Everyone wants to grow their top line, right? How many of you are talking to your customers on a regular basis? I mean really talking to them. Here are 7 ways to hear what they are saying.
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Check out their posts on various social media. Oh, your
customers are not participating on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, blogs, of any one of the other social media outlets -- wrong, they are using it; you are not putting in the effort to find them. -
Offer a forum for them to talk to you on their terms. See above.
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Give value through webinars or other online vehicles and ask them for feedback.
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Call them and ask them about their business and listen– not try to sell them something. Make a plan and have a series of questions ready to ask. Find out how they are changing their buying processes to deal with changes in technology and economic conditions.
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Read everything online about them. I am shocked at how few companies study their clients in depth and with regularity. Take them for granted at great peril.
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Bring them into your planning process and let them tell you what they think or you product development or latest service offering BEFORE you try to sell it to them.
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Show up on their doorstep (or at least meet them at trade shows or industry conferences – this may be the best reason to attend a show) and ask them to tell you how you are doing. I know this is time consuming and expensive but so is new customer acquisition. Don’t ever lose face-to-face touch with your customers.
Topics: Sales
