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| | | DeDe Edmonson, Power’s regional manager broker, Kirk Driskell, its founder, CEO and broker, and, Cutch Moore, the company’s COO, lead the Power Realty team as the company continues its growth. Bob Pepalis. (click for larger version) | |
September 09, 2008
Power Realty's Kirk Driskell took a real estate course after he got out of high school because his dad told him everybody needs to take the course. But he never took the state exam for his license. So a few years later when his interest began to develop he had to take the course again to be sure he'd pass the exam. Since then he's made his living buying and selling property.
Today, Power Realty has 160 employees in six offices in two states – Georgia and Florida.
Driskell moved to Alpharetta with his parents when he was just 3 or 4 years old. He attended Alpharetta Elementary, Haynes Bridge Middle and Milton High schools. His wife was born and raised in Alpharetta.
Driskell's dad was one of the founders of Colonial Bank, so he grew up in the business arena. After attending Reinhardt College in Waleska, he didn't travel very far.
"I never planned on moving," Driskell said.
And he came by his real estate interest naturally.
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| Power Realty offices
Alpharetta - 770-888-7653
fax 678-990-5565
200 South Main St.
Alpharetta, GA 30004
Canton - 770-720-7779
147 Reinhardt College Pkwy Suite 5 Canton, GA 30114
Dawsonville - 706-344-1355 121 Old Dawson Village, Unit 220, Building 200,
Dawsonville, GA 30534
Gwinnett - 678-242-7653
fax 678-242-5479
2810 Peachtree Industrial Blvd.Suite F,
Duluth, GA 30097
Cumming - 770-887-4122
Fax 770-887-4552
314 Tribble Gap Road. Cumming, GA 30040
Florida - 850-534-4559
Fax 850-837-7653
57 E Uptown Grayton Circle Grayton Beach, FL 32459 |
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"My dad was always buying and selling houses. If we weren't hunting, fishing or camping, he was buying and selling houses," he said.
Driskell's first land purchase was property in southeast Georgia with a little cabin on it.
"From there, I just started buying and selling other rental properties," he said.
He was engaged to his wife when he decided he wanted to work in real estate for a living. His wife's father, Bill Holt owned Georgia Realty Company, which had been in business for about 28 years.
"I told him I wanted to get a real estate license," Driskell said.
His wife's father wasn't too excited his future son-in-law was changing careers when he was about to wed his daughter.
But he started working with his father-in-law and immediately set himself a goal.
"I wanted to be broker of record for Highway 9," Driskell said he told his wife, who just laughed.
That was 1999, and Driskell has done his best to be just that.
"I started knocking on every single door on Highway 9," he said.
The first listing was the Martin family property where Deerfield Parkway dead ends on Ga. 9. That first listing was set at $4 million. He told Mrs. Martin because he was new to the business it was his only listing and he was going to work harder than anyone else to get it sold.
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| Service above self
Community involvement is important to Kirk Driskell and his Power Realty team.
Driskell himself is a member of the Alpharetta Rotary Club's board of directors, the North Fulton Fellowship of Christian Athletes board, Life Impact ministry and others to be community focused.
The company also supports literacy efforts. The company's annual Power Ball raised $108,000 in one night for charity.
One of his agents in Dawsonville, Kimberly Wilson, has helped organize a women's networking group in that community.
"Every asset we have in this company gets in their car and goes home, goes out to dinner, the movies, where all others go," Driskell said. |
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The 25 acres sold 31 months later, after a sewer moratorium, a lawsuit – "you name it, it happened," Driskell said.
For the next three years, he focused on Ga. 9 from North Fulton Regional Hospital to Beverage Depot near the Fulton-Forsyth county line.
Power Realty is born
More and more listings started coming in, but his father-in-law was interested in hiring agents. Driskell needed help selling. So one day he went home and told his wife he was going to leave her dad's company.
"That did not go so well," Driskell said.
Life was great, he said. They had time for home life, going to the gym and for family.
"She knew if we opened our own company, that was going to change — their needs come before my needs," Driskell said. "She understood that better than I did at the time."
After a few weeks coaching his wife on his passions and visions and what they could do together, she agreed.
Power Realty got its start in "an office and a cube" sublet on Mansell Road from Steve Johnson and Associates.
On the first day he had an office and a desk. One of his first calls was to Carrie Letchas, who he heard just got her real estate license. He met with her and asked for help with listings, telling her he was going to hire people to help sell. She agreed to the job.
"She sat in a cube where the phone never rang," Driskell said of those first days. "We still laugh about it."
Since he was targeting listings along Ga. 9, he needed an office building on that same road. In late fall 2002, he bought his current building from the Dennis Pile family at 200 South Main Street. He put a sign up, but wasn't expecting anybody to come work with him. His five-year plan was to have 20 brokers in five years helping him network to do deals.
"About two or three months after the sign went up, the calls started coming in," Driskell said.
With a mortgage to cover, he quickly had a logo, letterhead and Web site to go with the 20-plus people hired in the first six months. The company continued to grow with little effort on his part. Most new hires were brought in by agents already working for Power Realty as the company grew organically.
Driskell recognizes his strengths and weaknesses and has hired staff to fill those holes.
"I'm a commercial listing agent by trade. I said, 'How different can residential listing be? I know how to sell, list,'" Driskell said.
However, he learned that was not true.
"It's not the same thing. You can fool yourself. My knowledge, expertise is not helping agents," he said.
After going through a couple of different leaders, he hired DeDe Edmonson away from Prudential Georgia Realty, someone he calls an incredible educator and recruiter.
David Belle Isle, an attorney and business colleague of Driskell's, recommended Edmonson. Before coming to work for Power, she was in charge of training at least 25 offices, many more than Power Realty.
Company offers PURE training
With her on board as regional managing broker, Power's real estate school is one of a few in the south to receive certification. The education takes a proactive approach, called Keeping Current Matters.
"That platform has been crucial to helping our agents," Driskell said.
Helping agents helps Power by retaining staff.
"If people are leaving as fast as they are coming in, what's the gain," he said.
"Education is the key to retention," Driskell said.
As long as agents are kept up to date on the current market and what to do in it, the company adds value to its employees lives and careers, not just benefitting the business.
Power Realty now handles commercial and residential listing, has a property management division and a resort office in Florida. The real estate school – PURE, Power University of Real Estate – is another facet of the company.
Driskell must be doing something right. Of the 18 to 20 agents who first started with him, at least 15 still work for Power Realty.
Power Realty trains its agents to help a client whether it makes them money or not. Today the client may not need an agent, but that won't be true next year or next month. His company is built on being relationship focused. They follow the same credo as his Rotary Club belief of service above self.
Agents must find own passion
More than 3,000 real estate agents have left the industry in Georgia. Driskell would like to see another 20,000 leave, dropping down to the core people who are serious and treat real estate as a profession.
Within that core, Driskell looks for agents who have a niche, or look to find their own niche. He knows he is a commercial listings agent, so he looks for others with expertise in residential. He expects his staff to look for their own areas of expertise, or to make themselves an expert in something for which they have a passion like he has for commercial sales.
"I don't know a lot, I admit. What I do know is how to lead, to inspire a team. What I do know is downtown Alpharetta real estate from a commercial perspective," he said.
His dad instilled in him the importance of identifying what he is passionate about so he can take the necessary steps to get there – and then hold himself accountable for that.
"I wouldn't be here today if I didn't have my father instill those values," he said.
An agent Driskell interviewed recently had similar values. Along with his resume, he brought a business plan.
"He's got his act together. He's not thinking pie in the sky. He knows he has to come in and work," Driskell said.
Today's economy doesn't scare Driskell off. He said so many brokers and real estate agents are running from the market.
"We are fired up. The buzz is in the air, we are having fun with it," he said.
Power has put 120 agents on its team in the last 10 months, though he said they aren't hiring just anybody who comes in the door.
"We are not just trying to put cheeks in seats," he said.
Even hiring more agents doesn't necessarily mean staff growth will continue. Driskell said the company may end up with only 100 agents or the 160 agents already on staff.
"We have no desire to be the biggest," he said.
But he wants bright people on board.
"When we come together Monday morning, I want to be the dumbest one there – I might be just that," he said with a laugh.
Power Realty is ready for growth. The company now owns the Coldwell Banker building next door at the corner of Main Street (Ga. 9) and Old Milton Parkway.
"We've had six companies merge with us in the last 180 days," he said.
Many companies seemed to build their framework on 2004 and 2005 production numbers, record years in the industry, he said.
"We've built a platform under the performance of what's actually happening. A lot are having to adjust their model down. We're able to ramp up," Driskell said.
The commercial side of Power Realty has been doing great, with a lot of retail and office leasing. Driskell said he loves watching business people coming out of the office at home to lease 1,000 to 2,000 square feet of space. He has about four or five leases a month in that area.
- www.northfulton.com
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