I’ve been thinking about how to make Fitting Group’s product better, which in turn, helps our Challenger Brand clients enhance their marketing efforts. Each client has his or her own business goals, but usually among them, is growth. And I can tell you, it’s really, really hard to think up better ways to do things when you’re in the thick of things. So I sought inspiration in the Rockies.

Andrea's cogs are turning at 10,000 feet

I might look like I’m not working. But believe me, the cogs are turning furiously. The lungs are working pretty hard too.

Here’s one of the things I’ve come up with so far. The old model of marketing was pretty simple and straightforward: make a product or deliver a service that is predictable, consistent and works as expected, control your costs and sell at a profit. If you attract more customers and sell more stuff, you’ll make more money. But there is something fundamentally flawed with this model given our world today. The basic assumption relies on the principle that stability is the norm – that the “customer” will have the same needs or desires tomorrow as he does today. If that were true, the status quo would indeed be something to protect. And many keep on trying to protect it. No wonder people need the weekends to recharge their batteries. Going to work every day and holding up the dike against a sea of change saps a lot of energy. There’s not much left over to think about a better way to do things.

So at least take the holiday weekend to think about how the world has changed for your customers. Maybe you’ll be able to come up with a better way to help them cope with it.