Being in touch with your market at an intuitive level

I have blogged recently about entrepreneurial skills that I feel that I need to develop (Skill development and More entrepreneurial skills) and I did in fact mention the need to be in touch with your customer needs at an intuitive level:

In touch with customer needs - beyond basic market research and technical requirements, what is it that the customers in your market segment really need to feel that your products and services are worth paying for, as well as your intuitive sense for changing needs without the need for market surveys

I keep coming back to that skill as one of the biggest skill deficits I have that holds me back the most.

That is all well and good, but identifying a deficit is not the same as effectively addressing it.

How does one go about developing that intuitive sense for a market?

Other than the obvious approach of spending a lot of time with customers in their environment, I do not have the answers yet.

-- Jack Krupansky