What Advice Do You Have to Earn Respect in Business and Personal Relationships?

My top advice would be to apply the ABC’s of relationship-building… Always Be Connecting:

• Spend time on fostering your connections and surround yourself with influential individuals. As the famous motivational speaker Tony Robbins said, “Proximity is power.” Just being around, touching base and being top-of-mind with people is a great way to earn respect.
• But to really earn this respect, first show respect for others; you must be in the right networking mindset and learn to connect on a deeper level. And guess what? This will lead to relationships based on your mutual respect for each other.
• Now, this respect is an outcome of trust. And gaining another’s trust can take some time, so be ready! Remember there is no magic bullet. Building this trust and respect in relationships takes dedication and energy. A study out of the University of Kansas found that after 50 hours of socializing an acquaintance becomes a casual friend, then at 90 hours they’re a real friend, then at around 200 hours it’s finally considered a close friendship. So, it certainly doesn’t happen overnight.
• Enhance your mutual respect by adding as much value as you can, and always follow through on your promises. Be a super-connector every chance you get and connect others with each other. Spend as much quality time with as many quality people as you can.

Our online course Get NetWorkWise Certified would be a great resource for you to learn relationship-building strategies while gaining a professional networking certification. I encourage you to check it out!

Make it a great day and remember to NetWorkWise!

This article originally appeared on Quora.