Ok, evidently Popeye’s has a GREAT chicken sandwich…I’m good with that.

There’s been a ton of press on whether it might be as good as a certain hero product I know and love. It’s been such a meme-worthy phenomenon that even my pastor used it as a message illustration this week.

But here’s the problem. I took my family after lunch to see for ourselves how this sandwich was (it’s fun when research for your job is to eat at a restaurant!). But they were out of sandwiches. This is the second time this week I’ve heard of this.

It’s great when you have a product everybody wants. It’s terrible when you don’t have it when the customer wants it. I’m not saying this to throw shade on a competitor (ok, maybe a little), but the bigger point is that there are so many things that have to go right for any company to have a success:

You actually have a great product to cut through the competition.

You have to have great marketing or buzz to get noticed.

You have to have the supply chain in place to get the product everywhere you need it in the quantities you need it (and react quickly when your demand exceeds your forecast).

Finally, you have to execute with excellence or all of the above will be wasted.

It’s REALLY hard to get all those things right. And without all of them, you’ll disappoint your customer.

So, how do you hit on all cylinders?

You work on it all the time. You push the Jim Collins’ flywheel in every area of your business and you keep pushing. And when you push hard enough and long enough in the same direction, you gain momentum and start hitting on all cylinders.

Selah.