The key to success -- big success -- for a smart biz is to "do the status quo one better." It's not easy -- big business is cranking on this idea too. I'm amazed on a daily basis at how often everyday products are being reinvented. This weekend, I saw a TV ad for the Swiffer, basically the mop reinvented. Bought some paint too -- wouldn't you know, the paint can has been reinvented with a screw-on lid. And on and on.




Yet product innovation remains key. Marketing guru Seth Godin stresses this today in a blog post, calling for alarm clock makers to add a twenty-cent radio chip that would 1) keep clocks on time and 2) automate a weekend setting that would automatically let you sleep in on Saturday and Sunday. Says Godin:

So why doesn't every alarm clock have this feature? Because most people in that business are busy doing their jobs (distribution, promotion, pricing, etc.), not busy making products that people actually want to buy--and talk about.

There are very few products and services that wouldn't get a lot better if people just tried to make them better.

What are you going to do today to make the small biz product or service you deliver "one step better than the status quo?"