When Keller Williams Community Partners team leader Trent Barga’s real estate agent advised him to become one himself, the seed was planted. While on deployment with the National Guard in 2017, Barga picked up a certain well-known red real-estate bible and began to study up. Upon his stateside return in 2018, armed with the knowledge of The Millionaire Real Estate Agent and many a industry YouTube video, he got his license and joined a local independent brokerage in Dayton, Ohio.
“It took me a while to get going, but what I realized when I was reading the MREA and trying to apply those principles at my local brokerage was that they weren’t allowing me to do what I wanted and needed in order to grow my business,” Barga says. “So, I made the switch to Keller Williams, where the combination of technology and models and systems truly helped my business take off.”
Ready to Start Your Own Real Estate Journey?
Keller Williams has partnered with Kaplan Real Estate Education to make entering a career in real estate affordable and accessible with the Keller Williams School of Real Estate (KSCORE). With prelicensing education provided by Kaplan Real Estate Education through the KSCORE training program, aspiring real estate agents no longer have to worry about the financial constraints or confinement of a physical classroom**.
Jump-Start Your Real Estate CareerA Masterclass in Taking Command of Your Business
Barga joined Keller Williams about six months into his own real estate journey, at which point he was experiencing little to no success. Around the same time, Keller Williams launched its groundbreaking CRM platform, Command, allowing Barga to be an early adopter.
“When Command came out, I jumped at the opportunity to use it,” Barga says. From the very beginning, he understood the value of being able to track client interactions and maintain relationships. Not to mention, as a Keller Williams agent with free access to the platform, he was able to save $900 in yearly CRM fees. For Barga’s business, the results speak for themselves: “In the span of one year, I went from selling five units to 50 just by studying the MREA and inputting my database into Command – my business grew by 500%,” he says.
For Barga, the following applets within Command made all the difference:
Opportunities: “This is the main feature I use on a daily basis, because it helps me visualize my pipeline and net income, and stay very focused on leads. It also keeps me up-to-date on the flow of my deals and follow-ups.”
SmartPlans: “It allows me to deploy Facebook ads and automate follow-ups without spending hours calling and texting individual clients. Once I receive a response, I am able to have a real conversation,” he says. By integrating his Facebook ads through Command, Barga was able to lower his cost-per-lead, bringing in 500 leads at an average of $1 to $1.10 each.
Campaigns: “I used to spend hours creating and scheduling posts every week, and now my admin is able to get everything done in advance through Campaigns and using Designs to create the posts themselves.”
Charting the Course
By leveraging Keller Williams’ technology, mindset, and models, Barga has grown a fruitful business and brought on his first admin hire. He is also on track to add a buyer’s agent to the team. “It’s the mindset that ‘It’s your business, and we’re just here to help you with it,’” he says of the KW way. “And I love the values of God, then family, then business.”
For Barga, the only way is up. Ohio Valley Regional Director Pres McKissack concludes, “Trent’s success is due to the fact that he listens, learns, then implements everything he hears from successful agents and Keller Williams trainings. He follows the model and does the work. He will be a future superstar at Keller Williams.”
**Keller Williams Realty, Inc., has an agreement with Kaplan Real Estate Education to promote online course information to consumers and real estate licensees. KSCORE, Keller Williams School of Real Estate, KW School of Real Estate, KW Prep, Keller Williams Realty, Inc., and Keller Williams market centers and franchisees (collectively “KW”) are not the developers of these prelicensing (PL) and continuing education (CE) courses; they are simply providing a referral. This program does not apply in Minnesota, New York, and elsewhere prohibited. PL and CE instruction will be provided by Kaplan Real Estate Education, a state-approved education provider (PL approved in: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IA, IL, KY, MI, MO, NC, NM, NV, PA, SC, TN, TX (TREC Provider #4546), VA, WA, WI; CE approved in: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IA, IL, KY, MI, MO, NC, NJ, NM, NV, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX (TREC Provider #31), VA, WA, WI). KW offers nonvocational training to help individuals become better real estate agents. KW is not an approved provider of state real estate PL or CE. Any questions regarding PL and CE course content or technology should be directed to Kaplan Real Estate Education.