A trap many big companies fall into is losing touch with their customers.  Many executives never talk to customers directly, only learning through statistics and demographics.  As a result, they often make decisions to treat their customers like numbers, not human beings.  Customers dread calling into these sorts of companies, like AOL.

Small businesses have the advantage that the owners and decision-makers are often forced to be on the front lines dealing with customers.  This helps in gaining a deep understanding of what customers want.  In fact, I often prefer buying from small businesses because they usually have a more personal touch.  Ironically, as the business prospers, the folks in charge often throw away this connection with customers by hiring poorly-paid customer service people.

It doesn’t have to be like this.  Some big companies, like Nordstrom, are famous for their customer service.  The key is growing your company intelligently.

Make sure all the decision makers in your company spend at least some time keeping in touch directly with customers by doing customer service, taking orders, or making some calls.  This will help them understand how your offerings can be improved.  They’ll get to hear problems and suggestions right from the customers.  Or if customers are confused, they can think about how to tweak the product or information to clarify.  It’s also an incredible motivational boost when they know exactly whom their work will help.

It may be humbling, and you might hear some complaints that they don’t have time for it, but you can’t afford to let the business be run by people who don’t know your customers inside out.

There are a lot of articles on the internet on how to deal with unhappy customers.  Usually, they involve tactics to help deal with that single problem.  Instead, you should look at unhappy customers as opportunities to improve your business.

Bill Gates talked about it.  He said, “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” We couldn’t agree more.  But what’s more important than learning is changing.

Big businesses are more sluggish in changing things in response to customer feedback.  This is where small businesses have the advantage.  If you learn how to improve your business to serve your customers better, you don’t need to go through all the different departments and management hierarchy like they do in big businesses.  You just do it.  Probably overnight too.

So, next time you need to handle an unhappy customer, not only should you think “how can I make this customer happy?”, but also “how can I make sure nobody will be unhappy in the same way again?”

Everyone knows about globalization nowadays.  Developing countries like China and India are known for their cheap exports.  If you go to Wal-Mart and pick a random item off the shelf, chances are it’s made in a developing country.

Big enterprises have a vast network of foreign suppliers and professional purchasers to take advantage of the cheap importing opportunities.  As a small business owner, it might be difficult for you to find good and reliable foreign suppliers.  The good news is that the internet helps level the playing field.

Alibaba is an online business-to-business platform connecting buyers and suppliers, with an emphasis on suppliers from developing countries.  You can search by products, prices, countries, or even special deals.  If eBay is the trading place between consumers, then Alibaba is the trading place between businesses.

If you are curious as to whether you can raise your profit margins by finding cheaper suppliers, Alibaba might be a good starting point.

Most small businesses these days have a website up to share information and attract new customers.  If you don’t, you might want to consider getting one designed.

If you already have one, have you ever wondered what kind of people are visiting it?  Where are they from?  What do they click?  How did they get there?  How many come back?  Answering these questions helps you understand how people interact with your website, so you can improve on weak points and promote your selling points better.  Luckily, there are free tools online that can help you track how people use your website.

Google Analytics gives you detailed information on how your users browse your site.  It can tell you what time of the day you get the most traffic, which countries the users from, which page is the most viewed, etc.  The nice thing about it is that the graphs are all interactive, allowing you to drill down to find the exact information you want.

Quantcast shows you the demographics of your users.  Information like the age group, average household income, the gender percentage, etc.  How could you target your marketing message better if you found out that most of your visitors were women over 50?

Using these tools is very easy if you already have a website.  Simply sign-up for a free account, and follow their instructions to attach a small piece of HTML code on your website.  You might be surprised by how your website is being used.  We know we were when we saw Malaysia in the top 10 countries visiting us.  Time to go international, anyone?