People claim she could sell ice to Eskimos, Realtor Amy Evans says.
Evans, 42, demonstrated her ability to close a hard sell when she convinced the man who’s now her husband to become a Tennessee Vols football fan. When they met, he had no interest in the sport, but now he bleeds orange and white like the rest of her family, she grins.
“I was an East Ridge Pioneer when I was in school and now I’m a Vol,” explains Evans, a Chattanooga native who attended UTC but never switched athletic allegiances. “My family is all about Tennessee football, so orange and white were the first colors I learned.”
(Like the Vols, the Pioneers’ colors are orange and white.)
When Evans met the Georgia born-and-bred Jason, she asked him if he was a Bulldogs fan. After he told her he had no interest in football, she said, “Great, then you’ll be able to roll with me since you don’t roll another way.”
It bears noting that Evans did not give her future betrothed a pass on football; rather, she introduced him to the timeless thrills of the gridiron and nurtured his enthusiasm. So, in a sense, she did sell ice to an Eskimo.
However, the metaphor breaks down when it’s applied to real estate. Evans doesn’t sell homes to people who don’t need one or who could acquire one on their own. Instead, she educates new buyers and sellers, facilitates transactions for old hands, and generally guides her clients through rarely easy, usually knotty processes.
In other words, Evans doesn’t sell a thing.
“My mentality has always been, ‘Don’t worry about the numbers; the dollars will come,’” she says. “I don’t calculate my commission after I have a house under contract.”
Instead of counting her chickens before they hatch (a metaphor that works in this case), Evans says she focuses on simply doing good work.
“I aim to provide a high level of service,” she says. “My biggest value add is education. I want my clients to know what to expect, so I spend an hour with nearly every buyer before we step foot in a house, and I spend even more time than that at some listing appointments. The benefits outweigh the extra time because my clients know I’m there to listen to them and find their ‘why.’”
Evans also chalks up her self-defined success to hard work.
“My parents ran their own businesses; my mom owned a salon and my dad owned a heating and air company. They taught me what hard work is, and I follow their example every day.”
The results speak for themselves. As of mid-October 2024, Evans has sold 19 units in a shifting market and ascended to the top 10% of the 400-plus agents at her brokerage – Keller Williams Greater Realty Downtown – with $6 million in sales. She’s also “capped,” which means she’s made KW enough money that she longer needs to pay a commission split to the brokerage until her next work anniversary, which will be next May.
Consequently, Evans has reached the point in her professional journey where her phone rings with calls from past clients rather than Zillow notifications.
“I don’t pay for leads,” she notes. “All of my business is repeats and referrals. Listening to people and getting to know them goes a long way.”
All of this said, Evans does market herself. She might not be beaming down at Chattanooga drivers from billboards across the city, but she works to ensure people drop her name in unexpected places.
“I have great friends, family, and clients who love and trust me,” she asserts. “And when they’re in line at Starbucks, and they overhear someone say something about needing to buy or sell a home, they have my business card.”
Evans also fearlessly does her own on-the-spot marketing, as at least one client she secured at a CVS prescription counter could attest.
This anecdote fits the personable Evans, who has a voice full of Southern sweet tea and a fixed smile that rarely takes a break. Even sitting down in a KW conference room, she all but crackles with vitality, and her speech is laced with cheery church jargon.
“This is who I am,” Evans shrugs. “My friends will tell you that if they’re having a down day, I can usually help. One of my best friends here calls me her ‘defunkinizer.’ And I’m like, ‘Hallelujah! Let’s get back to work!’”
Evans has expressed her exuberant enjoyment of life in many ways, beginning with dancing at age 2 and then cheering competitively from grades 6 through 12.
If she has a defining quality that rivals her brightness, it would be her willingness to seize the right opportunities. Evans first demonstrated this trait when she pressed the pause button on her college education to begin working in retail.
“After high school, I went straight to college,” Evans recounts. “But I wasn’t ready for it so I started working as a fashion expert with Express in Hamilton Place Mall. I was making good money at 20 years old, and I was renting my own apartment, so I put college on the back burner.”
Meanwhile, Evans’ career heated up as she managed various stores for Limited Brands, a company that once operated several popular retailers, such as The Limited, Victoria’s Secret, and Bath & Body Works. When cosmetics maker Lancôme saw her success, the company lured her to its counter at the Belk in Hamilton Place.
“It was sinking, and Lancôme needed a strong manager to come in and pull it out of the water,” Evans continues. “They thought that would be me. Praise the Lord, I didn’t let ’em down.”
Later, Evans began traveling across the southeast U.S. with Lancôme’s national makeup artist, painting faces at cosmetics events.
As Evans was flourishing in retail, she returned to school, earned a degree in nutrition and dietetics at UTC, and then took a job at the Whitfield County Health Department as a nutritionist.
“I was doing really well, but I realized I didn’t want to be in retail forever,” Evans says.
A new opportunity presented itself to Evans in 2015 when a Realtor who knew her background in sales and management suggested she interview for an inside sales position on Randy Durham’s team.
“I’d never even thought about real estate beyond buying my home, but I thought, ‘An interview is an interview,’” Evans remembers.
Evans landed the job, which she describes as “a big change” for her.
“I was used to being up and about, and suddenly I was in an office all day. I took a lot of walks.”
Durham upgraded Evans to a buyer’s agent in 2018. Within two years, she was ready to stand on her own.
“People say when you’re on a team, you’ll know when it’s time to cut the cord. And I was getting repeat business. So, in 2020, I looked at how much business I was generating versus how many leads I was being fed. And when we rolled into 2021, I said, ‘I have to go.’”
Leaving Durham was an emotional experience for Evans, who says she’ll always be grateful to her real estate mentor and the one who facilitated the launch of her new career.
“I love Randy Durham. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him. He paid for me to get my license, and that’s allowed me to do what I do now.”
As Evans looks ahead, she’s laying the groundwork for her own opportunities. Inspired by the female leaders at her KW office, including operating principal Jennie Brockman and CEO Hope Brazzell, she has an eye on becoming a leader at a brokerage within the next decade.
As part of her journey, Evans has become the new agent trainer at the office. She says she relishes the role, which has revived the cheerleader in her.
“I was on the phone with a new agent until 11:30 at night, helping him to write his first offer. I loved it. When I’m able to pour what I’ve learned into others, it revs me up for my own business.”
Evans is thankful for many things beyond her professional achievements. Chief among these are her family, which now includes her and Jason’s 7-year-old daughter, Olivia.
Evans is also jazzed that it’s football season, and that the Vols are doing well, she raves, her eyes widening with excitement. While her enthusiasm for her orange and white clad SEC superstars is infectious, it raises a curiosity: Why is she wearing red?
“This is Keller Williams red, not Georgia Bulldog red!” Evans declares, the horror of the thought that someone would think she’s supporting the rival of her beloved Vols likely causing her smile to slip for a second or two.
One can imagine her expression would have vanished in the same manner if Jason had proclaimed a deep and abiding love for the Bulldogs when they were dating.
Would that have been a deal killer? Evans’ smile returns.
“We would’ve had to pray about that.”