Calling clients on their birthdays

As a mortgage planner I am required to get all of my clients birthdays when I take a loan application.  Even though Realtors do not have this same requirement, I highly recommend creating an information gathering tool where you can capture information about your clients, such as their birthdays.  Every birthday is put into my ACT database, and my assistant schedules a call to each client on their birthday as a recurring annual activity.  Because my database has 2,000 people in it, I make between 3-7 birthday calls every morning.  This marketing strategy is very similar to the personal handwritten note card strategy I detailed in another blog post.  It is not a solicitation, not a sales call, it is purely a way to build relationships.  Many times I am the first person to with my clients happy birthday.  Do you think they appreciate it?  Of course they do.  My birthday was last Sunday and I can tell you exactly who call me on my birthday.  I like being one of the people my clients remember as having called them on theirs.  To me, this is a non negotiable daily discipline, and it should be for all loan officers and Realotrs.