The Customer Preference Tetrahedron

In fire safety there is something called the Fire Tetrahedron. It’s basically all the components of a fire which you can knock out to extinguish the fire. Here at StokedWallet we’re all about that FIRE (Financial Independence & Retirement Early), so I took a second look at the tetrahedron in regards to business. People often say you can only pick two good, fast, or cheap. I’d argue this only applies in a less developed market. Taco Bell is cheap and debatably fast, but it isn’t good; however Zappos is fast, cheap, and good which is why customers who can tolerate shopping for shoes online (I can’t) is the unicorn company which can do all three. Balancing the three is a real challenge because when you offer customers this much value you may suffer in servicing them quickly especially in this current just-in-time logistics nightmare permeating the entire supply chain. Each triangle in the tetrahedron deserves it’s own special attention to make sure it stays in parity with the other two components and keeps customer satisfaction. With enough attention and work we can exceed customer expectations and all become the Zappos of our respective industries.