Danny Williams named managing broker of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty’s Winter Park office.

Danny Williams is back in Winter Park – and he means business. The real estate business to be exact.

Williams was recently named the managing broker of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty’s Winter Park office, where he also will oversee the Smyrna Beach office and commercial office in the Dr. Phillips area.

The broker previously spent 35 years as a broker along Park Avenue before moving to Sarasota to manage two offices for Michael Saunders & Company in 2010.

It wasn’t long before he became homesick for Winter Park, Williams said.

“I had 93 agents (in Sarasota); it was a wonderful situation, but I started missing all the people and friends that I have in Winter Park,” Williams said. “Sarasota, St. Armands and Longboat are paradise, but so is Winter Park in another way. I started missing everyone, so I wanted to come back.”

An opportunity came up for him to grow Sotheby’s presence in Winter Park, and Williams was offered the job and jumped at the opportunity.

Headquartered in Naples, Premier Sotheby’s International Realty has more than 1,000 employees throughout Florida and North Carolina. In 2017, the company was ranked No. 35 in an annual REAL Trends 500 survey of the top U.S. residential sellers by volume, the highest ranking for a Florida-based brokerage.

Williams started his new position with Sotheby’s in June, and he couldn’t be happier, he said.

“Sotheby’s is a great brand; it’s known globally,” Williams said. “You know who the oldest company is on the New York Stock Exchange? Sotheby’s. They’ve been around awhile — 1755.
“We just need to now bring it here to Winter Park and grow it,” he said. “I’ve lived on the lakes here. I’ve sold on the lakes for over 30 years. … Now we’re bringing this great brand to Winter Park. I just can’t wait.”

Williams also has a background teaching license law and real-estate principles and practices. He taught from 1977 to 1988 at the Bert Rogers School, where he instructed more than 30,000 real-estate applicants face-to-face throughout the state.

Throughout his career, Williams has learned many tricks of the trade. But above all, his No. 1 sales tactic isn’t a trick at all.

“To be successful, you need to be yourself, don’t read canned scripts,” Williams said. “Let everybody around you know that you are genuine. I don’t care what field you’re in, you have to be yourself — people can see that — and work hard. There’s no fast track. Work hard, and your rewards will be tremendous.”

Williams hopes to pass on the knowledge that he’s learned from 44 years in the field to young, aspiring brokers at Sotheby’s.
“If I can make my company successful, I’m in,” Williams said.