Keeping your customers waiting may prove a good business strategy

The received wisdom in business is that individuals want what they want when they want it, and if you do not supply them they will go elsewhere. This really is true in 99 percent of cases - most people will move on instead of wait.

There may be a case, though, for developing a unique selling proposition according to having a long waiting list. Some restaurants do this (Rick Stein springs to mind) and some hotels.

This works if you have something that nobody else has - a distinctive design, an upmarket restaurant, or (of course) the only hotel inside the Alhambra Palace in Granada.

The Morgan Motor Business is really a tiny automobile manufacturer based in Malvern, Worcestershire.

The business makes sports cars with a distinct retro really feel - the flagship automobile, the 4/4, has been manufactured since 1936 (even though it has obviously been modified and updated many times in the intervening years). It's, with out a doubt, the car's looks that sell it.

Morgan maintain a waiting list of around two years for the 4/4: the automobile sells, new, for around £27,000 (a extremely reasonable cost for a hand-built sports car), but one that is immediately accessible would fetch about £32,000.

In other words, someone who agrees to purchase a Morgan can sell it the day following delivery for £5,000 more than the manufacturer's cost.

At first sight, this seems crazy - if the factory simply produced sufficient to meet demand, they could charge an additional £5,000 per car. Making individuals wait, though, gives the Morgan its distinctive selling proposition - Morgans don't depreciate.

All other vehicles lose value as soon as they leave the showroom, but a reasonably maintained Morgan will fetch at least its price when new, and sometimes more: Morgans from the 1930s sell for around £8,000, much more than they cost in the time. This provides the business something that no other motor manufacturer has - a product that is an investment.

This only works if you have a clear and definite advantage more than competitors already. The wait needs to be lengthy enough to excite the customers, not so lengthy that they give up. The product or service should be upmarket and prestigious. You are relying on conspicuousness - individuals need to have the ability to show off their new acquisition to their friends.

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Keeping your customers waiting may prove a good business strategy

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