Real Estate Agents Face a 'Mirror Problem': Industry Leader Calls for Narrative Change to Restore Trust and Value

Courtney Poulos, founder of SERHANT. CA and Team Lead of ACME | SERHANT. in Los Angeles, has a blunt diagnosis for her profession: real estate agents are undervalued, and the industry bears much of the blame. “We have a mirror problem,” she says, referring to how agents are perceived—often as overpaid paper pushers—and the industry’s failure to correct that image.

Poulos, who is completing Harvard University’s Advanced Management Development Program (AMDP) at the Graduate School of Design, believes agents need to see themselves as senior-level executives akin to lawyers. “We are not taken as seriously as we ought to be,” she says. She recounts a client who tried to negotiate her commission down below her marketing costs, calling it “the level of disrespect” agents routinely face.

A key insight from her Harvard coursework, taught by communications expert Carmine Gallo, is the power of audience-centric messaging. “Real estate agents fall into the trap of marketing to each other,” Poulos notes. “We post about our sales for other agents to see. We compete on metrics that our clients don’t actually care about.” The real work, she argues—data analysis, risk management, negotiation—mirrors executive roles, but agents fail to articulate that value.

To address this, Poulos is launching a series of workshops and seminars, starting this week in Orlando, open to agents from all brokerages. The goal is to equip agents with messaging that resonates with clients, the press, and regulators, ultimately reversing the reputational damage the industry has suffered. “If we can clarify that we are experts, that our public relations battles aren’t about whether we deserve to be paid, we start to reverse the narrative,” she says. “It is the moment for something optimistic.”

The initiative comes as the housing market remains robust despite negative headlines, presenting an opportunity to rebuild trust. Poulos’s firm, now ACME | SERHANT. under celebrity agent Ryan Serhant, reflects the industry’s evolution. But for Poulos, the core challenge is internal: changing how agents view themselves and communicate their worth. The workshops aim to turn that reflection into action.