| REALTOR Magazine Online Top 25 Thought Leaders |
Jim Weichert
 Founder and president, Weichert, REALTORS®, Morris Plains, N.J.
Why: Beat the naysayers and launched a nationwide franchise, showing independents a new way to keep growing.With the successful launch of Weichert Real Estate Affiliates in 2002, the franchising arm of Mid-Atlantic powerhouse Weichert, REALTORS®, Jim Weichert proved that independents can go head to head with the big national franchises. Since then, Weichert has added 265 franchised offices in 25 states and received a nod from Entrepreneur magazine as one of the Top 10 New Franchises of 2005. These days, the company he opened in 1969 is a major player with more than 18,300 sales associates and 450 company-owned and franchised offices, making it one of the largest providers of real estate services. The innovative Weichert Gold Service Amenity program and the franchise’s strong emphasis on salesperson education are just two examples of Jim Weichert’s core belief that consumers buy the people, not the product or service.
Reprinted from REALTOR® Magazine Online, http://www.realtor.org/realtormag,. [December 2006] with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright 2006. All rights reserved |