platform for everyone who helps the company grow and succeed.
The Mechanics of the KW Profit Share System
Both the Profit Share and Growth Share programs are initiated the same way: when an associate joins a Keller Williams Realty office, they name one person as their sponsor. This sponsor is the individual who was the most impactful on their decision to join the company. This person may be from the same Market Center as the new associate, or they could be from another region, province, or country.
This sponsorship establishes the “Profit Share Tree” or “Growth Share Tree,” which is a mechanism that rewards seven levels of sponsors. The system grows great branches like a family tree.
- Level One sponsors are the individuals who were directly named by the new associate.
- Level Two sponsors are the people who were directly named by the Level One person.
- The system continues sequentially down to Level Seven.
A fixed percentage of the distributed revenue is disbursed across these seven levels based on a set formula. The percentages distributed to each level are designed to reward the direct sponsor significantly, while also providing rewards to those indirectly responsible for the new associate’s referral. The distribution breakdown is as follows: Level 1 receives 50%, Level 2 receives 10%, Level 3 and 4 each receive 5%, Level 5 receives 7.5%, Level 6 receives 10%, and Level 7 receives 12.5%.
Analyzing the Financial Dynamics of KW Profit Share
The foundation of the KW Profit Share model is the productivity and profitability of the local Market Center. Every month, the Market Center distributes its owner profit between the owners who invested capital and the associates who contributed to the office’s growth. This recognition ensures associates are compensated for their direct contribution to the Market Center’s expansion.
Once the profit share pool is determined, the Market Center uses a calculated “profit share factor” to determine how much of that pool is distributed down an agent’s profit share tree. This factor, which is the profit share pool amount divided by the total Market Center dollars, determines the specific amount distributed among the sponsor and those who indirectly sponsored the new associate.
This unique platform allows associates to be rewarded with passive, potentially long-term income without having to invest any capital. This passive income stream carries distinct advantages, including no financial risk, no legal risk, and no requirement for a down payment.
Maintaining Integrity and Legacy in KW Profit Share
Keller Williams maintains continuous review and refinement of its policies to ensure the integrity and sustainability of the profit-sharing community for all current and future partners. The International Associate Leadership Council (IALC) has historically been responsible for refining the Profit Share system.
An associate’s ability to receive profit share income extends beyond their active career under certain conditions. Once an associate has been with Keller Williams Realty for three years and one day, they become “vested.” This means that the associate can choose to leave Keller Williams Realty and still continue to receive their earned Profit or Growth Share. Additionally, the programs offer legacy opportunities: if allowed by local laws, associates can bequeath their Profit or Growth Share to a named beneficiary. This makes the Profit Share an asset that can live on to create opportunities for loved ones.
Keller Williams revised its lifetime eligibility policy in February 2020. New agents joining after April 1, 2020, may lose lifelong revenue if they join a competitor. In August 2023, the International Associate Leadership Council also revised the distribution policy for vested agents who joined before April 1, 2020. If these agents actively compete with KW brokerages, their profit share distribution will be reduced from 100% to 5%. However, retired or non-competing former agents will retain their full profit share. Associates who rejoin within six months may have their profit share fully restored.
The KW Profit Share system is truly an “equal opportunity, unequal reward system”. It provides the potential for agents to build wealth, accelerating their journey toward financial freedom. This platform is built on the belief that rewarding those who drive company growth creates an infrastructure in which associates are supported in taking their businesses to the highest level and participating as true partners in their company. We are committed to delivering the systems, training, and culture necessary for our associates to achieve this wealth beyond their daily commissions.
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