Advertising and capacity

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This is my third writing on a row to address the issue of advertising as it is core to the growth of a business. The first was the issue of wrong advertising, see here. The second was concerned about feeding the same audience, also see here. In the course of writing the last part, another question came up (concerning capacity and I feel the need to address it.

As an entrepreneur, you may do the first and the second right and finally miss this third. The risk here is always business reputation and a declining customer confidence and it's something one should not take lightly. Capacity here entails timely delivery which is of utmost importance. The first thing to understand that every contract you hit has a delivery date and it is even more important than a single delivery.

Let's take for instance in the business of clothing, a customer gave you a cloth to sew for him that he is having an occasion in a week time and you failed to deliver. The customer may look for other clothes to wear and perhaps come to get the other one later. Some may even reject the clothes for you demanding financial compensation.

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Reputation has been affected big time although the compensation may not be a big loss to the company.

This story changes with the issue of having a contract to deliver. The reputation decline will be big and so also will be the compensation. What if it was a contract that hit huge thousands in cost and you could not deliver it on the D-day. Let's say it was to be used for a single occasion with no value after that day. Of course you wouldn't want to be such a victim because even the entrepreneur stands the chance of facing an arrest or being sued as the case may be.

This is something I have had to recheck as we are about to hit the big road. To whom much is given, much also will be expected. The issue of capacity is something I always discuss with my co-partner many times. What can we deliver on a daily basis? Can we go further than this and if yes, how?. A business with the needed capacity has a hedge. This is even the reason why many small businesses cannot grow.

Take for instance, if you can deliver your service at 2 hours minimum. It means if you are working 10 hrs daily, the most you can make is $100 should your service be worth $20 dollars. You know a big company beats these odds by making five to six figures daily. They have the workforce and the advanced machines to make work much easier. Most of such companies operate 24/hrs. They are always ready.

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We have to operate this way, 'being always ready'. Yes, there is still a long way to go but we have to be up and running. It will take continuous practice to become better. I have to recruit workers with the right mindset who know what we are after. I could remember when I told one of our customers that we are now into those bulk work delivery. His response was, 'can you deliver so and so quantity at a day or let's say a week?'. A very big question.

I guess this will be left for time to do justice. One of the ways of making this know to them will be by posting the big works we've done and delivered on time. It is just like when a vacancy is raised and the requirement is some years of experience. Before something huge is devoted to you, you will have to show some workings. It is very normal I must say, no one wants to risk his money on a place that may end up frustrating his intentions.

To conclude, let me add, advertising is one big sector. There are many things to consider in the process and one of the later big ones is the ability to deliver what you have been bragging about. I told my brother, it is the capacity of the stadium light that makes it possible for people to play a match at night. Your room light will do nothing to that, this boils down to capacity.

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