Bill CanadyCEO & Founder, The 80/20 Institute · Be a Great CEO: Learn how to Fix it, Grow it, & Sell it.

Stop Using Averages! The Hidden Costs of Customer Service Revealed #shorts

26 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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0:34

Bill Canady shows how averages hide the real cost of serving customers. Two customers with identical revenue look equally profitable until you account for one ordering in bulk with few support calls versus the other ordering singles, changing orders constantly, and paying 80 days late. The second customer actually costs far more to serve.

Chapters

Do it in the wrong order and you'll see a strategy on top of some averages that got you here. And there's a version of this that costs you even when nothing goes wrong. 2 customers, same revenue, same product, same price. One orders 12 times a year in full pallets and pays in 30 days. The other orders 140 times a year in singles, calls before each one, changes half of them after they're released, and pays in 80. Your P&L charges both of them the same cost of goods and the same allocated overhead, because that's what allocation does.