Real Estate Agents Face a 'Mirror Problem' in Public Perception, Says Industry Leader

Courtney Poulos, founder and broker-owner of ACME | SERHANT. in Los Angeles and a member of the SERHANT. CA founding team, says the real estate profession has a 'mirror problem'—not about vanity, but about how agents are perceived and how much responsibility the industry carries for that perception. 'A lot of people see real estate agents as overpaid paper pushers who don’t earn what they make,' she says. 'And while the class action lawsuits and the public relations battles are largely driven by forces outside agent control, the way we show up, how we communicate, how we position ourselves, that is on us.'

Poulos has spent the past year in Harvard University’s Advanced Management Development Program (AMDP) at the Graduate School of Design, working alongside urban planners and commercial developers. She graduates in July and says the experience sharpened her observation that 'the only thing that is really missing is real estate agents considering themselves as senior-level executives in a business.' She cites a recent example where a client attempted to negotiate her commission down to a figure that would not have covered marketing costs. 'That is the level of disrespect I am talking about,' she says.

One standout session in her AMDP coursework was led by Carmine Gallo, who trained executives on communication. The lesson: audience-centric messaging—starting with what matters to the person you are trying to reach, rather than what makes you look credible to peers. 'Real estate agents fall into the trap of marketing to each other,' Poulos says. 'We post about our sales for other agents to see. We compete on metrics that our clients don’t actually care about. And we miss the opportunity to explain, in plain terms, what we actually do and why it matters.'

The core of the work, she argues, mirrors what executives in any complex industry do: data analysis, risk management, negotiation under pressure, and sustained client relationships. 'We protect our clients. We navigate. We clarify. That is the message. And most agents are not saying it.'

Poulos is developing a series of workshops and seminars, with the first session launching in Orlando this week, open to agents at all brokerages. The goal is to help agents build messaging that holds up with clients, the press, and regulators, and to rebuild public trust. 'If what we can clarify for the public is that we are not overpaid, that we are experts, and that our public relations battles are not actually about whether we deserve to be paid, then we start to reverse the narrative,' she says. 'And the housing market is a place where there is a lot of good stuff going on, despite the headlines. It is the moment for something optimistic.'