Interesting premise Jessica.  My bet would be that the efforts to " keeo in touch" you mention would not have changed the outcome.  It seems that buyers often act on impulse or don't want to bother the agent.  Just my thoughts, from experience.  Good selling to you.

Jessica, You are soo right.  Keeping in touch with your SOI is a must.  I know it can be difficult to do, but it can pay off in the long run.

Although you did not keep in touch there is good karma here. What are the odds this individual would call your office when you were on floor duty?

Amen sister!   Realistically, there are going to be those that fall through the cracks.  And we go about our days not giving it a second thought, but when something like that happens, it's a profound wake up call for most of us!  Keep it positive though, don't cut off your nose to spite your face!  Y'all go sell some dirt now!

Bill - That may be true, but it doesn't hurt to keep in touch.  Have I guaranteed that that particular person would be calling me if I had kept in touch?  No, but he know's I'm in real estate, I'm a confident person, and that I'm available to help him in his real estate needs and hopefully I have at least increased my chances of getting a call from him, when he's interested in buying.

Debi - Thanks for the comment.  I'm actually been cleaning up my database and updating it to keep in touch with the people I know.  Just got to make this a part of my life so that it just becomes automatic.  

I'm guilty of this too!  One of my goals for the next week is to come up with a better database of SOI and previous clients and to start keeping my name in front of them!  

Thanks for the reminder!

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc. 

I think this makes a great point of how we must stay in touch with our sphere very often, because you never know when someone will be ready.

Rosario - No kidding.  I guess what goes around comes around, especially helping others and just being a good person.

Brady - They're great lessons aren't they.  You usually kick yourself first and then get your toosh into gear to prevent any more lost opportunities.  That goes for contacting someone who you know is thinking about selling their home.  I've sat on some of these out of fear and then kick myself when I see another Realtor's For Sale sign on the lawn.  Better to ask and be told no than to miss the opportunity all together. 

Bob - I signed up a while back to be a part of Jennifer Allan's SOI Reality Show which is all about building an SOI Referral business and so I'm focusing on rebuilding and updating my SOI database as we speak.  But that little situation yesterday has motivated me to work on finishing my entries today, so I may be on my way to keeping in touch with my SOI.  By the way, which contact management or customer service manager are you using?

Dwayne - Great point!  Your absolutely right, you never know when someone you know will need real estate services and if you've been keeping in touch with them and they think you're a relatively competent real estate agent, you might just get that phone call.

Jessica,  I'm not keeping up with my SOI as well as I should.  Your post has encouraged me to work harder.  Thank you!  :)

Debi - Your welcome.  Glad I encouraged you to keep up with you SOI.  You know a lot of it for me is just bad habits and disorganization.  So I'm focusing on getting all of my contacts into one place and working on applying good business follow up and planning practices.  If you ever did a little encouragement or push along the way, just holler.  I may need some myself from time to time.

All right, Jessica.  It's a deal!  Maybe we can keep each other on track.  :)

Pretty motivating, isn't it??? Talking about karma - I believe this was a well-timed wake-up call for ya - something REALLY big is on the horizon for you that you would have missed otherwise!

Debi - It's a deal then.  I'm up for a monthly phone call to check in and make sure we're both on track.  If not we can do emails, whichever your most comfortable with.  There is a group of us here in Humboldt who meet every once in a while to check in and see how well we are keeping ourselves organized.  Kind of an organizational accountability support group.  Whatever that means.

Jennifer -  Oh my gosh yes!  I'm totally pumped now and excited (especially after listening to Borino) to get out there are reconnect, oh and stay on top of keeping in touch with my SOI too.

Jessica,  Emails are probably more practical for me.  So, once a month we'll check in with each other.  Sounds Great!  :)  Thanks!!

Jessica, good post.  Thanks for the reminder that I need to contact my SOI agian and let them know I'm still alive and selling Real Estate.  Just a friendly reminder to them.....just in case.  LOL

Debi - sounds like a plan

Bob - Your welcome.  That's ok, I got another reminder last Friday when I showed my first time home buyers a house listed by another agent (ok not sure I would want to list this house anyways, but that's not the point).  The seller was part of my SOI.  Haven't been keeping in touch on a regular  basis.  Gotta get those reconnection letters out!

you are so right.  It is hard but it does  pay off.

Carol - Tell me about it.  I've blocked some time today to print out my letters and start stuffing them in those envelops. 

Jessica,

We are definitely all guilty of the same thing. An agent in my office told me a client of mine said I didn't stay in touch with them after they bought their house. I had but obviously not enough. I don't know if I will ever be able to please everyone with my "touch". Hang in there girl! You were truly lucky.

Thanks Becky - I'm working on cleaning up my database as we speak and start a keeping in touch campaign.  Good luck to you as well on keeping in touch with your SOI.  

Hi, Jessica!  It's been a month since I talked to you last.  How's  it going?  Are you keeping up with your SOI?  I'm sending out mailings and emails to mine.  I just thought I'd check in on you...  :)

Yep I'm setting up lunches are for the most part staying on track with my SOI business plan.

Great story.  you definitely got lucky there. This was meant to be.  It was a wake up call for you and it look slike you got the message.  Thank you so much for sharing!

That's good to hear, Jessica.  Let's keep it up!  :)

Casey - Your welcome.  

Debi - You got it!