INSIDER’S GUIDE TO REALTORS: Denise Battles

Thirteen years ago, Denise Battles visited Nashville for a weekend from Boston and fell in love. 

“I’d traveled extensively but had never visited anywhere that inspired me to move,” Denise said.  “I thought maybe it was just a fun weekend, so I came back again and confirmed this is where I wanted to be. I didn’t know anyone in town, so when I talk to clients about relocating, I speak from first-hand experience.” 

Denise didn’t start out in real estate — she calls herself a “recovering CPA.”

“I quit four jobs in three years and thought, maybe I don’t want to spend 10 hours a day in an office for the rest of my life,” she said. “I wanted to try my hand at being my own boss.”

She hit the ground running:making 500 cold calls a week, knocking on doors and posting in Facebook groups. Still, she didn’t make a single dollar her first year.

“One of my character flaws is how stubborn I am,” she said. “I knew I wanted to be a Realtor, so there was no choice but to succeed. Just because I wasn’t there yet didn’t mean it wasn’t possible. I just had to keep trying and figure out a way to make it work.” 

Eight years later, Denise’s business runs entirely on referrals, and she has closed more than 88 million in sales volume.  

As a CPA, Denise spent much of her time pointing out what people were doing wrong. Now, she gets to play a more positive role — and finds it incredibly rewarding to be part of a process that excites people.

“To me, success isn’t about dollar volume,” she says. “It’s about having clients who enjoy working with me so much that they wouldn’t think of going anywhere else.I want them to feel heard and like the process was almost effortless.”