The Around Town Team is experiencing a metamorphosis. Boasting an impressive $87 million in sales volume and 200 units sold for 2019, the Newtown, Connecticut, nine-person team has the future sales goals you’d expect from a group of this caliber: To the tune of $250 million. While ambitious, this goal is only part of the reason the team is choosing to call Keller Williams home and parting ways with Coldwell Banker after 14 years. The rest goes far beyond financial motivators.
“Our goal with every client is to gain the same level of trust they extend to their attorneys, accountants, and financial advisers,” says founder and team leader Andy Sachs. “To achieve that, we need to stay ahead of the curve, and Keller Williams is looking down on the horizon of what’s coming toward us next and preparing for it. The business is changing faster than ever, and joining forces with Keller Williams will help us stay on top of it.”
An innovator who sees the move as an opportunity to modernize the Connecticut real estate market (“Everything innovative and new comes from the South and the West and hits us last,” he jokes) Sachs’ background spans sales, marketing, licensing, and branding. After falling into real estate at the nudge of his father-in-law, he realized the industry offers a true chance to help people, and has limitless opportunities for growth. So, he stuck around, left his working solo tendencies behind in favor of a team-player mentality, and has been propelling the team forward ever since.
“All of our team members are intelligent, passionate, and wonderfully opinionated,” Sachs says. “We try to build consensus, and so much comes from simply listening to their ideas and their thoughts.” Though they come from various backgrounds, three words sum up The Around Town Team across the board – Bold. Transparent. Innovative. And, since this vernacular pulses through Keller Williams culture, the team is excited to join forces.
“The overarching feeling we get is an openness to be able to try new things in an environment that is kind and supportive,” Sachs says. “We want to show up in an office that we feel welcome in and are excited to work in.”
One of the new ideas the team is eager to share with the industry is that of resilience training – the mental health tools we need to survive and thrive in the business at the end of a long week of making phone calls that don’t pan out. “I think this industry is so good at teaching business tactics – call this many people, get this many deals. But we’re not really good at teaching people how to stay resilient when they get constantly rejected,” Sachs says. “There is an opportunity here.”
“My team wants to be market leaders and thought leaders,” Sachs says. “I’m more energized than ever to be a part of something bigger than myself, and I think that Keller Williams offers that opportunity.”