I Listen to Main Street

I listen to Main Street… No, it’s not a new book!

Did you hear that? It’s the consumer, making choices by the second, reacting to an ever-changing world. What continues to amaze me is how many businesses, large and small, keep missing the messages consumers are sending. That’s why it is important to pay attention to Main Street. The social and economic shifts taking place are sending loud signals, but not all businesses and leaders are listening.

Some believe brands set the trends. There is some truth to that. But what often gets missed is that the best brands, especially their designers and innovation teams, listen to Main Street. They do so not only to create products that connect with consumers, but also to understand how to sell those products and services more effectively. We should not be surprised by how many businesses fail to listen at all. In fact, I would argue there is a strong correlation between not listening to Main Street and business failures, CEO turnover, employee exits, customer defections, and, of course, product and promotional failures.

While many are busy chasing whatever successful retailers appear to be doing, the smart money should be on understanding Main Street. Even the most creative fashion designers look there for ideas.

50% of businesses today are small businesses, and they account for roughly half of employment. Their failure rate is high. I can say without reservation that many of them do not listen closely enough to Main Street. And when the wrong CEOs and leadership teams take over larger companies, they forget to do the same. The collapse of many retail giants suggests that, when they should have been listening more carefully, they instead retreated into what they thought they did best or assumed customers wanted. Hint: discounting is not listening to Main Street. More often, it is a familiar last-chance survival tactic.

I know that reading about what other retailers are doing provides insight. Even visiting successful retailers will not teach you much about what drives them, nor why they do it. They know something you don’t know. Simply chasing the leader won’t tell you what Main Street thinks. That isn’t the best use of time and resources.

I listen to Main Street because that is where the consumer decides how to respond to the next incoming shift, whether it’s economic, social, political, or environmental, and that happens long before business realizes it is happening.