Staying close to your customers means:
Carrying out continuous research to learn from them.
Asking questions about the quality and performance of product and service at regular intervals after the sale.
Developing procedures to stay up to date with customer needs.
Listening.
DO
Make recruitment and selection, customer-oriented activities.
Involve all staff in discussions about customer service and customers level of satisfaction.
Offer incentives to encourage customers to give feedback.
Analyze complaints for any trends or patterns.
Record customer thanks as well as complaints.
Stay close to your customers – the profile of your best prospect is the profile of your best customer.
Celebrate and publicize good news and achievements.
DON’T
Don’t lose sight of your internal customers.
Don’t say “It isn’t my fault,” or “I don’t know who deals with that here.”
(Business, the Ultimate Resource)