Our tired, vacationing family once walked out of a Wendy’s because they were filling that must have been huge (there were three x-large sacks on the counter already). As we left, my wife doing all the fuming and me wondering exactly what Big Picture Guy was in his post The Wendy’s Queuing Conundrum–was this a profitable customer, or high cost in lost sales? BPG and his CFO, General Ledger, debated the issue:
“General suggested that the man in the short line had a large order and, while this slowed things down, he was likely a most profitable customer. I countered that his order might simply be the most complex, most difficult to fill and, as such, possibly the least profitable.”
We recently had this problem in our business. One of our major clients very suddenly ordered a huge amount (1/3 of our annual production, I think) of our entry-level model. While they were accomodating in the delivery schedule, we still had to extend our lead time for other clients. Now we are potentially losing sales to a number of small clients for whom this product is targeted due. But they got to the head of the line and ordered as many hamburgers as they wanted, with the toppings they like.
Read the BigPictureSmallOffice.com: The Wendy’s Queuing Conundrum