Have you ever opened up the Calgary Herald or other real estate publications and seen those rows and rows of pictures of real estate agents who apparently have received some kind of big award for being a top producing agent?  I've seen hundreds of them and its time to set the record straight.  When I worked for a prominent real esate name we've all heard of (starting with "R") someone came up to me and asked me if I wanted to be in the big ad.  I asked what this was all about and was told that you pay money to have your picture in the Calgary Herald and the heading indicates you are a top producer or something to that effect.  Whaaaaat?  You mean those ads are not the brokerages'way of acknowledging and rewarding those agents because they are the best of the best?  The agents pay to be put in those ads?  Yes.  In fact, I took the time this morning (I was up at 5:00 am so ran over to the local convenience store and picked up a Calgary Herald) to look at these ads and saw a large amount of these agents with their photos.  I corresponded the names to the names of the "Million Dollar Club Award" recipients, which was an event I attended last saturday for the industry's top real estate agents determined by the Calgary Real Estate Board based on sales volumn (of which I have received this award now for 8 years straight) and very few of the names corresponded.  So, are they top producing agents?  Sure doesn't look like it.  The real estate industry is riddled with exaggerations, meaningless awards, people claiming to be experts in this field or that and we as agents wonder why the public doesn't take us seriously?  Anyone could read the Calgary Herald, see the pictures and think that these agents are amazing when in fact half of them I've never dealt with or heard of. In fact 10 years ago when I was asked if I wanted to pay to be in the "award ad" I had only sold one house so far!  Of course I didn't pay and suddenly become this extraordinary agent.   It was simple - its not ethical!  I encourage all industry members to take a look at their advertising claims and re-examine their ethics.  Sooner or later your clients will find out who you really are and whether you walk the walk or just talk the talk.  Dory Cameron, FRI, CCS, Broker/Owner