What kind of relationship do you have with the credit card company that sends you an incessant stream of new card offers? What about your barber, your real estate broker, or your colleague in another department?

People like to connect with real people. They like to share their ideas, questions and frustrations with people who will listen and engage with them. They do not like canned responses, impersonal messages, or one-way communication.

People buy from people they like, and they can only like people they know. They cannot know you unless you step out from behind the curtain and reveal yourself as a man or woman from Omaha, or wherever you call home. Start by sharing things about yourself: your successes, your lessons learned, your observations, and your passions. When you open yourself up and really engage, your customers will begin to trust you, be responsive to you, and guide you to success.