For real estate agents, small business owners and operations professionals like Directors of Operations and Executive Assistants, creating a scalable touch plan is key to maintaining client relationships without overwhelming your schedule. A well-designed touch plan helps you stay top-of-mind with clients and build long-lasting connections, even when your client list grows.
Recently, I celebrated a birthday and received some thoughtful messages—along with a few that completely missed the mark. This experience highlighted an important truth: touchpoints need to be scalable, but they still need to feel personal and genuine. Here’s how to strike that balance, with some real-life examples of what not to do.
Why a Touch Plan is Essential for Real Estate & Small Business Professionals
A touch plan is more than a calendar of reminders to stay top of mind; it’s a system for relationship-building that ensures consistent client engagement. Real estate agents and operations pros often manage hundreds, if not thousands, of relationships; so without a structured touch plan, it’s easy for clients to slip through the cracks. With the right strategies in place, your touchpoints can feel personal—even when automated.
Key Elements of a Scalable Touch Plan for Real Estate Agents & Small Businesses
- Smart Segmentation with Tags: In your CRM, categorize contacts not only by important events like birthdays, anniversaries, or past interactions – you can also tag them by special interests. Some you might use are “dog lover”, “pet owner”, “baseball fan”, “fisherman”. You get the idea. Tags allow you to target messages based on client history and interests, making them feel more personal without requiring one-on-one time for each message.
- Engagement Through AI: AI tools can help craft messages and ensure consistency in your brand voice – especially important when Virtual Assistants are in the mix. For example, AI can pull in specific details about a client’s history, making each message feel individualized and relevant. AI can also correct grammar, language & spelling.
- Consistent Follow-Up: Automated messages are only effective if they lead to real engagement. If a client responds to your birthday message, have a plan in place to personally follow up, even if the initial touch was automated. Clients want to feel like they matter. And when you miss responding, you’re missing the whole point of the Touch Plan: to engage!
Real-Life Examples of What Not to Do in Your Touch Plan
These are examples of actual messages I got for my birthday this week!
Example #1: The Sales Pitch Disguised as a Birthday Message
- What Happened: “Happy Birthday Ms. christy. Why Dubai is 3rd the most demanded city (after Miami & Singapore) How US Investments companies moving billion dollars to Dubai? Where 69% Millionaires (HNWI) want home in 2024? All you can know by: Schedule 1-2-1 meeting (link) or Every Mon & Thu Group meeting 12:30pm ET (link).” This Facebook message sounded more like a pitch than a birthday wish.
- Lesson: Touch points are about the client—not your services. Keep it friendly and relevant to them, not a chance to promote your business. And use AI to proof your scripts & texts, especially if you are using a VA whose first language is not the same as your target audience’s. Seeing multiple grammatical errors is an immediate flag of a “fake” personal message.
Example #2: Copy-Paste, Year-After-Year
- What Happened: “Hi Christy.
Happy Birthday I hope you celebrate YOU and know how special you are to the world 
”—the same message, four years in a row. With NO interaction in Facebook Messenger in between each birthday. While it was well-intended, it was repetitive and didn’t prompt further engagement. - Lesson: Avoid using the same message for every birthday. Use automation to rotate in a variety of birthday messages or use database tags to include unique details.
Example #3: Duplicate Messages from Members of the Same Real Estate Team (or different teams using the same canned messages in their CRM)
- What Happened: I received two nearly identical birthday messages from two Realtors® just minutes apart.
- Lesson: For team-based outreach, use CRM tags to coordinate who sends what, avoiding duplicate touches. Or, consider sending a joint message that represents both agents. This ensures a cohesive, unified experience for the client. And don’t use the canned stuff provided by your CRM. That’s lazy.
Example #4: Outsourced, Impersonal Birthday Messages
- What Happened: I received what was supposed to be an informal “personal” message that was clearly outsourced, full of grammatical errors and formally signed “John Smith – Realtor®.” When I responded with a bit of humor and a message back signed “Christy Belt Grossman – Ops Boss® Coach”, they never replied.
- Lesson: If you’re outsourcing messages, ensure they reflect your voice. AI tools can help refine messages to match your style, keeping touches professional and personal. And always respond when a client engages. This is the whole point of a touch system – to ENGAGE!
How to Make Your Touch Plan Feel Personal and Scalable
- Pre-Recorded Videos for Key Dates: Birthday and anniversary videos add a nice touch. By using CRM tags, you can send pre-recorded videos that still feel personal. You can also use AI to insert names into videos so they feel individually recorded.
- Automated Cards with Personalized Notes: Set up an automated card-sending service that includes the client’s name and a brief note relevant to them. Automation makes it easy, but the message still feels thoughtful. Different cards can go to different tags (pet lovers get one version, fishermen get another, etc.)
- Customized Birthday Texts: Use AI to send tailored birthday texts with small details pulled from the client’s history/tags. This way, each message has a personal touch even though it’s automated.
Building a Touch Plan That Works for Real Estate and Small Business Operations Professionals
For Directors of Operations and Executive Assistants, a strong touch plan goes beyond birthday messages. Think about anniversaries, check-in emails, and customized event invitations. By incorporating AI and automation into your system, you can create meaningful touchpoints that maintain relationships without sacrificing hours of your time. Here at Ops Boss® Coaching, we empower real estate and operations professionals to create systems that help them stay top of mind, build client loyalty, and simplify their workload. (Read more Touch Plan/Client Event Tips here.)
Final Thoughts: Creating a touch plan for real estate clients is all about balance. By using tools like AI, CRM tags, and automation, real estate agents and operations professionals can connect with clients in meaningful ways while keeping things scalable. Make sure every message feels authentic, follows up on responses, and keeps the client’s experience front and center.
Ops Boss® Coaching provides real estate agents, Directors of Operations, and Executive Assistants with coaching, education, and a supportive community to help you build these impactful touch plans. With the right strategies, your touchpoints will feel personal, efficient, and unforgettable.