It’s 9:15 on a busy morning.
Your phone rings.
One of your best customers is calling. They need a few items for a job that’s moving today. They need to know what you have, what it costs, and how quickly they can get it.
It sounds simple.
But now the clock starts.
Someone needs to check availability. Someone needs to confirm pricing. Maybe the product isn't where everyone expected it to be. Maybe the supplier needs to be contacted. Maybe there’s a question about an alternative product.
Ten minutes can go by surprisingly fast.
And from the customer's perspective, those ten minutes can make the difference between getting the order from you—or calling the next supply house.
That’s why it’s worth asking a simple question:
If your best customer called right now, how quickly could your team give them a useful answer?
This is the 10-Minute Test.
It isn't really about whether you can process an order in ten minutes. It’s about how prepared your supply house is to respond when your customers need you most.
The First 10 Minutes Tell Your Customer a Lot
Contractors and other professional customers don't always expect an immediate solution to every problem.
What they do expect is an answer.
If they call asking whether something is available, they don't want to hear, “Let me check,” and then wait indefinitely.
If they send a PO, they want to know it was received.
If something isn't available, they want to know what the options are.
If they have a question about a product, they want to talk to someone who can actually help.
The first few minutes of an interaction communicate something bigger than the answer itself.
They tell the customer:
Are you paying attention?
Can I count on you?
Will you make this easier or harder?
That's especially important for supply houses because your customers are often working against a schedule. A delayed answer doesn't necessarily mean the customer simply waits. It can mean a delayed delivery, a delayed crew, or a job that doesn't move forward as planned.
Your customer may never tell you that the ten-minute delay cost them an hour.
They may simply call someone else next time.
Test #1: Can You Answer the Availability Question?
Start with the most basic question:
“Do you have it?”
How long does it take your team to answer?
If the answer requires checking multiple systems, walking around the warehouse, calling another person, or contacting a supplier, that's not automatically a problem.
The problem is when nobody knows who is responsible for finding the answer.
A strong supply-house operation doesn't necessarily have every answer immediately.
It has a clear path to getting the answer.
That distinction matters.
Your team should know how to quickly determine:
- Whether the item is currently available
- How much is available
- Whether additional inventory is expected
- Whether another comparable option exists
- Whether the order can ship immediately
- Whether the customer should consider ordering something else
The goal isn't perfection.
The goal is momentum.
Test #2: What Happens When You Don't Have It?
This might be the more important test.
Every supply house will eventually hear:
“Do you have this?”
And the answer will sometimes be no.
That's normal.
What happens next is what matters.
A simple “No, we're out” ends the conversation.
A better response might be:
“We're out of that one, but let me see what we can get you instead.”
That small difference changes the interaction from a dead end into problem solving.
Customers don't necessarily need the exact product they originally asked for. Sometimes they need a product that will do the job, an alternative brand, a different size, or a solution that can get them through the day.
Your team's ability to think beyond the SKU can become one of your biggest competitive advantages.
This is where supplier relationships matter, too.
A responsive supplier can help your team turn:
“We don't have it.”
into:
“Here's what we can do.”
Test #3: How Fast Does a PO Move?
Now look at what happens after the customer says:
“Send it.”
How quickly does that order move?
The customer may assume the process is straightforward:
PO comes in → order is confirmed → order is pulled → order ships.
But every extra handoff creates another opportunity for something to slow down.
Ask your team:
- How quickly do we acknowledge incoming POs?
- Who verifies pricing?
- Who checks availability?
- Who communicates issues?
- How quickly does the warehouse receive the order?
- Can an order received early enough ship the same day?
- Does the customer know what's happening?
You don't necessarily need to redesign your entire operation.
Sometimes the biggest improvement comes from simply identifying where those minutes disappear.
Test #4: Can Your Supplier Keep Up With You?
Your supply house can have an excellent team and still struggle if its suppliers are difficult to work with.
Think about the last time you needed an answer quickly.
Did you have to leave multiple messages?
Did you have to navigate an automated system?
Did you have to wait hours for someone to respond?
Or could you simply reach a real person who understood what you needed?
Your suppliers become part of your customer-service experience whether you want them to or not.
When your customer needs an answer, you need a supplier that can help you get one.
That doesn't mean every supplier needs to be perfect.
It means your supplier relationships should support the way you want to serve your customers.
Test #5: What Does Your Customer Experience After the Order?
The 10-minute test doesn't end when the order is placed.
Think about what happens afterward.
Does the customer receive confirmation?
Do they know when the order is shipping?
Can they easily check what they ordered?
Can they reorder items without starting from scratch?
Can they reach someone if they have a question?
These details might seem small.
Collectively, they're what makes doing business with a supply house easy—or frustrating.
And easy is an underrated competitive advantage.
When customers are busy, they remember the suppliers who don't make them work unnecessarily hard.
The Goal Isn't to Be the Biggest. It's to Be the Easiest.
Supply houses compete on many things.
Price matters.
Availability matters.
Selection matters.
But service can be the difference between being another supplier and becoming the supplier a customer calls first.
The best customer experience isn't necessarily the one with the most complicated technology or the biggest warehouse.
Sometimes it's simply:
“Yes, let me check.”
“I've got an answer for you.”
“We can ship that today.”
“We're out of that one, but here's another option.”
“I received your PO.”
“I'll take care of it.”
Those statements don't sound revolutionary.
But when they're backed up by a team and a supply chain that can actually deliver on them, they become powerful.
Run the 10-Minute Test at Your Supply House
Here's a simple exercise you can run with your team.
Pick a realistic customer request.
Give your team ten minutes.
Ask them to handle the request from beginning to end.
Start with something like:
“I need these items for a job today. What do you have, what will it cost, and how quickly can I get them?”
Then watch what happens.
Don't coach them through it.
Don't fix problems as they happen.
Just observe.
Where does the process slow down?
Who has to be contacted?
What information is difficult to find?
Where does someone have to stop and wait?
What happens when one requested item isn't available?
And most importantly:
How would the customer feel during those ten minutes?
You may discover that your team is incredibly fast.
You may also discover a few places where five minutes here and ten minutes there are quietly adding friction to your customer experience.
Both outcomes are valuable.
Because once you can see the problem, you can improve it.
Your Customers Remember How Easy You Made Their Day
A supply house doesn't have to win every order because it has the lowest price.
It doesn't have to have every product sitting on the shelf.
But it should make an effort to be the place customers know they can call when they need an answer.
That's what great distribution looks like.
It's not just moving products from a warehouse to a jobsite.
It's helping your customer keep their business moving.
At LTW Supply, that's the kind of supplier relationship we believe in. We're here to make the process easier—from finding the right products and getting answers to handling POs and getting orders moving quickly.
Because when your customer calls and says, “I need it,” the best answer isn't just “We sell it.”
It's “Let us take care of it.”
Ready to make your supply chain a little easier?
Get in touch with LTW Supply and see what working with a responsive, service-focused supplier can look like.