Jill Katzenberg
Jill Katzenberg was destined to be an entrepreneur in sales…she just didn’t know it. Moving to Cleveland from the East Coast for a job with a planning and architecture firm, Jill got to experience how cool it was to live and work downtown before it was cool. However, life has a way of showing us what our paths should really be. So when the 14-year-old firm had to shut its doors as a result of one of our national recessions, Jill, after living in town for a little more than a year and barely knowing anyone, had to figure out what her next course of action would be (while she was perfecting her suntan on her apartment complex’s sundeck). With the encouragement from her father (who was an entrepreneur all his life), Jill decided to develop a career in real estate sales and the rest, as they say, is history. Through hard work and creative marketing, Jill was able to build her real estate practice to the extent that she had to hire a staff of four and became known throughout the Cleveland area for her successful skills in getting the job done for her buyer and seller clients, averaging up to 100 sales a year. The ultimate reward, though, was in 2002 when opportunity knocked and she took the risk, along with 8 other courageous real estate professionals, to bring Keller Williams Realty, a totally unknown entity, to the Cleveland area. Starting with 24 agents December 5, 2002, the brokerage has grown to over 2000 agents in the area with Keller Williams Realty’s becoming the largest real estate company internationally.
Currently, Jill helps those who want to grow their businesses through repeat and referral business with a “tangible touch” tool known as SendOutCards. She is passionate about the power of keeping in touch (The fortune is in the follow-up), and with this high-tech/high-touch system, she offers businesses of all sizes a way to keep in front of their prospects and clients with real cards, gifts and/or gift cards selected and/or created from their smartphones or computers.
When she is not helping others grow their businesses, she is busy either exploring cultural treasures (both within and outside of Cleveland), salsa dancing or getting to the gym to burn off those calories that seem to creep up.