By Denise Lones M.I.R.M., CSP

The room fell silent.  Rachelle was about to speak.

We had known Rachelle as part of our Evolve coaching group since last December.  On a cold day before Christmas, we gathered to meet and prepare for the upcoming year.

The one thing that struck everybody about Rachelle was an obvious lack of belief in herself.  The way she walked, the way she talked, her apparent nervousness—it all communicated volumes of self-doubt. 

I hate to admit it, but even I had some doubts about Rachelle.  She was too timid, shy, and vulnerable.  And she cried several times at that first meeting.

I went home that night with a sense of anticipation about the Evolve group, but with mixed feelings about one of our members.

Fast forward to July.  Christmas decorations long gone.  The heat of summer upon us.  Two weeks ago, we held our seventh monthly meeting of the Evolve group—and it was Rachelle’s turn to do a listing presentation.

I make all Evolve members do presentations in front of each other and the group critiques them.  Each agent is evaluated on their ability to present pricing, marketing, communication, technology, and photography.

Intimidating?  Yes.

Beneficial?  Yes.

Essential?  Absolutely.

None of us knew it, but today was a special day for all of us.  Up until now, Rachelle had done better than we had thought, but she was still racked with worry.

A hush fell over the group.  I had my notepad out looking for mistakes.  Agents always—ALWAYS—make mistakes in listing presentations.  And it’s my job to point them out so they can stop making them.

Rachelle started to speak.  She started off well—no jittery movements, no stumbling over her words.  A couple of minutes in, she hadn’t made a mistake yet.

As she continued, I began to notice that Rachelle wasn’t making any mistakes at all.  What started as a smooth presentation only got better—and then better—and then better.  The more Rachelle talked, the more cohesive her presentation became.

She hit every point.  She was calm and articulate.  She explained the benefits of working with her without any ego.  She was soft where she needed to be.  She was tough where she needed to be.

But most importantly, she presented pricing better than anybody else in the room—perhaps better than anybody I’ve ever seen in my entire real estate career.

I felt something wet on my face.  I realized I had tears falling down my cheeks.  I couldn’t believe that the little scared girl from the first meeting had completely transformed into a powerful and confident woman.

I looked around the room.  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with tears in my eyes.  In fact, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the entire room.

Rachelle finished and we all gave her a standing ovation. 

Now, it was time for the critique.  But it was the strangest critique I’ve ever witnessed—because none of us had anything negative to point out.  We were all just so stunned—and proud.  We had all been with Rachelle.  We had all faced down her fears and struggles alongside her.  We knew her pain intimately.

And now as Rachelle stood triumphantly in front of us, it wasn’t just her victory—it was ours too.

One member asked Rachelle, “What was the key to your pricing presentation?”

“All I did was listen to Denise’s pricing CD’s—over and over and over and over,” said Rachelle.

I thought about that.  I realized that she had indeed used about 90% of my verbiage—but what was so amazing was the way she personalized it.  She made it her own by emphasizing certain parts that were important to her and by giving it her own style.

Rachelle went on to tell us that she played my CD’s constantly—at home, in her car, no matter what she was doing!  Eventually, the information embedded itself into her subconscious mind and she was able to rattle it off as though she had written it.  Her self-confidence came from knowledge.  She had become an expert on pricing.

What’s the lesson here?  Simple.  It doesn’t matter what area of your business you struggle with.  If you do the work—and I really mean DO the work—then you can make magic happen.  You can transform yourself.

And if Rachelle can do it, you can.  When she stood up in front of us that day, Rachelle lit up the lives of everybody there.  She made us all incredibly grateful to know her and care about her.  She proved to anybody once and for all—you CAN change.

Whatever your challenge, you can rise above it.  You can make a difference in your own life by following Rachelle’s example: She knew she had an issue.  She sought out a solution.  But most of all, she did the hard work. 

Anyone who wants to change simply needs to figure out where they want to go, find a guide, listen to that guide, and do what the guide says.

Rachelle, thank you for inspiring all of us so much.  You are a shining star and you have an amazing career ahead of you!