Workflow card WC-03.1: Build a voice file from ten writing samples
From AI for Real Estate Agents (2026 Edition). Facts in, draft out, licensee signs.

Time: estimate: about 25 minutes

Trigger. You have never written down how you write, and every draft the assistant produces sounds like someone else.

Inputs.

- Ten pieces of your own writing you were pleased with: two seller updates, two buyer emails, two client texts, two notes to another agent, two listing descriptions
- Each sample stripped of names, addresses, prices, and anything on the Chapter 4 "never paste" list (T-04.4)
- Three words you know you overuse and three you never use (from memory; the assistant will find more)
- A blank document in your own files, titled "Voice file v1" with today's date

Brief. (paste everything between the lines)

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Role: You are helping a licensed residential agent write a voice file: a set of rules that describe how this agent writes, so that an assistant can draft in the same voice. You only work from the samples I give you. If a pattern is unclear, say so instead of guessing.
Facts: [paste the ten writing samples, each labeled with its audience: seller, buyer, other agent, text, listing]
Audience: Me, and any assistant I later give this file to. The file must be usable as instructions, not as a description.
Voice: Plain. Rules, not compliments. Every rule must be something a writer could follow or break.
Rules: Use only the samples I give you; ask instead of guessing. Describe patterns you can point to in at least two samples; if a pattern appears once, mark it "seen once." Do not invent preferences I did not show. Do not describe who my clients are or who lives in any area. Include no client names or property details in the output, even if some slipped into the samples. No language about who should live anywhere or who the neighbors are.
Format: A numbered list of 8 to 12 rules, each under 25 words. Cover: sentence and paragraph length; how I open; how I close; the order of facts, opinion, and next step; words I favor; words I avoid; punctuation habits; how my tone shifts by audience; how I handle numbers and sources; how I say what I do not know. After the rules, a short list titled "Seen once" for weak patterns, and a list titled "Overused" of any word or phrase that appears in three or more samples. After the output, list every fact you used and which input it came from.
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Check.

- Read each rule and ask whether you could break it on purpose. If you could not, it is a compliment, not a rule; cut or rewrite it.
- Confirm no client name, address, or price appears anywhere in the output.
- Compare the "Overused" list to your own three words. Decide which habits to keep and which to ban.
- Add the two or three rules the assistant missed. Delete any rule you disagree with.
- Cross-check the "tone shifts by audience" rule against the two notes to other agents; this is where voice files most often get it wrong.

Ship. Save the edited list as "Voice file v1, [date]" in your own documents, and load it into the assistant's permanent settings (Section 3.3). Save the brief, with the samples removed, to your brief library as "Voice file builder, v1." Rerun it in six months with ten new samples.

Compliance check. Ch. 4.5 (privacy and client data), 4.1 (steering language). Strip client details from every sample before pasting; the voice file itself must contain no description of any client, area, or kind of person.
