Great article, Jacob! Can attest to witnessing the results of yours/LW team’s outperformance of service provider timelines many times.
Other things I might add (having done these myself): 1. Find about the current status for each of the steps in their respective staffing and inventory logistics / system. You might find out the specific bottleneck in their fulfillment process and work together to solve directly for that. For example, the solution for #12, the issue could be the drivers / fleet are not available on their routes (presumably always predetermined) and you just offer to use a private courier/pay their on-site staff overtime if it’s going to be picked outside of business hours.
2. Continuing on point #6: Escalating to someone beyond the first person with customer service (the mgr/supervisor typically has more institutional knowledge about the company and decision making power to perform workarounds like tip #13 here). 2b. If you’re able to get a hold of a manager, you can sprinkle in that you’d go to a competing brand—potentially even name drop them (eg: I’ve said “LG” to Dell for expediting a monitor purchase). They’re incentives are lined up to fulfill your order for business and you can leverage one’s loss aversion.
There’s bit of tact/grace required here to prevent things becoming adversarial: By doubling down on your state of duress for urgency/delivery (even being apologetic about it), you can claim that you prefer their brand/products but would have to go with a competitor that offers a similar model in the timescale you want.
3. “Sleight of Hand” styled-tip: Some manufacturers have many retail partners that they sell to. These are usually private/small businesses that advertise the same model/unit under a different label and customized SKU # such that querying for either of these two (also things I do) wouldn’t return in your local options. They might be able to give you the names of store partners (browse online catalog / just call them).
4. Start with bigger brands/companies first. Bigger companies/brands are more likely to have retail partners or the fixed assets to support expedites (eg: real estate and OpEx for distribution centers). Since they’re a larger organization, the tradeoff is to expect to deploy more communication strategies to escalate through call respondents until you get to the decision maker or person that is in a position to help you in real-time.
I’ve personally seen the most variance on the manufacturing step. Making the thing is usually a lot more variable than delivering it. A model that is only made-to-order for a brand (often smaller/luxury businesses) where the model is produced overseas is kind of a hopeless gambit to get to your doorstep quicker.
Overall excellent writeup! Identifying bottlenecks is something I will consider in the future. I disagree with method 2b.) because, by my best estimate, it’s a tactic that has the most effect on two types of managers whom both already want to complete your order if possible: manager A that will be unduly stressed by the sales loss, and manager B that are not stressed by it at all but see the sale as an easy way to make money personally. For manager A, the stress that makes loss aversion so effective may come from anywhere, whether it’s a tight performance goals that determine their continued employment, desire to maintain their organization’s reputation, or general pride in their work and desire to help. Manager A already cares whether you can get your product and will likely work with you if you explain why the order is particularly urgent (read: more urgent than everyone else’s urgency, because we’re all in a hurry). I consider reducing stress & suffering for people an axiom, so I don’t want to add the additional pressure of loss aversion even in very urgent situations.
Meanwhile, there is also Manager B whom really wants the sale but doesn’t care about satisfying you personally. If pressed, Manager B is willing to deliberately cut corners on the product (which may result in a loss of quality exceeding an acceptable margin) and is also liable to push employees to work unpaid overtime, cancel pre-existing plans, or other stressful conditions which can have a significantly negative effect on the employee’s mental health. Even setting aside the increased stress and health concerns with Manager A and B, those of us reading this forum should be very aware that leveraging loss aversion results in more poorly calculated decisions than if we rationally work out a fulfilment plan collaboratively! If you’re in a hurry, you have even less room for pure calculation errors!
Note 1: you will also often encounter some good ol’ Manager Cs that don’t particularly care whether the sale is lost or not.
Note 2: these people aren’t theoretical. I have worked for many Manager As and 2 Manager Bs that have been in this exact situation, though notably I stayed employed with Manager As for significantly longer. I’m sure you can make a reasonable guess why! One of my family members is also a Manager A that regularly works out sales contracts for expedited airplane work, to the point that she’s developed a standardized process for her organization. You certainly don’t need to apply emotional pressure or other confidence tactics to convince her to help!
I’m very curious what type of data set led you to advice 4, since my own observations and every anecdote I have gathered have strongly reinforced the generalization of small distributors being more reliable for expedited orders.
Great article, Jacob! Can attest to witnessing the results of yours/LW team’s outperformance of service provider timelines many times.
Other things I might add (having done these myself):
1. Find about the current status for each of the steps in their respective staffing and inventory logistics / system. You might find out the specific bottleneck in their fulfillment process and work together to solve directly for that. For example, the solution for #12, the issue could be the drivers / fleet are not available on their routes (presumably always predetermined) and you just offer to use a private courier/pay their on-site staff overtime if it’s going to be picked outside of business hours.
2. Continuing on point #6: Escalating to someone beyond the first person with customer service (the mgr/supervisor typically has more institutional knowledge about the company and decision making power to perform workarounds like tip #13 here).
2b. If you’re able to get a hold of a manager, you can sprinkle in that you’d go to a competing brand—potentially even name drop them (eg: I’ve said “LG” to Dell for expediting a monitor purchase). They’re incentives are lined up to fulfill your order for business and you can leverage one’s loss aversion.
There’s bit of tact/grace required here to prevent things becoming adversarial: By doubling down on your state of duress for urgency/delivery (even being apologetic about it), you can claim that you prefer their brand/products but would have to go with a competitor that offers a similar model in the timescale you want.
3. “Sleight of Hand” styled-tip: Some manufacturers have many retail partners that they sell to. These are usually private/small businesses that advertise the same model/unit under a different label and customized SKU # such that querying for either of these two (also things I do) wouldn’t return in your local options. They might be able to give you the names of store partners (browse online catalog / just call them).
4. Start with bigger brands/companies first. Bigger companies/brands are more likely to have retail partners or the fixed assets to support expedites (eg: real estate and OpEx for distribution centers). Since they’re a larger organization, the tradeoff is to expect to deploy more communication strategies to escalate through call respondents until you get to the decision maker or person that is in a position to help you in real-time.
I’ve personally seen the most variance on the manufacturing step. Making the thing is usually a lot more variable than delivering it. A model that is only made-to-order for a brand (often smaller/luxury businesses) where the model is produced overseas is kind of a hopeless gambit to get to your doorstep quicker.
Overall excellent writeup! Identifying bottlenecks is something I will consider in the future. I disagree with method 2b.) because, by my best estimate, it’s a tactic that has the most effect on two types of managers whom both already want to complete your order if possible: manager A that will be unduly stressed by the sales loss, and manager B that are not stressed by it at all but see the sale as an easy way to make money personally. For manager A, the stress that makes loss aversion so effective may come from anywhere, whether it’s a tight performance goals that determine their continued employment, desire to maintain their organization’s reputation, or general pride in their work and desire to help. Manager A already cares whether you can get your product and will likely work with you if you explain why the order is particularly urgent (read: more urgent than everyone else’s urgency, because we’re all in a hurry). I consider reducing stress & suffering for people an axiom, so I don’t want to add the additional pressure of loss aversion even in very urgent situations.
Meanwhile, there is also Manager B whom really wants the sale but doesn’t care about satisfying you personally. If pressed, Manager B is willing to deliberately cut corners on the product (which may result in a loss of quality exceeding an acceptable margin) and is also liable to push employees to work unpaid overtime, cancel pre-existing plans, or other stressful conditions which can have a significantly negative effect on the employee’s mental health. Even setting aside the increased stress and health concerns with Manager A and B, those of us reading this forum should be very aware that leveraging loss aversion results in more poorly calculated decisions than if we rationally work out a fulfilment plan collaboratively! If you’re in a hurry, you have even less room for pure calculation errors!
Note 1: you will also often encounter some good ol’ Manager Cs that don’t particularly care whether the sale is lost or not.
Note 2: these people aren’t theoretical. I have worked for many Manager As and 2 Manager Bs that have been in this exact situation, though notably I stayed employed with Manager As for significantly longer. I’m sure you can make a reasonable guess why! One of my family members is also a Manager A that regularly works out sales contracts for expedited airplane work, to the point that she’s developed a standardized process for her organization. You certainly don’t need to apply emotional pressure or other confidence tactics to convince her to help!
I’m very curious what type of data set led you to advice 4, since my own observations and every anecdote I have gathered have strongly reinforced the generalization of small distributors being more reliable for expedited orders.
Thanks for sharing these! I can also attest to witnessing you hustle for items fast :) I especially like your point 1