When we invited Ricardo Rodriguez to speak with Luxury Presence, we wanted more than a polite panel on luxury real estate. We wanted to extract the frameworks, the behaviors, the small but critical choices that any agent can adopt to elevate their business.
Rodriguez gave us that and more. Here’s what matters to you, your brand, and your next client conversation.
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1. Luxury Is an Experience You Build, Not a Price Point You Chase
Most agents still equate luxury with listings. Rodriguez dismantled that on the spot.
“It’s not a price point. It’s an experience.”
His point was clear: Luxury isn’t something you wait to offer once you’ve “earned” it with a certain price point. It’s something you cultivate through behavior long before the market hands you a headline-worthy listing.
Rodriguez defined himself as a luxury agent before he had anything resembling a luxury pipeline, because luxury is expressed through standards, consistency, attention, and the emotional imprint you leave on every client.
Why this matters to you:
If you’re trying to break into luxury, this should feel like permission. You don’t need a $10M listing to start behaving like a luxury agent; you need an operating system that treats every client, every communication, and every public-facing touchpoint as part of a curated experience.
Your brand isn’t built by the price of your last sale. It’s built by the quality of the experience you deliver today, and the way you translate that experience across every channel, online and offline.
2. Your Point of View Is the Only Thing Clients Actually Pay For
“The client is not paying me for my tools. The client is paying me for my lens.”
Everyone in the industry has access to the same tech, same platforms, same CRMs. Your differentiation isn’t the gear, it’s your thinking.
Rodriguez’s developer clients literally open meetings by saying:
“Whatever Rodriguez wants and whatever he likes is what we should do.”
That’s authority. And that’s built, not bought.
Apply it yourself:
If you can’t articulate your POV, or the way you see homes, markets, design, negotiation, lifestyle, then you’re competing on sameness.
3. Stop Saving Your Best Behavior for “VIP Clients”
The conversation led to a brutal but accurate observation: VIPs get a magical experience, and everybody else gets a checklist.
This is the two-tier service problem plaguing the industry. And it’s why consumer-to-consumer platforms are gaining traction.
Rodriguez’s fix: Build a system where every client gets the high-touch experience.
Why this matters:
Your next big referral may come from the rental client whose expectations you blew past.
4. The Listing Presentation Strategy That Feels Illegal But Works
Rodriguez doesn’t present the listing presentation during the appointment.
He sends it the day before. On an iPad. With an intro video. So that the face-to-face meeting is 100% connection.
“The listing presentation in itself I discovered to be a hindrance,” because flipping through pages pulls focus away from the client and toward the materials.
He uses that time to talk about what they care about, whether it’s their art collection or the history of the house, explaining that “I spend that time creating that connection” rather than walk them through a deck they’ve already seen. By shifting the information out of the room, he frees the actual conversation to feel more intentional, more elevated, and far more luxury.
How you can use it:
If your listing appointment feels like a slideshow, you’re giving up the one thing Zillow can’t replicate: Rapport. Shift the information to before the appointment so the meeting becomes a conversation, not a pitch.
5. Want to Feel More Luxury? Buy Two Hours of Your Own Time
Instead of rushing clients from showing to showing, Rodriguez removes himself from every logistical distraction by hiring a driver to ferry everyone between properties. It isn’t about flash, it’s presence. As he explained, “you will never see my phone… I am now free to really have the conversations that I need to be having.” By eliminating tasks like parking, navigating, or juggling calls, he turns what is normally a chaotic, time-squeezed tour into a calm, curated, premium experience where he can observe client reactions, decode their cues, and deepen rapport.
What could have been a transactional errand becomes a relationship-building environment that signals care, professionalism, and respect for their time.
Why this matters:
It’s not that you have to have a chauffeur. Think of it as removing friction. Every minute you aren’t parking, checking directions, or half-listening while you drive is a minute spent building trust, and trust is conversion. The luxury is your undivided attention.
6. The Social Media Strategy That Drives $100M+ in Leads
“We consistently have been getting $100 million plus worth of leads out of Instagram alone this year,” and the reason is focus. His content speaks directly to a defined audience rather than chasing engagement for engagement’s sake, and he blends lifestyle, market expertise, and personal origin story in a way that feels intentional rather than performative.
The real magic is longevity: “we got a call… for a $25 million portfolio… because she saw a video a year ago”, proving that the right message to the right audience compounds long after the post date.
Why this matters to you:
Your content doesn’t need vanity metrics. It needs the right audience, the right story, and the right positioning. Stop posting for likes and start posting for alignment.
7. The Mistake Even Top Producers Still Make
One of the most unexpected moments came when Rodriguez admitted the biggest mistake he made early in his career and kept making for years. As he put it, “I thought that I had all the answers… being too stubborn… the hard-headed Colombian comes out.”
For someone leading one of the most successful teams in New England, this honesty landed hard with the audience. His takeaway wasn’t about strategy or systems, but mindset: Stay open. Rodriguez explained that the biggest leaps in his business came from collaboration, listening to other agents, adopting ideas he didn’t originate, and letting go of the belief that expertise alone guarantees growth. His advice: Stay coachable, stay collaborative, stay curious.
Why this matters:
The next level of your business won’t come from repeating what already works. It will come from the perspective you don’t have yet, the idea you didn’t invent, and the willingness to evolve even when you’re already good.
8. The Future of Luxury Isn’t Tech, It’s Operationalizing Experience
AI will become an equalizer. Tools will converge. But Rodriguez’s prediction is both simple and seismic:
“If you’re not building your client experience as part of your business strategy, you’re going to be left behind.”
What that means for you:
Your systems (your website, your follow-up cadence, your presentations, your content, your communication style) are your business strategy.
This is where Luxury Presence plays a critical role: We help agents surface their point of view, build their digital flagship, and operationalize the high-touch brand they’re capable of.
Want this playbook working for you?
If you’re serious about elevating your luxury experience, we can help you build the brand, systems, and presence to support it.
Get the platform that drives results.
Agents using Luxury Presence grew sales nearly 2x faster than their peers, increased sold listings by 6%, and closed over $300B in transactions. Ready to grow your business? Let us show you how.
