Need to Sale Your Real Estate? Do Relationships Matter?

Just left a listing appointment and it made me start to wonder. What do you look for when you are looking for a real estate agent? Do you pay attention to the postcards you get from area agents? Do you look at the signs in the neighborhood? Do you call your friend, brother, cousin that’s a part-time agent? Or Do you just call a big franchise like RE/MAX, Century 21, etc?
The reason I ask is that, I have been the #1 listing agent in Houston for 3 years (2006,2007,2008) and I was independent. Most of the private listings I got were through relationships. So my guess is relationships matter not company. Let me know what you think?