While every business has a bank, few have a banker.  That's because bankers are too often seen as obstacles standing between an entrepreneur and the bank's vault.

"You don't do business with an institution.  You do business with people.  When you get a banker who believes in you, you can accomplish incredible things," counsels Debbi Fields, founder and chair of the board of Mrs. Fields Cookies.

The banker is the loan officer or office manager who handles your account.  A good relationship with that person can bring you money in the form of credit, save you money in fees and enhance your business opportunities through taking advantage of the banker's extensive personal contacts.

Relations between bankers and business owners take on as many hues and shapes as relationships between husbands and wives, but the best ones all have trust and honest communication in common.  "Ideally, it's a human relationship as well as a business relationship," says Bill Byrne, an entrepreneur and author of Habits of Wealth.

Excerpted with permission from Small Business Success Magazine, produced by Pacific Bell Directory in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration.