Tip Tuesday: Rule of thumb for managing contacts

I read a lot of blogs every day and come across numerous tips and advice that I find pretty helpful. So I thought I'd pick my favorite ones and share them with you on Tip Tuesday!

One of my favorite real estate blogs is inman news. If you are in real estate and you don't read this blog, you need to. Yesterday, Bernice Ross wrote about social media tips to win real estate clients.

In the article, she says that most people can't manage more than 150 people in their contact list. So if your list has over and above that magic number, it may be hard to organize it into a meaningful list of who's who.

Now I'm not suggesting that you start deleting emails and phone numbers. Just go through your list and note the top 150 people who are closest to your sphere of influence. Put those people in a separate list. Label it something like, "Top 150", or "Contacts of Influence."

So how does social media come into play? Bernice suggests setting a goal of connecting with 5 of those contacts everyday, either by commenting on their blog, sending them an interesting link through twitter, or writing on their facebook wall. In one month, you will have reached you entire list of 150.

Continuously reaching out to your contact list in this way will keep you in the forefront of their mind. When they need real estate help or have a friend that does, who do you think they will think of? Probably the last agent that contacted them.