Branch Management for Businesses with 10,000 total customers per day

Welcome to the Optimal Outlet Curve Series. This set of guides is designed to help businesses identify the additional number of outlets they require to meet their present demand simply by looking up a chart (which is provided for each case study).

For this series (#1), we are considering a business with a total of 10,000 customers per day. Most small and medium scale businesses fall into this category. 

These 10,000 customers per day are spread across all geographic regions in which the business may operate, including states, cities and counties. It is the total estimate of people using the business' outlets per day.

[Related Article: How to Determine Your Optimal Number of Business Outlets]
 
Assumptions

The curve provided below can be used to accurately determine how many additional outlets are needed to contain present demand on the basis of an overcapacity ratio and branch capacity.

The overcapacity ratio is an expression of the maximum overload any particular business branch can endure, and is given as 20% for the sake of this case study. This means that we assume that every branch in the business network can take no more than 20% of its designed capacity e.g. an outlet designed to service 100 people per day having a maximum of 120 customers per day.

Branch capacity is simply the design capacity of each branch in the business network. 

To generate the curve, we plot data for an increasing number of saturated outlets (currently existing outlets that are going over capacity) as well as increasing branch capacity, so businesses can select the one that best fits their current situation.

Chart #1: 5 Saturated Outlets  

If your business services no more than 10,000 customers per day and you currently have 5 outlets that are going over capacity, use the chart below to determine how many additional outlets you need to have to meet your present demand simply by selecting the branch capacity that matches your outlets (on the x-axis) and moving it up to touch the curve. Once you touch the curve, read off the corresponding value on the y-axis for your additional number of outlets required.

Chart #2: 10 Saturated Outlets

If your business services no more than 10,000 customers per day and you currently have 10 outlets that are going over capacity, use the chart below to determine how many additional outlets you need to have to meet your present demand simply by selecting the branch capacity that matches your outlets (on the x-axis) and moving it up to touch the curve. Once you touch the curve, read off the corresponding value on the y-axis for your additional number of outlets required.

 

Chart #3: 15 Saturated Outlets  

If your business services no more than 10,000 customers per day and you currently have 15 outlets that are going over capacity, use the chart below to determine how many additional outlets you need to have to meet your present demand simply by selecting the branch capacity that matches your outlets (on the x-axis) and moving it up to touch the curve. Once you touch the curve, read off the corresponding value on the y-axis for your additional number of outlets required.

Chart #4: 20 Saturated Outlets  

If your business services no more than 10,000 customers per day and you currently have 20 outlets that are going over capacity, use the chart below to determine how many additional outlets you need to have to meet your present demand simply by selecting the branch capacity that matches your outlets (on the x-axis) and moving it up to touch the curve. Once you touch the curve, read off the corresponding value on the y-axis for your additional number of outlets required. 

10 Reasons Why Your Small Business or Startup Needs a Blog

Blogging is the rave of the moment – everyone (absolutely everyone) is doing it; from car salesmen to stay-at-home moms and big-time corporate types. If you’re a blogger or writer like me, then you would have noticed how the job boards are filled everyday with adverts for bloggers – people want to blog – all types of businesses. So, why should your small business or startup get involved in blogging? I’ll give you 10 reasons:

Reason #1: Show Yourself and Your Brand to the World

The Internet is the great equalizer of the 21^st century: it provides a platform for anyone and everyone to self-advertize and promote their identity and interests, especially through social media. For businesses, the effect is multiplied in a number of useful dimensions and provides a channel for unconventional and surprisingly effective marketing of products and services.

[Related Article: How to Transform Your Blog to a Thriving Online Community]

Blogging when combined with social media is especially useful in promoting a business in an ‘organic’ way that is very acceptable to the public and generates significant leads and returns. 

This is because you are writing about issues related to your industry, engaging your audience, addressing their issues and concerns, and giving them an outlet to bond with your products and services.

Reason #2: Give People a Reason to Like You and Your Brand

Blogging can be personal and compelling – especially for small businesses. Blogging gives you an avenue to be creative and expressive about your brand, products or services.

By bringing your creativity and the love for what you do to the fore through your blog, you are able to connect with a larger group of people across different age groups, lifestyles, and work classes. 

This exposes your brand to a wider and more dynamic mix of people than you would normally access through conventional marketing – and don’t forget – it’s completely free!

Reason #3: Build an Organic Following for Your Brand through Social Engagement

This point can’t be stressed enough. It’s very important to ensure that your brand has a sizable group of people that actually love it and can help spread that love through word of mouth or by sharing your content to their own social connections.

You can call it a chain effect, similar to how a wildfire spreads. Having a blog can be instrumental to achieving this much needed domino effect.

Reason #4: Allow People to Connect with the Work that You Do

Having a blog can demystify your brand and bring your audience close to you. It makes the people who actually use your products and services feel connected to what you do, and can be a great incentive for building more customer confidence in your products and services.

Reason #5: Let People Appreciate Your Thought Process and What Goes into making Your Products

Sometimes brand values and details about products and services are not communicated in easily-digested forms through conventional marketing and media.

With blogging, there is a ‘grassroots’ approach that really breaks things down to the bare essentials so that anybody can understand and appreciate what is going on with your brand.

Reason #6: Show the World You Enjoy What You Do

When you blog passionately about your industry, your products or your services, you are able to convey that passion to your readers and convince them on a fundamental level that you mean business and they can trust your brand.

Reason #7: Let People Appreciate Your Value System

The quality and values of your brand show in your blogging. It is a unique platform you have to really let people know what you’re all about. It shouldn’t be like the formal, conventional world of corporate culture, rather an informal and social gathering of people with like interests, who want to learn from each other and grow.

Reason #8: Get Vital Feedback from the People Who Use Your Products and Services

Feedback is critical in business – you need to know what you may be doing wrong or what you can fix to make your products or services more effective. With blogging, you can get direct feedback from your actual end-users; valuable material that can help shape your future service or product policy for better results.

Reason #9: Confluence and Grow Your Online Community

In today’s inter-connected world of social media, the importance of having a significant online following cannot be overstated. How would you feel about a company with only 20 followers on Twitter? Hmmm.

And how would you feel about a company with 20,000 followers on Twitter. Ahah! 

So you see, you tend to trust a brand more when other people actually approve of it in one way or another – and that’s why you should get into blogging to try and pull your followers (people interested in your products and services, as well as what you do or your business philosophy) together by creating and sharing great content.

Reason #10: Be Trendy and Competitive

This one’s a no-brainer. What type of business would yours be if everyone else is blogging and you aren’t? 

Blogging is a trend, and consumers have come to expect their brands to have blogs, believe it or not! 


They want to follow up on what you’re doing and learn valuable things from you. Not having a blog can actually hurt your competitiveness. 

Roundup – How to Get Started with Blogging

Wow! We’ve just gone through a long list of why you should have a blog for your small business or startup – and I’m sure by now you agree you should have one.

Getting your own blog is not a big deal – talk to your website administrator or consult with a specialist to design and setup a blog for you. 


It’s a very easy and affordable process – sometimes free if all the requirements are available. Ask about integrating a WordPress blog with your current site, for example, or if any other options are available.

Once your blog is up and running, you need one more thing – content. This is actually the most important thing. Since blogs need to be updated regularly and you may not always have time to write and post content, it is normal to hire a freelance blogger who will create high quality and correctly themed and focused blog posts for you and actually do the posting if required.

These freelance bloggers are paid hourly or per article, whichever works best for you. And that’s that!

P/S: I’m a freelance blogger too, and if you ever need one, I’m very much available for hire!

Thanks for reading! As always please provide any questions or comments below!