Sitting down at the conference room table in my office, meeting with people who are considering joining the Hermann London Group, I often get asked the same questions and I typically answer them the same way.

Where did the name Hermann London come from?   

Long Version: When I was deciding to open up a Real Estate company, it took me several weeks to decide on a company name. I thought about Adam Kruse and Associates, but that’s not really my style. I thought about Upstream Realty, because I love the outdoors, but that was not professional sounding enough for me. I had a corporate background as an Auditor, and I wanted to carry that image over into our new venture. I asked friends and family for their ideas of which my favorite one was “Helter Shelter” but alas, I still came up with nothing. I was on the phone with my Father Larry who has since retired and obtained his license and joined us, when we were discussing trying to integrate my deep sense of family values into the company name and image. He was discussing how he’s from Hermann Missouri, and my mother is from New London Missouri, and he said, “How about Hermann London?” I said, “THAT’S IT!” and I hung up on him and went and got it all started. Its worked well, I think it sounds professional, corporate, and established. We want to be trusted and well respected in our industry so we have built a company on those values.

What kind of training does Hermann London provide?

You really need to sit down with me and go over our packet of training information that we have prepared. I used to sit with people and just say “A lot” because we truly have a large amount of training:

o We have regular Monday Morning meetings where we discuss things such as building an online presence, organization and communication, networking, negotiating, making successful listing and buyer presentations, etc.

o We have our weekly Wednesday morning meetings where we go over whats happening in the market, whats happening in our company, our agents give examples of things they are trying to do to get more business, we announce networking and external training events, we hold each other accountable to our goals, and we discuss more ways to make more money.

o We have our Weekly Wednesday afternoon trainings where we go over logistical items for example how to establish a value of a property, how to fill out listing paperwork, what to do when you have an accepted contract and are representing a seller or buyer, property showing logistics, the Do’s and Don’t’s of Real Estate, and a few other topics.

o Every other Thursday afternoon we have training on some other random topics. There have been personality tests, motivational speakers, Title company presentations, classes on how to successfully network, field trips to establish suggestions for a seller when they are about to list their home, home showing techniques, and many others.

o Even with all of the formal training sessions, one of the most beneficial items for training is that everyone at Hermann London has an open door policy. I love all aspects of real estate and am happy to get a 9:30pm call from you asking how to fill out a contract or what to do in an odd situation. Our agents will let you come with them when they have appointments for a shadowing session, and in the office were always sharing ideas and tips.

How does the commission work at Hermann London?

You cant ask questions about money in an interview! No that’s not true, of course you can. The way I look at one of these meetings is really you interviewing me. What we have tried to do with our commission is make it as fair and clear as possible. Typically a brand new agent will start off in the 50/50 range and after every 5 sales their split of the commission will raise by 5%, up to a usual max of 80%. We base commission on experience, not dollar amounts because it takes the same amount of skill and care to close a $50,000 deal as it does a $400,000 deal. We want to be there for you to answer all of your questions and keep you confident in your transaction and career. There are always exceptions, so if you have questions or a special situation, or extra amounts of experience, come in and talk to me. We don’t have a corporate headquarters across the country that we have to clear things through, we can do it right at the conference table in my office. (See the small company innovation, flexibility, and creativity benefits of joining Hermann London)

Does Hermann London focus on one niche?

Yes. Our niche is the agent. Hermann London is an agent first company, meaning our agents have their name and number large on our signs. That philosophy is carried out into all of our marketing, and its built into our culture. Every agent at Hermann London seems to choose their own niche. Land in Festus, Green Homes, Short Sales, Villas in Lake St. Louis, all of Kirkwood, Property Management, Southampton neighborhood, etc. wherever they get excited about working. With our excellent web presence we generate traffic and leads for a huge variety of clients and need agents of a wide variety to make sure the client is handled by an expert in that particular niche of real estate.

Is it a good time to get into Real Estate?

This situation happens to me at least once a week, it’s always the same pattern of conversation. I meet someone and they ask, “What do you do?” I tell them, “I’m in Real estate” and they get a sympathetic look on their face, “Oh I’m sorry”. My positive response typically surprises and excites them, “Actually Real Estate is great. Interest rates are low, buyers are buying, investors are buying foreclosures, people are renting properties like crazy, banks are listing their properties with us, we are doing a ton of Broker Price Opinions, There aren’t as many agents in the business, and we are dominating google search results and generating a lot of business.” So yes, I think it’s a great time to get into real estate, deals are happening. You have to try hard, keep busy, and be flexible in the way you get deals done.

Whats different about Hermann London from other companies?

I always struggle with this answer, not because there is not plenty that’s different about Hermann London, but because, maybe there is too much. I usually like to meet with someone and learn about them first, find out what is important to them, and find out which area of our “differentness” I should focus on. So if you really want an in depth answer, come and meet with me. Heres a quick overview: Our company profit sharing plan is more generous than most, We subsidize an abnormally large amount of things for our agents, we are small enough to give our agents personal attention and big enough to give them the tools and resources they really need, We have an amazing interactive training program, we “get” the web; meaning we know what it takes to have a strong web presence and generate business through this ever growing medium, we’ve found a nice medium between family and competitors within our office environment, our business cards are smaller than most, and we screen our agents before they can join us.