One of the easiest mistakes in communication is to confuse the requested product with the actual objective.
An agent asks for a new biography. A brokerage wants its website rewritten. Someone needs a press release, a listing description or a deal summary.
The obvious response is to produce exactly what was requested.
But before I start writing, I think there is another question worth asking:
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦?
That question can change the assignment.
An agent may believe the problem is that the biography is too short. After reviewing it, the real problem may be that it lists credentials without helping the reader understand what those credentials mean in practice.
A brokerage may ask for new website copy when the larger problem is not the wording at all. The information may be scattered across several pages, forcing visitors to assemble the company's value for themselves.
A seller may want a listing description that sounds more impressive when the real need is greater clarity about what makes the property relevant to the likely buyer.
In each case, it is entirely possible to deliver what was requested and still fail to solve the problem.
That is why I see communication work as beginning before the first sentence is written.
The early work is diagnostic.
What is the reader being asked to understand? What is missing? What is being emphasized that does not help? What conclusion is the current communication likely to leave behind? And what would have to change for the communication to do its job more effectively?
Only then does the writing begin.
This distinction matters even more now because producing words has become easier. AI can generate a biography, rewrite a listing description or produce several versions of a press release in seconds.
But faster production does not answer the more important question: whether the requested document was the right solution in the first place.
𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱.
That is the larger point.
A finished document can satisfy the assignment and still leave the underlying communication problem untouched. A stronger process identifies the actual objective first, examines what is preventing the reader from reaching it, and then decides what should be written, rewritten, reorganized or sometimes left alone.
So before judging communication by whether the requested piece was delivered, I think we should ask a harder question:
Did it solve the problem that made the request necessary?
If you have a profile, listing, website page or other real-estate communication that does not seem to be doing its job, comment 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 or DM me that word. I’ll take a look at the communication problem before assuming the answer is simply more writing.
If this distinction would help someone you know, share it with them.