Want to engage customers? The answer lies within.

“Look inward.” A great mantra for self-help gurus. Too soft for marketers? How about: “Hey goofballs, really now, you’re leaving money on the table??”

Fewer than 40% of companies collect customer feedback more than annually. And much of that feedback comes in the form of same-old, lame-old standard satisfaction surveys, according to the CMO Council report released in February. Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council sums it up succinctly: “What we’re most concerned about seems to be the lack of ownership of customer experience at a high, strategic level. It should be a differentiator for companies, but most aren’t there yet.”

No kidding! We know that dialogue about companies, products and services is going on continually online. We also know that most companies don’t monitor the conversations, let alone get in on them. This is equally true for B-to-B and B-to-C marketers.

Another totally missed opportunity lies within a company’s Customer Service Center. An area that tends to be understaffed, untrained and well, rather dismissed by the C-suite. For shame! What a great way to know what your customers are talking about … really, a “first alert” to slips in product or service performance.

In today’s rather sluggish economic climate, a company’s best opportunity for growth is often within their current customer base. Yet again, the CMO Council report found that the majority of those surveyed don’t know their churn rate, how profitable their customers are or whether the customers are under or over serviced.

We’re a marketing company. We’re all for developing the next great branding and/or lead acquisition campaign. But for many clients, the dollars to do that just aren’t available right now. So how can you make gains in this tough climate? Well, in addition to looking at your data, another low-cost endeavor is to talk to those within your sales channels, from distributors to dealers to retailers to customers. Often just a few well-structured and concise interviews will uncover unmet needs, competitive inroads, glitches in communication, etc. – a multitude of actionable insights leading toward revenue opportunities.

So, what are you waiting for? Look inward!