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True differentiation takes boldly reimagining how products are created and delivered. For many organizations, the secret to market growth isn’t found in the boardroom alone. It’s forged in partnership with their most demanding customers. In this episode of What’s Your Edge?, we are joined by Armen Alajian, CEO of ARTO, a family-owned innovator in the tile, stone, and brick industry. Armen is going to share with us how they turned customer challenges into a catalyst for innovation and sustainable growth. Embracing customer-centric product development propelled them ahead of overseas competitors and established a blueprint for unlocking new levels of market success.
Welcome Armen.

How a Remarkable Legacy Ignites Customer-Centric Product Innovation

Armen, I know from personal experience that sustaining a family legacy in a highly competitive, mature industry requires more than tradition. It demands strategic leadership and the courage to adapt expertise to evolving customer needs.
Legacy can be either a constraint or a springboard. We have found that the companies that thrive are those that use their history as a foundation for reinvention, not as an excuse for inertia. I believe the future belongs to organizations willing to leverage their deep expertise while reimagining what’s possible for their customers. It’s less about discarding the past and more about building on it to create new value and differentiation. ARTO’s journey is a prime example of how honoring legacy means using that legacy to fuel innovation and growth. From a governance perspective, this balance between continuity and change is often a central board conversation. Armen, how have you and your brother balanced honoring your father’s legacy with the need to innovate and adapt ARTO for today’s market?

My father, Arto, was both a maker and a merchant. He crafted products based on what he knew customers already liked or what he anticipated they would appreciate once they saw them. He was inherently adaptable. Because we always keep the customer in mind and often work with limited resources, my brother and I view innovation not just as a way to honor our father’s legacy, but as the method for staying relevant to our customers.

Epic Customer Challenges Spark Breakthrough Market Growth

In our work, we’ve found that engaging customers early, especially those with demanding requirements, dramatically increases the odds of developing products that succeed in the market. We have used customer scenarios to reveal gaps and opportunities that internal teams may overlook. They provide a valuable real-world perspective that moves product development from guesswork to grounded innovation.
When companies are willing to take on challenging projects, they transform these customers into partners for co-creation. This accelerates learning, validation, and confidence in future investments.

At ARTO, this willingness to tackle the “hard jobs” did more than bring in premium business. It created a pipeline for new, validated products that could be brought to market faster and with greater certainty. From a leadership standpoint, this approach replaces random acts of innovation with deliberate experimentation anchored in customer reality. Can you share a story where working with a particularly challenging project for a customer led to a breakthrough product or a new market opportunity for ARTO?

To be clear, it wasn’t the customers’ personalities that were challenging, but the technical demands of the work itself. Two projects stand out: Fertitta Hall at USC and the Belle Isle Library in Oklahoma. Both required very specific custom colors—a precise “USC Red” and a unique palette for the library. While we continue to offer those custom colors today, the real breakthrough was internal. These high-stakes projects forced us to develop new, streamlined procedures for color matching and production. Those processes now allow us to serve all our customers with much greater ease.

Isn’t it illuminating that it is our difficult customers who often have the clearest vision of what’s missing in the market? And that by listening to them, understanding their market requirements, and leveraging their real-world scenarios, you can turn custom work into a proving ground for future bestsellers.

Customer-Centric Engagement is a Powerful Ingredient for Market Success

It seems true that the most customer-centric companies are the ones willing to invest in understanding what their customers buy, where they spend their time, how they make decisions, and what truly matters to them.
Armen, I know you share our philosophy about the importance of personal outreach, whether through events, video, or direct email. Personal outreach builds trust, opens dialogue, and uncovers unmet needs that can fuel innovation. From a strategic perspective, this kind of engagement turns customer interaction into an intelligence system rather than a transactional function. What impact did your personal outreach efforts have on customer loyalty and product innovation? How did you structure these communications to maximize insight and trust?

The outreach created a real connection through me. I worry sometimes it should be about the brand and not the CEO, but at the end of the day, people want to buy from people, not a logo. It made ARTO real. At trade shows, people recognized us. It gave us some “celebrity” that opened doors with suppliers. With existing customers, it lets us get deep. We’d talk about the struggles of being an employer or just being fellow travelers on the earth. It turned a transaction into a real relationship.

When companies move beyond basic customer service and proactively engage customers, they uncover insights competitors miss. It’s about being present in the moments that matter, asking the right questions, and listening deeply. ARTO’s decision to launch weekly personal videos and emails wasn’t just a marketing tactic. It was a strategic move to build authentic connections and replace transactional interactions with partnerships. How did you ensure these efforts stayed focused and didn’t become another set of random acts of engagement?

These are not random marketing tactics. In my emails and videos, I share the good, the bad, and the ugly. I don’t just talk about the business. I make it personal. Trust is not simply something you can convey in a standard corporate email. The beauty of this approach is that I often get direct and immediate feedback, which provides valuable insights and market intelligence.

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Gain a Strong Competitive Advantage with Exceptional Market Intelligence

Market leaders don’t simply react to trends. They shape them by listening closely to customers and systematically gathering market and competitive intelligence from the field. Scenario planning based on real customer data allows companies to anticipate shifts and leapfrog competitors, particularly in industries where overseas suppliers compete aggressively on price. Boards often ask, “How do we know what’s coming next?” This is one of the most reliable answers. How do you and your team identify and act on market trends before your competitors?

It’s like a perpetual motion machine. Once people know we solve problems, they bring us more problems. We don’t guess at trends; we look for patterns in what people are asking for. If a customer brings us a problem that is just plain cool, we might take it to market immediately. Other times, we wait until we see the same “non-standard” request pop up multiple times. When that happens, we know it’s a trend, and we turn that custom solution into a standard product.

Competitive intelligence tracks what others do so we can understand where the market is headed and position our organization to lead, not follow. By regularly engaging with customers and mapping market scenarios, companies like ARTO can spot opportunities and threats early, turning information into a competitive advantage. What tools or processes have proven most effective in gaining insight into competitors?

To be honest, it sometimes feels like we are following, but we track competitors at trade shows and listen to what customers are asking for. A lot of times, we spot a trend because a “market leader” has a great idea but fails in execution. The customer comes to us because the originator can’t actually deliver. We don’t just follow the trend; we step in to solve the problem the other guys created.

Two Valuable Measures of Success for Customer-Led Innovation

From our perspective, the most successful innovations are rooted in a deep understanding of customer and market requirements, not just internal brainstorming. Research shows that companies that effectively leverage customer feedback are 30-50% more likely to develop successful products. Measuring engagement, time-to-market, and adoption rates ensures innovation delivers business value, not just activity. When companies involve customers in the product development process, they accelerate validation and build products that are more likely to succeed in the real world. What metrics or signals do you rely on to validate new products before scaling?

A product is ready for prime time when it’s actually out in the field. Depending on the situation, the testing might be rigorous over a long period, or it might be quick if the product is going into a low-friction, low-touch location. If we need to get it to market faster, we’ll use ASTM or ANSI testing to validate it and move forward.

And companies that continuously test, learn, and iterate see significant sales boosts, with examples including a 50% net sales per employee increase from continuous training, a 28% revenue jump from standardized sales processes, and 7-20% productivity/revenue gains. Innovation metrics should go beyond the number of ideas generated. By tracking customer engagement, pilot success rates, and market adoption, you ensure that your innovation pipeline delivers tangible results. The best organizations make learning loops part of their DNA: test, measure, refine, repeat. How do you measure the ROI of customer co-creation at ARTO, and how do those insights inform future investment decisions?

I look at ROI through a few lenses: top-line sales and market share. Eventually, the CFO tells me if we’re actually making money. Every product has to pass two tests: Does it help me make payroll this Friday, and does it help ARTO become a 100-year brand? That balance between surviving today and building a legacy is just human nature.

Take a Customer-Led Growth Strategy to Improve Your Competitive Advantage

I love these two tests! Market leaders implement processes that drive those outcomes, such as customer engagement, product validation, and innovation velocity. Companies that continually learn from their customers and adapt their approach are those that sustain growth, even in crowded markets. Differentiation is possible when organizations relentlessly focus on customer collaboration and learning from every engagement. In my experience, the most resilient organizations treat every customer interaction as a learning opportunity. They don’t shy away from tough feedback. They seek it out. From a board and leadership perspective, this requires discipline, patience, and a willingness to invest ahead of certainty. Armen, as we wrap up, what advice would you give to other business leaders facing intense competition, especially those tempted to compete on price alone?

My advice for CEOs is to get on the ground, meet the customer, and get involved. If you’re already doing that, the answer isn’t necessarily to do more of it, but to do it better. Always go back to the two lenses: paying the bills today and building the business for 100 years. Price is often not the real issue; focus on the margin. If you have to shrink the business to survive, then do it, but protect that margin at all costs

Thank you, Armen, for sharing ARTO’s journey, which shows the future belongs to those who listen deeply, act boldly, and measure relentlessly. Turning adversity into innovation and customers into collaborators is the foundation for sustainable growth and market leadership. For leaders and board members listening, this episode is a reminder that the strongest differentiation is built not through random acts of innovation, but through a disciplined, customer-led growth strategy.
If you’re ready to move from reactive innovation to a deliberate, customer-driven growth strategy, we invite you to explore how we help leadership teams turn customer insight into measurable market advantage.

FAQ:

(written by Penn of Sintra.ai)

Q1: What is customer-led product development, and why is it important for market growth?
A: Customer-led product development is a strategy that actively involves customers in shaping and refining products. This approach uncovers unmet needs, accelerates innovation, and reduces risk. Companies that leverage customer feedback are up to 50% more likely to develop successful products, fueling measurable market growth.

Q2: How can engaging customers with challenging needs drive innovation?
A: Customers with challenging needs often highlight unique problems and unmet opportunities. Collaborating with these customers turns challenges into co-creation opportunities, resulting in validated products, streamlined processes, and a strong foundation for future innovation.

Q3: What metrics should organizations use to measure the success of customer-led product development?
A: Key metrics include customer engagement, time-to-market, product adoption rates, and return on investment (ROI). Tracking these metrics ensures that customer-driven innovation delivers business value and supports sustainable growth.

Q4: How can personal outreach enhance customer insight and product innovation?
A: Personal outreach—through direct conversations, video, or events—builds trust and uncovers valuable insights. This engagement transforms customer interactions from transactional exchanges into strategic intelligence, fueling more relevant and successful product development.

Q5: What is the role of leadership in customer-driven product development?
A: Leadership sets the tone for a customer-centric culture by prioritizing listening, learning, and adapting based on customer input. Strategic leaders ensure that customer insights are embedded in decision-making and that innovation is anchored in real-world needs.

Q6: What are common challenges in collaborating with customers on product development, and how can they be overcome?
A: Challenges include aligning expectations, managing diverse feedback, and maintaining focus. Success comes from structured engagement, clear communication, and a disciplined process for evaluating and implementing customer insights.

Q7: How can organizations balance legacy and innovation in mature industries?
A: Organizations can honor their legacy by leveraging deep expertise and established relationships while remaining open to change. The most successful companies use their history as a foundation for reinvention, embracing customer-led innovation to drive new value and differentiation.