Your biggest buyer wants stock promised to someone else. What would you do?
A dilemma looks bigger before you count it. Work out what actually conflicts, then weigh it.
The question
At Pellbrook, a fictional online home-goods retailer, you coordinate orders for the small wholesale channel. On Wednesday a boutique chain asks for 120 stoneware vases shipped today. The same vase is on pre-order to online customers.
| Reason | vases | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reserved for pre-orders due Saturday | 300 | |
| Unreserved | 100 | |
| Total | 400 |
Invented data. 300 pre-order customers were promised delivery by Saturday in writing. The next restock, 250 vases, arrives Tuesday.
Stock reserved for pre-orders may be reallocated only with the inventory manager’s approval. If a promised pre-order date will slip, email the customer before that date and offer a full refund. Wholesale orders have no guaranteed ship date unless their contract names one.
- Wholesale buyerWe need 120 shipped today for our opening weekend. Our contract doesn’t name a date, but we’re counting on you.
- Sales leadThey’re our biggest wholesale account. Just ship it.
- Inventory managerReserved stock stays reserved unless I sign off.
“A wholesale buyer wants 120 vases shipped today. 300 of the 400 in stock are reserved for pre-orders promised by Saturday. What would you do?”
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A strong answer, step by step
Open each step in turn. This is one strong answer, not the only one.
Step 1: Name both obligations
What would you do here? Open the move you’d make.
Ship all 120 today; the biggest account comes first.
Tempting, but it misses something. That puts one customer above a written Saturday date to 300 pre-order customers, and moving reserved stock needs the inventory manager’s approval.
Tell the buyer no, because the pre-orders came first.
Tempting, but it misses something. That drops the wholesale relationship before you know how big the conflict is. Only 20 of the 120 vases actually clash.
Name both commitments: a written Saturday date to 300 pre-order customers, and our biggest wholesale account.
The strong move. A dilemma answer starts with what each side is owed. Neither commitment is yours to drop quietly.
See how a strong candidate says it
“There are two commitments here: a written delivery date to 300 pre-order customers, and our relationship with the biggest wholesale buyer. Neither is mine to drop quietly.”
Why it works: A dilemma answer starts with what each side is owed, not with a winner.
Step 2: Find the real size of the conflict
What would you do here? Open the move you’d make.
Count it: 100 vases are unreserved, so only 20 of the 120 actually conflict.
The strong move. 400 in stock minus 300 reserved leaves 100. 120 minus 100 is 20, and Tuesday’s restock of 250 covers them, after the opening weekend.
Treat it as 120 vases against 300 customers.
Tempting, but it misses something. That inflates the trade-off. 100 vases are unreserved, so the real conflict is 20.
Hand it to sales, since it’s their account.
Tempting, but it misses something. Sales owns the account, not the reserved stock; the inventory manager signs off on that. And nobody has worked out that the clash is 20 vases.
See how a strong candidate says it
“Only 100 vases are unreserved, so the clash is 20 vases, not 120. Tuesday’s restock of 250 covers those 20, but only after the buyer’s opening weekend.”
Why it works: The arithmetic shrinks the dilemma before you trade one promise against another.
Step 3: Weigh what each choice costs
What would you do here? Open the move you’d make.
Take 20 from the reserve and email those 20 pre-order customers later.
Tempting, but it misses something. Moving reserved stock needs the inventory manager’s sign-off, and the policy says slipping customers get an email and a refund offer before Saturday.
Ship 100 today and 20 on Tuesday; the buyer opens with 100 of 120, which their contract allows.
The strong move. A written date to 20 customers outweighs a request with no contractual date. It still costs the buyer, and you say so.
Split it: 110 to the buyer and 10 pre-orders late.
Tempting, but it misses something. It still breaks written dates without approval, and it doesn’t weigh the two promises; it averages them.
See how a strong candidate says it
“Taking 20 from the reserve breaks a written date for 20 customers, needs the inventory manager’s sign-off and means refund offers before Saturday. The wholesale order has no contractual date. I’d ship 100 today and 20 on Tuesday. The buyer opens with 100 of 120: a real cost, but one their contract allows.”
Why it works: It weighs a written commitment against a strong preference, and stays inside the policy.
Step 4: Take any exception to its owner
What would you do here? Open the move you’d make.
Make the exception myself if the buyer threatens to leave.
Tempting, but it misses something. Reserved stock moves only with the inventory manager’s approval. You can recommend it; you can’t sign it off.
Say nothing to the buyer until Tuesday’s stock arrives.
Tempting, but it misses something. The buyer is planning an opening weekend around 120 vases. Telling them today that 100 ship now and 20 on Tuesday lets them plan.
Tell the buyer today what ships when, and take any request for all 120 to the inventory manager with its cost.
The strong move. The cost is 20 pre-order customers with broken written dates. The person who owns the reserve should weigh it.
See how a strong candidate says it
“I’d tell the buyer today what ships now and when the rest arrives. If the account were really at risk over 20 vases, I’d take that cost, and the 20 customers it hits, to the inventory manager to decide.”
Why it works: You weigh it and recommend; the person who owns the reserve makes the exception.
The answer, in short
- Decision
- Ship the 100 unreserved vases today and the other 20 from Tuesday’s restock. Leave the pre-order reserve alone.
- Because
- The real conflict is 20 vases. Taking them breaks a written date for 20 customers and needs approval. Leaving them costs the buyer 20 vases for opening weekend, which their contract, with no named date, allows.
- What would change it
- A wholesale contract that names today, or the inventory manager deciding the account is worth 20 late pre-orders.
Common traps
- Treating the biggest customer as the only obligation.
- Refusing the wholesale order outright.
- Taking reserved stock without the owner’s sign-off.
- Arguing about 120 vases when the conflict is 20.
Check your answer
- Did I name what each side was promised?
- Did I work out how big the conflict really is?
- Did I weigh the costs against the policy, not just the account’s size?
- Did I leave the exception to the person who owns it?
Last reviewed Nov 9, 2026