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Communication and relatability expert and former reality show personality Rachel DeAlto took the Inman Connect Las Vegas stage on Wednesday and declared, as she gazed out at the audience, that she believes in the power of relatability more than anything.
Rachel DeAlto
“Relatability is the ability to easily connect, to communicate with and inspire others and ourselves. Relatable people attract investments of time and energy,” DeAlto told the crowd. “You feel seen by them, and you see yourself in them, and you feel the benefit of that relationship.”
During her session, DeAlto exemplified relatability from start to finish, sharing experiences from her personal life and professional career that highlighted the crucial need to be relatable. After researching relatability for the last 10 years, she had quite a few stories to tell.
She cited a study of real estate agents and their clients out of Taiwan that “found that the most successful agents found points of connection with their clients,” DeAlto said.
“They found similarities: similarities in environment, experiences, things that they liked to do, priorities. They found a point of connection. But we can’t do that. We can’t create that. We can’t build that without actually being ourselves in the process.”
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DeAlto recounted attending a party several years ago in celebration of a Realtor who had worked in the industry for at least 30 years. She told the crowd that the party was one of the best because of the attendees, which included the Realtor’s past clients and colleagues.
“I remember talking to her at the party, and she said, Did you look around? Did you see all the stories here, all the people that I’ve connected with and touched over the years, because I helped them? … She built connections and relationships,” DeAlto said. “And I remember thinking, wow, she really had it down. And what she had down was being relatable.”
DeAlto also talked about her time as an expert on seasons four and five of the reality TV show, “Married at First Sight.”
Experts on the show matched couples, unknown to each other, to be wed at first sight based on personal aspirations, backgrounds and desires in partnership. With all of those factors combined, the experts hoped the couples, once married, would create a love connection.
After exiting the show, DeAlto received correspondence from many who watched her on the show, wondering why she left after bringing such a relatable element.
Throughout these experiences, DeAlto determined that relatability is a learned skill, and the blueprint for developing relatability and successful businesses is C.C.I.: connect, communicate and inspire.
Connect
Building a connection entails building trust through honesty, competency, consistency and transparency. Businesses that exemplify these qualities in their culture will build relationships that go the distance.
Communicate
To be a relatable communicator, people must be present and adaptable. A relatable communicator must make the other person feel important; there is no deeper human desire than to feel like you matter, that you deserve to be here and to be seen and heard.
Inspire
DeAlto discussed “inspiring by osmosis.” Relatable people know and seek out what lights them up, and they share it with the world. That inspires others to seek out their own light and helps them connect to you.
