Do you remember pictures of ancient Egyptian culture where the Pharaohs and other elite of Egyptian society had vassals who would wave palm braches to keep them cool? These same servants would shade the rich and bring them cool drinks. Virtually anything their masters needed these servants would respond immediately to satisfy.

I remember a similar situation on the classic sitcom ?Gilligan's Island?. It seemed that no matter what The Howells? needed they expected Gilligan to find it for them. If they had clothes that needed cleaning it was Gilligan's job to operate a washing machine cleverly constructed by the professor out of bamboo, coconuts and the wrapper from a piece of Juicy Fruit gum.

The cartoon character Charlie Brown was wise beyond his years when he said, ?Few people are successful unless other people want them to be.? We have all been in employment situations where this moniker should have been emblazoned on the policy manual.

As individuals we relinquish a certain amount of power to those we believe worthy of our trust. When it comes to your business you have the ability to act in the role of servant. That's right as the person in charge you can choose to serve your customers. In doing so you may be surprised how much trust your site visitors may assign to you.

When a visitor has a question they want an answer. Furthermore they don't want to wait long for that answer. An autoresponder acts as that slave I mentioned in the first paragraph ? it jumps at the opportunity to serve your customers. By association the quick response of your autoresponder becomes your response and the customer has an improved opinion of you and your business.

The good news is the customer may not likely view the response as impersonal as you might believe.

Most customers are used to dealing with face-to-face transactions and an online environment that can respond to their needs with immediacy may be given a higher degree of trust.

Autoresponders can be very useful in marketing, especially when dealing with after sale email marketing or ecourse offerings. However, they also act as first responders on behalf of your company. They may not fully answer all questions, but they do let the customer know that their concern was received and a personal reply will be forthcoming.

Like the Charlie Brown quote there may be others who want you to be successful. Are you giving them a reason to consider you a success?

Gandhi once said that the word ?president? meant ?chief servant?. If you are the leader in your business then you may find greater success by assuming the role of servant more often than boss.

A wise friend of mine once said, ?There is more to being boss than being bossy.?

If your staff and customers believe you will do anything for them they will likely be more interested in doing something to aid in your success.

Autoresponders are an easy way to let customers know you are interested in what they have to say and you truly care about their needs.