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Customers: Don’t Make Them Wait!

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With the approach of the holiday season come the inevitable lineups. Unfortunately, businesses seem to operate as though this is a fact of life that can’t be overcome. While there is never a perfect solution to solving the problem of lineups, there are some strategies that can help to alleviate the problem, or at the very least reduce the impact. 

First, one must remember that waiting lines are a part of life. We wait to get into an elevator; to proceed through the intersection; to have our phone call answered; for a meal at a restaurant; to order car parts and withdraw money from a bank machine. However, people seem to notice some lineups more than others. Usually the noticeable waiting lines are those where we have no other distractions. Unfortunately, most of these types of line-ups are found in large stores. This is what we will concentrate on with this column, even though these ideas can be used at any business. 

One of the obvious methods of reducing waiting line stress and irritation is to provide customers with a distraction. While a number of businesses play music while you are kept on hold during a phone call, the same doesn’t usually happen while standing in line at a store or bank. Businesses that have televisions playing for those waiting in line find that customers complain less about time spent in line. Yet most businesses do not use this strategy. This is actually surprising due to the low cost of a couple of television sets and DVD players; businesses could easily turn unwanted lineups into pleasant social events. One can easily see the stress and impolite nature of a holiday lineup disappear while customers watch “A Christmas Carol.” 

The size of lineups, and the time customers spend in them, can be decreased or eliminated by opening up more checkouts or counter people. However, business owners have a tendency to only look at the added costs this solution brings. What needs to be considered instead is the cost of not providing this enhanced service. 

Potential customers do not always have the propensity for waiting in a lineup. Instead, there is a significant chance that they will not even join the lineup, and will take their business elsewhere. We have all seen customers walk away from a shopping cart full of food because they didn’t want to wait or didn’t have the time to wait. These lost customers are not only lost revenue, but they are also responsible for increased expenses as you must now restock the goods that were left in the cart. 

Along with these lost customers who you can identify, are those potential customers that you don’t even know exists. These are the people who quit doing business with you because they don’t want to stand in your line ups, or they have never become customers because every time they go by your business they see a lineup. This means that you’re losing revenue because you are estimating your service levels based on your existing customers, not the potential ones. While you don’t want to hire more staff based on the chance that there are more customers out there, you may want to do a market survey to identify how much potential business you are losing. You may be surprised to learn that you are losing customers to your more efficient competitors. 

If the inevitable does happen and you must have waiting lines, you may want to introduce some form of extra help and human contact. For example, have a few extra staff on hand who can be runners, check prices, exchange items or pack customers purchases. You need to reduce the amount of time your customers spend at the cashier. Less time spent with each customer will obviously result in more customers being served. 

You may also want to consider having someone acting as a “traffic cop.” Not only would this person help customers pick the fastest line, but they would also be able to answer questions and provide pleasant human contact, which always helps to reduce shopping stress. The goal here is to have personal interaction with each and every customer. During the holiday season, personal service and interaction are valued items. 

While you may not be able to completely eliminate all waiting lines, these are some actions you can take to reduce the lines or at least make the shopping experience a positive one for your customers. Your goals are to not only get existing customers to shop with you again, but to also get them to tell others about the positive experience of shopping at your business. 

-Myron Gordon owns TMSG Management Services Group, which provides management and financial services to growing businesses.



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