1. Objective

This SOP defines how a Virtual Assistant (VA) implements and maintains the 33-Touch Plan — 33 planned touchpoints per database contact per year, mixing automated messages (email, text) with personal ones (phone calls, handwritten notes, pop-bys). The goal is simple: when a past client, sphere contact, or long-term lead is ready to buy or sell, the agent is the first name that comes to mind.

The VA owns execution on the automated side — building the CRM sequences, sending the monthly newsletter, scheduling seasonal cards, tracking completion. The agent owns the personal touches — quarterly check-in calls, handwritten notes, pop-bys. The VA's role on personal touches is preparation: giving the agent a ready-to-call list, talking points, and a reason for the conversation.

The philosophy behind 33-Touch is 90% value, 10% call to action. Become a welcome guest in their inbox, not a pest.

Where this SOP starts: A contact is added to the database — past client, sphere of influence, or long-term lead in nurture status.
Where this SOP ends: The contact receives a consistent cadence of 33 touches per year, each segment of the database is cleaned annually, and the agent has a steady flow of warm conversations with past clients and sphere contacts.

Success looks like: The agent's past clients and sphere contacts describe them as "always in touch, never annoying." Annual database audits show low attrition and high re-engagement. Roughly 20–40% of the agent's yearly transaction volume comes from past clients and referrals — the top indicator that long-term nurture is working.

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2. Your Role & Boundaries

2a. What you handle independently

• Building the 33-Touch campaign in the CRM (automated sequence steps, timing, segment rules)
• Drafting and sending the monthly email newsletter
• Scheduling and sending quarterly market updates (data pulled from MLS and local-area sources)
• Ordering and mailing seasonal or holiday cards (working with a print-and-mail vendor or using the agent's approved design library)
• Sending text messages (birthday, anniversary, seasonal) per approved templates
• Preparing the agent's quarterly call list with talking points per contact
• Maintaining the contact list: tagging, segmentation, deduplication, opt-out management
• Running the annual database audit per Section 7

2b. What requires agent approval before acting

• Any new newsletter topic, design change, or brand voice shift
• The choice of seasonal card design and message (agent selects each season)
• Any mass communication that goes beyond the approved annual plan (e.g., a one-off announcement)
• Any personal touch the agent was supposed to handle but hasn't — VA flags, agent decides whether to push or skip
• Removing contacts during the annual audit (VA flags candidates for removal; agent confirms)
• Adding contacts to the 33-Touch plan beyond the agent's confirmed database

2c. What you never do

• You never negotiate on the agent's behalf under any circumstances.
• You never provide pricing, legal, or strategic opinions to any party.
• You never sign or initial any document on behalf of the agent, client, or any party.
• You never communicate directly with the other party's client.
• You never send a communication on behalf of the agent that claims to be personally written by the agent unless the agent has reviewed and approved it
• You never make the agent's personal phone calls for them — those are agent-only touches; your role is prep and reminder, not execution
• You never add a contact to the nurture plan without source-tag confirmation and consent basis (existing business relationship, opt-in, or agent-confirmed SOI)
• You never share the agent's contact list with anyone outside the brokerage-approved ecosystem (print-mail vendor, CRM platform, email sender are allowed; new third parties need explicit approval)

When in doubt: Automated touches err on the side of value, not promotion. If a message is more about the agent than about the recipient, rewrite before sending.

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3. Schedule & Trigger

Annual trigger: The 33-Touch plan runs continuously. At the start of each year (January), the VA verifies the annual plan for the coming year, including any updates to the newsletter schedule, seasonal card designs, and agent's quarterly call list.

Per-month triggers: Specific touches fire on a calendar cadence:

• Monthly: Newsletter (same week each month — confirm with agent during onboarding)
• Quarterly: Market update + agent call list prep (first week of each quarter)
• Seasonal: Cards in April (spring), August (end of summer), November (Thanksgiving, not Christmas), February (Valentine's or a general "thinking of you"). These timings avoid the December card saturation.
• Ongoing: Birthday, home-anniversary, and personal-milestone triggers fire from the CRM automatically

Per-contact trigger: New contacts added to the database get enrolled in the 33-Touch plan within 1 business week of being added, with the first touch typically being a welcome-to-database email (handled via New Client Onboarding (Buyer or Seller) onboarding flow for clients, or via the CRM auto-enrollment for other contacts).

Expected turnaround:

• Monthly newsletter: Sent by the same calendar day each month (confirm with agent — often mid-month)
• Quarterly market update: First week of the quarter
• Agent call list: Delivered to agent 3–5 business days before the start of each quarter
• Annual audit: Complete within January

Sequence context: This SOP runs alongside Open House Lead Follow-Up — which feeds new leads into long-term nurture after 8 weeks, Past Client Anniversary & Milestone, SOI Monthly Touch Campaign, and Database Segmentation. Data from the 33-Touch plan also feeds Monthly Business Metrics Report — email open rate, newsletter performance, list growth.

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4. The 33-Touch Plan

The annual plan consists of 33 planned touchpoints per contact. Specific mix from the course-referenced standard:

4a. Standard breakdown

Count	Touch Type	Channel	Who Executes
12x	Monthly email newsletter	Email	VA
4x	Quarterly phone calls	Phone	Agent (VA preps list)
2x	Client appreciation events	In-person / invite	Agent (VA handles logistics)
4x	Postcards or mailers (seasonal)	Print mail	VA
1x	Annual home-iversary card or call	Varies	VA sends card; agent may also call
10x	Valuable, non-promotional social content	Social media	VA (publishes); agent (optional personal shares)

Core philosophy: 90% value, 10% call to action. Most touches should share something useful — market insight, neighborhood update, seasonal home-maintenance tip, community event — not a direct ask for business.

4b. Alternative touch options

Some agents prefer slight variations. Confirm with the agent during onboarding whether to substitute any of the following:

• Text messages (birthday, anniversary, seasonal) — can replace some email touches for contacts who prefer text
• Video messages (short agent-recorded BombBomb-style video) — can replace quarterly market update for higher engagement
• Handwritten notecards — can replace printed postcard for VIP contacts (still 4x but handwritten by agent, addressed by VA)
• Pop-bys (small seasonal gift dropped at the door) — can replace a seasonal card for contacts within driving distance

The total touch count stays at or near 33. The mix adjusts to the agent's style.

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5. CRM Sequence Setup

The 33-Touch plan lives in the CRM as an automated campaign, with touches that fire on date-based triggers.

5a. Campaign structure

Name the campaign: 33-Touch Plan — [Database segment]

Create one campaign per segment you maintain separately (e.g., 33-Touch — Past Clients, 33-Touch — SOI). Most agents run one unified plan with minor segment variations.

5b. Email touches (12 per year)

Build one recurring email sequence that sends the monthly newsletter. Each month:
- Pull the month's topic (or general template) from the annual content calendar
- Populate with current market data, agent's listings, team updates, and a community-value item
- Schedule to send on the same calendar day each month (e.g., second Tuesday)
- Monitor bounce rate, open rate, and click rate — flag drops to the agent

5c. Postcard and seasonal touches (4 per year)

These fire as tasks, not auto-sends (since they require print-and-mail vendor coordination). Set CRM tasks for:
- Spring card: Task fires March 15 for April mailing
- Summer / end-of-summer card: Task fires July 15 for August mailing
- Thanksgiving card: Task fires October 25 for early-November mailing (before the December card saturation)
- Valentine's or general winter card: Task fires January 25 for February mailing

For each card season:
- Confirm design with agent (or use a pre-approved design library)
- Pull mailing list from the CRM segment
- Submit to print-and-mail vendor with deadline
- Update CRM: contact's last-touch date

5d. Phone call touches (4 per year — agent executes)

These fire as tasks for the agent, not auto-sends. The VA's job is to prepare the list and the talking points.

• Task fires first week of each quarter
• VA generates a call list from the CRM segment, filtered to contacts who haven't had a phone call from the agent in the past 90 days
• For each contact, VA adds a brief note: recent CRM activity (did they open the newsletter?), milestone (birthday or home-iversary upcoming?), last substantive conversation (what did they talk about last?), and a suggested opener
• Agent makes the calls, logs completion in the CRM

5e. Appreciation events (2 per year)

Events — client appreciation parties, wine tastings, holiday mixers — are logistics-heavy and require agent-led planning. VA's role:
- Event logistics: venue, catering, RSVPs
- Email invitations to the segment
- Name tags and registration
- Post-event thank-you and photo follow-up

5f. Birthday, anniversary, and personal touches

Set up automated CRM triggers for:
- Birthday — email or card on the contact's birthday
- Home-iversary (one-year anniversary of closing for past clients) — card or call task
- Other personal milestones (confirmed by agent — new baby, wedding, job change) — one-off task for agent

5g. Social content (10 per year)

Social touches are not personalized, but they contribute to the 33-Touch ambient presence. These are handled via Social Content Calendar. Ensure the social plan produces 10+ pieces of content over the year that the agent's database can see (feed posts, stories, relevant LinkedIn posts).

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6. List Segmentation

Not every contact gets the same touch mix. Confirm segments during onboarding.

6a. Standard segments

Segment	Description	Typical touch variation
Past Clients	Closed transactions in prior years	Full 33-Touch; extra emphasis on home-iversary, quarterly calls, and annual review
Sphere of Influence (SOI)	Personal network: family, friends, long-term contacts	Full 33-Touch; more personal-touch weighting, fewer market-update emails
Long-Term Nurture Leads	Leads who are not active but haven't opted out	Full 33-Touch; heavier email-newsletter weighting, fewer personal calls
Referral Partners	Other agents, lenders, title reps, attorneys	Different track — quarterly touches focused on referral relationship
Active Leads	In active search / listing phase	Not in 33-Touch; handled by transaction-stage SOPs

6b. How to segment in the CRM

• Apply segment tags to every contact at intake (see Lead Source Tracking & Tagging for lead-source tagging; segment tags are separate)
• Contacts can belong to multiple segments (e.g., a past client who is also a personal friend goes into both Past Clients and SOI)
• Move contacts between segments as their status changes (an active lead moves to Long-Term Nurture after 8 weeks of no engagement per Online Inquiry Response Protocol)

6c. Customizing touch counts per segment

The baseline is 33 per year. Some agents customize:
- VIP Past Clients (highest-producing or closest relationships): add extra personal touches, up to 40–50 per year
- Long-Term Nurture: keep at 33, mostly automated
- SOI: 33 with a heavier personal-touch weighting

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7. Annual Database Audit

Once per year (typically January), the VA runs a full audit of the database before the new year's 33-Touch plan activates.

7a. Audit tasks

• Verify contact information — open every contact. Are email, phone, address current? For contacts with no activity in 2+ years, verify via a soft outreach ("just updating our records")
• Remove bounced emails — any contact whose newsletter has hard-bounced for 3+ consecutive sends should be marked inactive or removed
• Merge duplicates — two records for the same person are a liability (they receive every touch twice)
• Flag inactive contacts for removal — contacts with zero engagement for 2+ years (no email open, no click, no reply) are candidates for the agent to review
• Upgrade hot leads — any Long-Term Nurture contact who recently engaged (opened multiple emails, clicked a property link) should be flagged for the agent to consider moving to active follow-up
• Add new contacts — any contacts the agent met during the year that aren't yet in the database

7b. Audit deliverable

Produce an audit memo for the agent:

Subject: Annual Database Audit — [Year]

Hi [Agent Name] — database audit complete for the year ending [Date].

Summary:
- Total contacts: [X] (change vs. prior year: [±Y])
- Past clients: [X]
- SOI: [X]
- Long-term nurture: [X]
- Referral partners: [X]

Cleanup:
- [X] duplicates merged
- [X] bounced emails removed/inactivated
- [X] contacts flagged for removal — list attached, please review before I act
- [X] hot-lead upgrades recommended — list attached

Recommended for 2026:
- [Any observations about engagement patterns, segment growth, or cadence adjustments]

Let me know which removals to action. Once approved, I'll start the new year's 33-Touch plan with the cleaned list.

[VA Name]

File the memo in the operations folder.

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8. Care Calls (Phone Touches)

The quarterly phone calls are the highest-value touches in the 33-Touch plan. The VA's job is preparation so the agent can make warm, specific calls.

8a. Care Calls script framework

Use this script frame — the agent customizes but keeps the tone:

"Hi [Name], this is [Agent Name] from [Team / Brokerage]. We haven't spoken in a while, and I was just calling to check in and see how you're doing. Is there anything at all I can help you with?"

The point is not to sell. The point is to maintain the relationship.

8b. VA-prepared call list

For each call the agent makes, the VA provides:

• Contact name, preferred name, phone, email
• Relationship context: How they know the agent (past client, SOI, referral from whom)
• Transaction history: If past client — what property, when closed, what they've done since
• Recent engagement: Did they open the last newsletter? Click any links? Reply to any touch?
• Upcoming or recent milestones: Birthday, home-iversary, other life events the agent knows about
• Suggested opener: A specific conversation starter based on their CRM notes

Example call list entry:

Sarah Johnson — 555-0123 — Past Client (closed 2024-06 at 123 Main St)
Last substantive contact: Home-iversary card, June 2025; she replied warmly.
Recent engagement: Opened last 3 newsletters; clicked the market-update link in March.
Upcoming: Birthday is May 12 (3 weeks).
Suggested opener: "Hi Sarah — noticed you've been reading our market updates, thanks for following along. Just wanted to check in and see how the first year in the house has been — any projects underway?"

Hand the list to the agent 3–5 business days before the quarterly call window so they have time to block calendar.

8c. Post-call logging

After calls, the VA updates the CRM with:
- Date of call
- Brief notes from the agent (if the agent shares them — sometimes the agent logs directly)
- Any follow-up actions surfaced (a past client is thinking about a second home; move to active buyer lead)
- Reset the next-call due date 90 days out

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9. Escalation — When to Escalate Immediately

Most long-term nurture runs quietly. Escalate to the agent when:

• A nurture contact responds with a transactional inquiry ("I'm thinking of selling" or "I know someone who's looking") — alert the agent immediately; this is a hot lead conversion
• A nurture contact opts out or complains about frequency — pull from the automated plan immediately, notify the agent
• Newsletter bounce rate or opt-out rate spikes month-over-month — may indicate a list-quality issue or content misalignment
• A content issue is discovered — a wrong link, a misspelled name in a personalized field, a broken template — stop the send if caught before publication, remediate if after
• Print-mail vendor fails to execute a scheduled card mailing

Use this escalation template:

Hi [Agent Name] — nurture flag:

Issue: [One sentence — e.g., "Mary Chen, past client from 2022, replied to the newsletter asking about refinancing options and whether she should consider downsizing. This is a potential transaction."]
Context: [Brief — e.g., "She closed 3 years ago on 456 Oak. No activity until this reply."]
Recommended next step: [e.g., "Can you reply today or tomorrow? I can draft if useful."]

[VA Name]

If agent is unreachable within 1 business day on a hot-lead alert:
1. Do not reply to the contact on the agent's behalf beyond a courtesy acknowledgment ("Thanks for reaching out — [Agent Name] will follow up soon")
2. Log the alert and all follow-ups in the CRM
3. Continue to flag the lead in each day's status until the agent responds

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10. Completion Checklist

Annual setup (January)
- ☐ Annual 33-Touch plan confirmed with agent
- ☐ Newsletter topics outlined for 12 months
- ☐ Seasonal card designs selected (4 seasons)
- ☐ Call list schedule set for quarterly deliveries to agent
- ☐ Annual database audit complete; cleanup approved by agent
- ☐ CRM segments tagged and current

Monthly
- ☐ Newsletter drafted, reviewed, sent on schedule
- ☐ Engagement metrics logged (open, click, bounce, opt-out)
- ☐ Any hot leads flagged to agent

Quarterly
- ☐ Market update drafted and sent
- ☐ Call list delivered to agent 3–5 days before quarter start
- ☐ Post-call CRM updates reflected (once agent logs calls)

Seasonal (4 per year)
- ☐ Card design confirmed
- ☐ Mailing list pulled from correct segments
- ☐ Print-mail vendor confirmed send
- ☐ CRM last-touch dates updated after send

Ongoing
- ☐ Birthday, anniversary, home-iversary triggers firing correctly
- ☐ Social content schedule contributing to the 10-per-year target (see Social Media Content Calendar Management)
- ☐ Opt-outs removed within 24 hours of request

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11. Tools & Access

Item	Details
CRM	Per CRM Setup & Configuration (New Agent)
Email platform	Per CRM Setup & Configuration (New Agent) or dedicated email sender (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, etc.)
Newsletter template library	[Operations folder — 12 monthly templates or frameworks]
Seasonal card vendor	[Confirm during onboarding — Send Out Cards, Postalytics, handwritten provider, etc.]
Seasonal card design library	[Agent's approved designs — operations folder]
Call list template	[Operations folder — standard format for quarterly deliveries]
Event planning vendor(s)	[Confirm during onboarding if agent hosts client events]
Birthday / anniversary trigger data	[Confirm CRM has the fields populated; update during annual audit]
Agent's preferred urgent channel	[Per Email Inbox Management — Client Setup or operations folder]