Ask follow-up questions

Don't make small talk just to hear yourself speak. Build a relationship with your prospect by asking follow-up questions the next time you talk.

If you're sending them an email, add a sentence or two letting them know you watched that movie they mentioned during your last conversation.

At the beginning of your next call, inquire how their trip to the lake went last weekend. And as you're leaving a voicemail, throw in a question about how their daughter's dance recital went.

If you ask great questions but never build on them, your relationships will be less substantive and more shallow. Ask prospects genuine questions, and care what their answers are and what happens next.