If you have branches, they may be slowing your growth!

13 April 2026

If you’re not a chain of quick-service restaurants, you might want to reconsider your commitment to branches. If your branches contain retail counters or “will-call” windows, then fair enough.

But if they don’t, why do you have them? You don’t need them to store inventory; you can use a 3PL for that.

The common answer is that there’s a benefit in being close to the customer. But branches achieve the opposite effect. If you want to be close to your customers, have engineers go spend time in their plants. Field engineers don’t need a branch office to luxuriate in. They can go home if they’re not client-side.

I’ve never encountered an organization that actually sends a branch to their customer sites!

Aside from cost, branches ultimately determine the decision-making calculus used up and down the organization. And bad decisions end up costing real money!

If you want to multiply the damaging effects of an unnecessary branch network, here’s an accelerant: give each branch its own P&L. Never fails!