Imagine being a deer.

For 11 months out of the year travel onto public property and you are safe. Enter month number 12. Your favorite spots to nestle up to and be safe are no longer that at all. Your world has been turned upside down.

In the furniture industry we are coming upon month number 12 in our deer season. Ms. Jones is changing and she is changing fast.

Before this New Ms. Jones competition was what put people out of business. All a retailer would do is find your niche, spend more money than you and then blow you out of the water. Why did this work? Retail controlled the cards. There was no blogosphere or RSS feeds. Ms. Jones received anything relevant to her life only because we as marketers and retailers were out there they what we’re relevant.

Today’s retailers are not being put out of business by competition. Most are struggling through these economic times. Ms. Jones is taking retailers out of business by talking, conversing and sharing.

Is it for the better? Nobody knows and Ms. Jones does not care. She has changed and is expecting you to satisfy the needs she has right now.

At just the tip of the iceberg she is doing it here or here or here.

Ms. Jones wants to be heard and demands a store that lives up to the brand she wants to create. If you don’t cut the grade then she moves on. The way in which we market and you gain sales is no longer a closed relationship.

Mediums, channels of communication and information gathering have changed to the point where Ms. Jones controls the brands she consumes. You are now in an open relationship with Ms. Jones.

Don’t let month 12 become your last.