History is filled with stories of Kings who wore disguise and roamed around their kingdom to understand their subjects better. Well, nobody is asking you to wear disguises and roam around the markets but you certainly should make an attempt to understand your customers better. How can you do this?
Make sure you get the e-mail address of each and every customer you cater to. Start a newsletter where you can invite contributions from your customers. Set up your social networking page and make sure you have a wide range of individuals who have allowed you to link your page with theirs. This will help you keep track of the likes, dislikes, preferences and other behavioral traits of your customers.
It is very easy to take the shortcut and use spam as a method of getting as many friends or contact as possible. However, it is very important to focus on qualified and targeted base of customers. If you are manufacturing industrial valves, there is no point in becoming friends with a housewife situated in India or Taiwan.
On the other hand, if you make dolls for children, there is no sense in contacting single and ready to mingle celebrities as contacts. You cannot afford to treat online contacts as a matter of formality or waste of time. Rather, you should have a holistic approach and should make sure that each and every new contract you make online helps you improve your business.
This is going to take time and will require a lot of effort. You can put in a lot of hard work yourself and save money or you can appoint third parties to carry out these tasks on your behalf.