When it comes to your customers, you can’t really know too much.

From their basic contact information (so you can reach out to them using their preferred method of communication) to their birthdays (so you can wish them a happy birthday), there are a variety of data points that could prove beneficial to improving your sales process.

Does this mean that you should use every opportunity to collect personal data with all of your submission forms, surveys and phone conversations? That may work in some situations, but for the most part, people can detect when you’re just trying to extract information from them. This will not work on intelligent, skeptical people.

Ideally, there needs to be an exchange taking place between you and your customers on a regular basis. A conversation. As you work to create meaningful relationships with your customers, you will learn more about them. It takes work, but there are no shortcuts to earning the trust and loyalty of your customers.

Here are seven data points that can help you to fine-tune your marketing and improve your sales process.

1. Gender

Marketing to men is a little different than marketing to women. Understanding these differences can help you to make your sales process more focused.

For example, in general, women are hardwired for multitasking, use big-picture thinking, and make decisions intuitively. Men are preconditioned to think concretely, are goal-oriented, and tend to come to logical solutions.

Knowing some of these differences can help you to create better sales results.

2. Location

Depending on the type of business you are running, you may have location specific promotions. While Portland residents may want to know about a sale that is happening in their city, they wouldn’t necessarily be interested in a sale being held in New York City.

There may be events (like a major conference) that you’ll want all of your customers to know about. However, you may also have localized events that don’t need to be promoted to a worldwide audience.

3. Income

Regardless of what you are offering your customers, one size does not always fit all. Even if you only offer one product or one service, interest level can vary quite a bit.

For example, if you offer your clients different packages based on price point, some of the packages might be out of some of your customer’s price range. If you have some ideas of what your customers are earning, you can create packages that better suit their budget.

4. Marital Status

A single customer’s purchase decisions and spending habits can differ from that of a married customer. If they have kids, that can also factor in to their overall buying habits.

This information should help you to determine customer motivation.

5. Preferred Social Networks

In addition to your customer’s preferred social network(s), it is also useful to learn where they like to hang out, both online and offline.

As you begin to understand your demographics better, your marketing will become more targeted. When your marketing is more targeted, you will be able to reach more people that are interested in your offerings.

6. Challenges

What challenges are your customers facing right now?

This item goes hand in hand with knowing their goals. Understanding your customer’s frustrations and problems enables you to be more relevant in your communication with them.

It would be good to know what they’ve tried that hasn’t worked for them as well. That way, if you have an effective solution that works differently than what they’ve tried in the past, you may be able to make a more worthwhile value proposition.

7. Goals

If you know what your customer is trying to achieve, you can tailor your communication to help them find a pertinent solution.

That solution might include your service or product; it might not. Either way, if you make the extra effort to help them reach their goals, they will be more likely to do business with you in the future.