You have a hairstylist. In order for you to get a haircut, you need to book ahead a week or two, and there are very few available times outside of work hours. They have a long waitlist and a 24 hour cancellation policy, which is very irritating to you. However, they make haircuts you are usually very happy with so you go when you can.

When you can’t—because your schedule clashes with the hairstylist’s—you go to a different hairstylist. They need more instruction from you, and a detail usually gets lost in the communication process. Or you give a bad instruction that you didn’t mean. Usually your haircut is shorter than you would like, and you often find yourself mildly surprised. However they don’t do an awful job, and they are available for walk ins, and that flexibility is their advantage. They also charge almost just half what the other hairstylist does.

You keep going back to the first hairstylist because they do a good job with your hair. You put up with the scheduling even though it’s irritating. You’ll recommend it when friends ask.

You go back to the second hairstylist when the first is not available. But if they started doing a better job, maybe you’d go back more often. But then they’d have a waitlist, and they wouldn’t be so flexible, so then again—maybe you wouldn’t.

Which choice do your customers see you as?