What asking questions on a retail store floor taught me about consumer behavior, and why human insight still outsmarts AI trends.
When you are deciding what to offer in your service business, or how to position your packages, who do you actually consult?
Do you ask the industry peers you hope will validate your ideas? Or do you ask the people who actually watch your ideal client make a final purchasing decision?
That distinction changed how I approached business for years, and the lesson started on a retail store floor.
The Retail Question That Shifted Everything
During my tenure as a VP in the home fashion industry, part of my core responsibility was finding inventory that moved. We needed products that sold through reliably, rather than collecting dust on a warehouse shelf.
At the time, we had no generative AI to instantly summarize market trends. Therefore, I had to gather the behavioral data myself. I would walk into major retail stores, find a sales associate, and casually explain I was helping my daughter decorate her bedroom.
Then, I asked three very specific questions:
- What is your best-selling colorway?
- Which texture do customers keep coming back for?
- What size actually sells the most in comforter sets?
They were always thrilled to share. Because they watched real customers make real choices all day long, they held the most valuable data in the building. Yet, almost nobody ever bothered to ask them.
Do This vs. Not That: The Truth About Buying Behavior
The answer that came back, store after store, was incredibly consistent. The answer was beige.
- Not That: The bold, exciting seasonal color that looks incredible in a stylized magazine spread.
- Do This: The reliable, neutral beige SKU that consistently turns over and drives revenue every single time.
Excitement is incredibly easy to fall in love with. Sales, however, are what tell you the absolute truth. As the consumer analysts at Think with Google remind us, search intent is frequently driven by practical, immediate needs rather than flashy industry trends.
I still use this exact approach today. At any unfamiliar restaurant, I always ask the server what their best-selling dish is, rather than guessing what looks most impressive on the menu.
Bridging the Gap in Your Service Business
I see this exact same pattern repeating in the digital space today. Smart, experienced female founders build an offer they find personally brilliant. Then, they wait patiently for the market to agree.
Meanwhile, the real answer is sitting in a conversation they haven’t had yet.
AI is fantastic for showing you what is currently trending. However, it cannot hear the hesitation in a client’s voice, and it cannot measure quiet relief. You should use AI to move faster, but you must check those insights against real human behavior.
If your website receives steady traffic but nobody reaches out, you might be selling the exciting color when your clients simply need beige.
Take twenty minutes to audit your layout using the 4-Pillar Frictionless Framework before rewriting another word of copy.
With calm confidence,
Suzanne Dufault
Brand Strategist & Former VP
suzannedufault.ca | sue@suzannedufault.ca
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