This question was posed because, as many of you know, if you are running a business, sometimes business is booming at the wrong time. Family life gets busy, school gets busy, but you have to find a way to manage your business with all that going on. This question was posed to get you thinking about how to buy yourself some time in certain instances. It is about setting your priorities. If you get ten orders all at once, which ones will you fill first? The way to figure it out, is to take the information you have, and work with that, to make a determination. There was no “right” answer, because in business, everyone does business differently.
But, my answer might give you some ideas about what order I was looking for, and the reasons why:
Susan, first. The reasons why as follows:
- She is a new customer, and you have one chance to make a first impression.
- She needs the holster for a specific purpose and event in the near future (end of the week).
- She was referred by a friend, and if you make her happy, the friend just might send others to you in the future. No guarantees, but you never know.
I would send to John second because:
- Long time customer means you already “sold” him on the product, so no first impression to be made.
- He is “understanding” and likely would be okay with a slight delay. Yet, you want to treat him well, because that may be the reason he kept coming back in the first place.
- He wants the holster for an outfit he has not even bought yet…but he has plans to buy it at some point…unknown. It could be sooner…or later, you just have no idea at this time.
- But, unlike Mike, he is a paying customer, who has also been a long time customer.
I would send to Mike last, because:
- You are backlogged with orders and you have more business than you can handle at this point. No need to rush to get even more referrals, although they are always nice.
- He is not a paying customer, the holster will be given for free
- You are not profiting directly from making this holster…so it can wait.
- Mike can still refer people, as he has been doing just fine with that, without the free holster (you are backlogged), so it’s okay to get it to him when you can.
- Mike has been good to you, but no indication he wants it for his own personal use.
Those who put Mike second seemed, in my opinion, to rely too heavily on John’s loyalty. John is a long time customer and understanding, but for those same reasons, I was not convinced that he is the guy we should put “last.” I think it is okay to rely on his loyalty somewhat, but he has to consistently be treated well to expect that loyalty to continue. I thought the better balance was to put him second. You can rely on his loyalty somewhat, but one hand washes the other. Take care of John, and he will take care of you.
You were never given any information about what this character Mike is getting out of the deal. So, for all you know, Mike could just decide to stop referring people at any time. He seems to have no interest in holsters other than referring people who are looking for one. Do we want to put this character who has been helpful, but may not have any incentive to stick around in the future…ahead of loyal long time customer, John? I don’t know. Different strokes I guess.
Food for thought.
Another point to be raised is that, in a real life scenario, you may call John and ask him when he will be buying the outfit. Business etiquette gives us 48 hours to return a call, so you may not hear back from John in time, and you have to make a decision with the information you already have in front of you. In this hypothetical you were backlogged and busy and needed to get moving. That is why when someone asked me in the thread, for additional information, I did not give any. In real life, you may not get the answers to questions that might have helped you make a better decision. People in business are making these decisions all the time. When you use that contact link to ask YYE a question, I would guess that someone’s mind has to compute how soon an answer is required, relative to other messages that they have come in. It does not mean anyone is less important, it just means that certain questions are more time sensitive and directly related to making a sale, while others…not so much. Other questions can wait a few hours to get to.
Hypothetical #1 scored, in order of best answer:
Abby: 12 pts
Bcmaddog 10 pts
StringKing 8 pts
Slimjoe 8 pts
Legyoyo 6 pts
Stringking and Slimjoe write more like me, Abby and BC are thinking more like me, and Legyoyo makes holders like me. We all have too much in common I think. Haha. Abby got the top spot, because look at how closely her answer resembles mine. BC put them in the same order, but gave less reasoning than Abby. Stringking and Slimjoe gave perfectly good answers to the question, and they gave reasons for taking their action, I just thought they did not weigh the issue of you being “back logged” as much, and relied a bit much on John’s understanding and loyalty. Legyoyo I could tell was not used to the hypothetical format, but I think he’s on board now. He did not order Mike, John and Susan. He has a chance to catch up in other questions. It’s still anyone’s game.
I appreciate the professional, well written responses of both StringKing and Slimjoe. I am very impressed. I cannot consider it for scoring due to the spectrum of ages in here, but it has been noted, and is appreciated. Great job by everyone on Hypothetical Question #1. Next question posted this evening. This is open for discussion in the meantime, if you like.
Feel free to continue discussing the first question though.
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