Treasure Maps For The Masses

When Darin Lewin started as a manager of a mattress store in Houston in 1991, customers never knew when they'd get their beds. Every day, a delivery person would receive a stack of orders. But no one could predict with any accuracy how long it was going to take to get from one delivery to the next. Drivers were almost always running behind, leaving customers waiting--and irate.

Today, Lewin runs his own, more efficient operation. His 25-employee Atlanta franchise, The Mattress Firm, guarantees delivery within a three-hour period and can fill 25% more orders than his old employer could. His secret? A $100 software program that plots all drop-off points on a map of the Atlanta area so the dispatcher can instantly see the distances between them. That way, he can plan the most efficient routes and schedule a realistic number of orders a day in advance.