Tyler Mount on agent authenticity, poker and the best steak in Vegas

At Inman Connect Las Vegas, July 30-Aug. 1, 2024, the noise and misinformation will be banished, all your big questions will be answered, and new business opportunities will be revealed. Join us.

Among all the hard things about being a real estate agent, is there anything harder than being yourself?

In real estate marketing, it doesn’t matter how many views a social media post or short-form video earns if the subject being watched isn’t showing us who’s really behind the smartphone. The stream won’t make it past season one.

Cracking the authenticity code is what gives Tyler Mount, CEO of Henry Street Creative, a reason to wake up every morning. The frequent speaker, coach and consultant is unapologetically himself and almost uncomfortably comfortable with who he is and what he’s good at — a rare trait in anyone, but one that becomes invaluable when its benefits are applied to helping people find their brand.

Mount will be at Inman Connect Las Vegas sharing his expertise on all things branding, marketing and, if we’re lucky, how to be yourself. He might very well be the only Connect speaker who is halfway to an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), holding three Tony Awards and a Grammy for his theater production work, including the musical “Once on this Island.”

Mount is also the youngest individual producer to be nominated in all four theater production categories, but his work as a digital strategist is equally impressive, having managed campaigns for President Joe Biden’s presidential election, NBC, IBM and the Tony Awards themselves.

The interview was edited for length and clarity.

Inman: Choosing marketing and creative work is one thing, but why in real estate? What’s unique about the industry’s needs?

Mount: I’ve always had a love of real estate. I worked in it in college, in Austin with some top agents and was very lucky to be mentored under them. I worked in entertainment and editorial for a while when back in New York, but then, when I wanted to own my own business, it just happened that way.

I leaned back into that love for real estate, working for a prominent developer, then with Ryan Serhant’s office, but I love working with the leaders of our industry because I find a huge disconnect between a real estate agent and their idea of what a business is, and how they treat their own business.

My work is not curing cancer, it’s not rocket science, but it is bigger than business: it’s their livelihood. If I can sit and talk and gossip with someone for 45 minutes back to back all day and it changes the trajectory of their career, their constant overwhelm, that’s time well spent.

One big hurdle is the transactional nature of real estate. It’s hard to convince agents that marketing is worth it; they only see money going out. How do you handle that objection?

I always set expectations very clearly. Anyone who wants an ROI on my services in three months gets told that they’re with the wrong company, and that it’s never happening.

Let’s be very clear. Anyone who tells you it’s happening is either lying to you or unethical — both types of people we don’t want to work with. If we’re lucky, we’ll see ROI in the first six months. Building your brand and equity takes a very long time, and once that has been established, that is far from you getting leads from it.

I’m an ROI-centric business owner; I’m only employed when I’m ROI-positive. Me charging a shit-ton of money upfront doesn’t behoove me at all because they’ll never work with me again. I am not cheap, but I am value-based. If you work with me for one year, you’ll pay less than one average commission check. If we can’t sell one home together, you shouldn’t be a real estate agent and I certainly shouldn’t have my job.

Why do you think authenticity is so hard for some in the industry?

We have to think of authenticity not in the way we think real estate agents or brokers or lenders should. ’Should’ is one of the most toxic words in business. Whoever said that real estate agents should wear suits and say ‘yes sir, yes ma’am’ and wear pearl necklaces? It’s just not the case.

Authenticity is not black and white. The real issue is that it’s not a business issue, it’s an interpersonal, mental and psychological issue because from a young age, we are influenced by our friends, our family, and most importantly, society, to be what they all think we should be. As children, we are constantly acting a certain way to avoid ridicule and hostility to fit in. The majority of our adult lives is then spent trying to figure out what is truth and what was put on as a front to protect us.

So in business, that carries on. People don’t want to look like idiots in business, they want to appear successful, so we act a certain way. For a lot of novice agents, that means wearing a suit and tie at every listing because that’s what agents should look like.

Even as a speaker, I’m professional. My number one goal is to be really fucking pleasant to work with. But if you need me to wear a suit and tie, and hate me cursing, then I’m probably not the right person for you. I don’t want to police myself. If you want Tyler, you get Tyler.

The more you act authentically and the more often you get hired, the more you realize who you are, unapologetically.

What advertising campaigns or concepts — in any industry — do you like right now?

We’re moving away from traditional product marketing. We are leaning into user-generated content, into any content that feels like it’s not an advertisement.

Ryan Reynolds has this concept called “fastvertising” and it’s genius because he takes real-life events and builds on them. If something is happening in the Zeitgeist, he can iterate on it with his content team and post on it this evening. That kind of topicality is really important, and it gives the impression that your brand is really smart, and you have a really smart content team.

Any other plans for Vegas?

Well, I have this weird infatuation with Vegas. I go every year for my birthday and stay no longer than 48 hours. I don’t want to be there longer, but I am shameless. I always win big. I’m not betting thousands, but hundreds, and like in life, if you want to win big, you have to bet big.

And I love Golden Steer, the best steakhouse on the planet. We always have a great time; that’s the goal. It’s not about winning. It’s about having a good time.

Thanks, Tyler. See you at the roulette wheel.

Email Craig Rowe