For most companies, each New Year brings a new strategic planning session. (Or a series of sessions, more like it.) You may have finished yours, or you may just be starting. Either way, I want you to consider the following questions: Who are the 50 people most important to your company’s success? How about the 150 most important? And the 250 most important? I want names. And numbers and e-mail addresses.

Everything you want to accomplish can only be done through and with people. So no matter how much you might inspire your team with visions of what you want to accomplish in the next decade or how deftly you might extract specific action steps to be taken this year, it may be all for naught if you aren’t also planning to build the relationships that matter most. Here’s the simple breakdown I recommend using for always knowing who you need to stay in touch with and how you’re going to do it.

The Core 50: They are your key advisors, customers, channel partners, suppliers, and media contacts. You should talk with each of these people at least once a month. Keep them in your speed dial for easy access and invite them to intimate events like dinner parties whenever possible. Staying connected to these 50 should help you spot opportunities and avoid problems quicker than your competition.

The Next 100: Contact the individuals in this group several times a year-quarterly or when they have birthdays or other special happenings. The idea is to keep these relationships active enough to bring them into the Core 50 at a moment’s notice if necessary.

The Outer 100 (or more): Think of this as your “holiday card” list. You should ping them at least once a year, though I don’t recommend the winter holidays (it’s hard to stand out among the season’s clutter). Pick another time of year you personally like or one that is relevant to your business and industry. For example, if you deal in the world of finance, you might want to make contact early in the fall to remind clients about yearend tax-planning initiatives in addition to relaying a warm personal greeting.

Bonus tip: Once you’ve started tracking your company’s 250 target contacts, take this exercise one step further and have all your team members-from administrative staff to CEO-do this for themselves personally. It will work wonders for their personal careers, as well as their productivity for your organization.

Adding this relationship management aspect to your annual strategic planning will help you stay focused on who is most important in addition to what’s most important. And that’s what I call a great start to a new year.