Bill Canady explains why time spent on your bottom 20-25% of customers isn't free capacity. A manager spending 30% of her week on a low-value account is 30% occupied. Before adding work, ask your team what percentage of productive time goes to those bottom customers, then free that time first or face burnout and flat profit margins.
3, occupied is not available. A manager spending 30% of her week on a bottom quartile account is not 30% available to you. She's 30% occupied, and that capacity does not come free until someone, most likely you, makes a decision that releases it. Free it first, then reallocate. Otherwise, you'll burn folks out. And the one question which costs you nothing and 11 minutes, What percentage of your function's productive time in a typical week is consumed by activities related to the bottom 20% of customers? Ask it this week. Write the numbers down. When the numbers, when the lowest answer in your room comes back at 18%, you'll understand why your leadership team is exhausted and your EBITDA is flat at the same time. These 2 facts will finally be the same fact. Luck is the residual to design. This is where you find out what you designed. All right.
