While not surprising to me, my last blog post was read by an amazing number of people. Five times more, in fact, than the previous post! How did they all know about it? Partly because the blog is linked to my Linked-in and Twitter profiles which notified my followers that it was updated; and partly because I used a lot of creative methods to draw people into our new site. (Hey, if you are reading, then I must know what I am talking about.) Unless you have been on an extended African safari for the last 12 months, you probably noticed that social media has caught on with breathtaking speed. Sites like Linked-in, Facebook, My Space and Twitter are attracting millions of unique visitors who share billions of pieces of information with friends and connections and followers. Who could have predicted that people would so enjoy throwing sheep and poking each other? Someone who understood that successful technology has to not only take into account the human factor but also allow for serious amounts of feedback, involvement and interaction.

With everything we know though about how to harness the power of the social network, there is still a lot to learn and absorb about business from the social media world around us. This will probably be a two-part blog (at least) because there is so much say about how the new ways your customers are communicating and sharing information affect their expectations.

While this might still come as a news flash to you, people (and more specifically, your customers) really like to be heard. Thanks to social media, we are all becoming more and more accustomed to voicing our opinions and being responded to. Your customers want access to a real human being to speak with and express their wants and needs. It’s time for us, as documentation managers, to really think about new and creative ways to involve the end customer in real-time interactions. Concepts like open product forums and product development focus groups (that include customers or potential customers) are not just good ideas — they are critical for success. If you manufacture an actual product or software with features, how about creating an interactive virtual assembly line that lets people customize their ideal version of your product? A car, a candy bar or a software technology product are all items that can be reconfigured based on customer desires. If you already have a product blog, how active is it? Are you reading and seriously considering your customers’ requests and comments? And are you using creative social media techniques to draw-in customers? Maybe you think it’s sufficient to add your blog to your signature line and tweet once in a while, but if that's all you are doing then you are still stuck in the same “push” marketing and sales mentality of yesteryear. We need to do more listening to what the actual customer really wants and less talking about what we think they need.

Once you know what your customers want, you can figure out how to attract and interest more of them in your product. Making the sale is, in my mind, mostly dependent on the product itself. I never wanted to be a cheesy salesperson with unsavory tactics selling something that people didn’t really want or need. If you correctly determine who your target audience is, listen to their needs, design to their specifications and your delivery back-end is reliable, then the product should sell itself — even in a bad economy.

For example, there are some features I really want in a piece of software that I am semi-forced to use on a regular basis. The company that produces the software has told me more than once that they have a predefined product road map and therefore customer inquiries are not relevant. That simple statement has me searching for other alternatives. When I find one, you bet I will drop their product like a hot potato and move on to that something else, regardless of what costs would be involved in such a move. I am 100% certain I can find a product that considers me, my future business and my needs relevant!

Maybe you can relate to this: My car did not come with an armrest by the driver’s seat. I have bemoaned that fact since the day I bought the car and can say with certainty that I have dissuaded at least two serious buyers from buying the same model. Granted there were some other issues with the car, but the lack of the armrest is simply inexcusable. Hello Detroit! Is anyone out there and listening? Fire your expensive design consultants and usability experts and give me an armrest! You want to increase your sales? Listen to the people who have already bought your cars and implement their ideas for the next model. In today’s day and age, why are you still paying a ridiculous marketing agency millions for worthless, probably inaccurate consumer research? Why not listen to your customers instead? And please don’t think of me as a success story because I bought the car even though it didn’t have an armrest — I forgot to check for one when I was at the dealership. You can bet it is the first thing on my list (OK, Dad, if you are reading this…please forgive me) for the next time I buy a car. And I did dissuade those two other potential customers, so I was really not such a sales success. Need ideas for getting customers to respond? Well, giving them something for free generally works. You could have a raffle to encourage their feedback, hold a contest for creative customer ideas or simply provide a feedback email address on every product you sell.

For all of you managing a company who still think the product-sales cycle works in one direction, think again. If you want to sell more, start opening-up the communication portal between you and your customers (and potential customers) and develop real dialogue. You will see that you can tap an unbelievable wealth of knowledge, insight and useful ideas for free. Push marketing and sales will always have its place, but the age of push-pull is upon us.

Companies that understand and embrace the power of web 2.0/3.0 technologies to their maximum potential will own this decade and beyond.