Don’t Keep Your Customers Waiting!

It is very natural for sales people to want to look after their customers well, and part of this is to deal with the customer's requests quickly and efficiently. These are very basic sales training principles that should be applied by all managers, including those managing non-sales staff. All employees, whether client facing or not, need to be aware that delays in providing a service to a customer, whether provided on the telephone or via an email, leads to dissatisfaction of the customer. If the customer is a client then they will probably be tempted to take their business elsewhere. But problems also arise if delays are with internal customers, as these lead to conflict and poor team work.

The key principles underlying the psychology of waiting have been determined from numerous studies carried out over the years. By knowing about these principles all managers can ensure their team does not do things that inadvertently lead to customer dissatisfaction. The seven core principles are:

• 1. A customer who has nothing to do while waiting finds the waiting time much longer than it really is.
• 2. Time spent waiting before an appointment appears to be longer than time spent waiting during the appointment.
• 3. Feeling apprehensive makes the waiting time seem much longer.
• 4. If you know beforehand how long you may have to wait, the waiting time appears to be shorter.
• 5. If you have no explination for a delay, then it seems longer than if an explanation is given for the delay.
• 6. The greater the expected quality of the offer, the more someone is prepared to wait to get it.
• 7. If waiting in a group, time passes more quickly than when waiting alone.
• 
  
• One of the key points from the psychology of waiting is the concept of fairness. Even the shortest waiting time can put you in a bad mood if you feel you are not being treated as fairly as others who are waiting.
  
• 
  
• An interesting test was carried out a while ago by the Bank of Boston which looked at two ways of influencing the psyche of customers who have to wait to be served. An electrical display monitor was installed in Bank A, which displayed the news headlines every 15 minutes. A similar electronic display was installed in Bank B, but this showed a clock with the expected waiting time.
  
• 
  
• In each bank the actual time the customer waited, the estimated waiting time, the waiting time that the customers thought was acceptable, the customer’s feelings about the waiting time and the customer’s overall level of satisfaction were monitored.
• 
  
• As expected, all customers consistently overestimated the length of time they thought they would have to wait at the counters. This number dropped to 43% when the news display monitor was installed and dropped to 22% with the clock monitor.
  
• 
  
• The number of customers who thought they were waiting for an acceptable amount of time rose slightly after the installation of both types of display monitor. The fact that the bank appeared to be taking the problem of customers waiting seriously, because they had installed the displays, actually led to an increas in overall customer satisfaction.
  
• 
  
• Based on these experimental results and the principles of the psychology of waiting, there are nine tips that managers should included in their sales training for all employees who regularly interact with your customers.
  
• 
  
• 1. Always take the problem of waiting very seriously. Customers will become more demanding and extremely annoyed if they think they are waiting too long. In a sales situation this could lead to the rejection of you or your offer, in a non sales situation it will make the customer question whether your entire offering is any good.
• 
  
• 2. Decide what is an acceptable waiting time for your customers. Ask both your internal and external customers what they think is an acceptable length of time to wait and then alter your practices to help achieve this limit.
• 
  
• 3. Keep your customers entertained while they wait. Good music can certainly create a pleasant atmosphere in which to wait, but it does not make the waiting time feel any shorter. A bank in the United States installed a monitor which showed the daily horoscopes for all the star signs. They found this a successful way of keeping their customers entertained while they were waiting. Whatever you decide to do to entertain your customers, make sure it is easy to digest and amusing!
• 
  
• 4. Beware of queues. There is nothing that people find more annoying than being in a queue. Look at ways to allow customers to be served in turn without the need for them to stand in a queuse. e.g. give each customer a piece of paper with a number on it when the first arrive - this means that they will get their correct turn without having to stand in a queue. 
  
• 
  
• 5. Remember that customers overestimate waiting time massively. If you tell your customers they will have to wait for a longer period of time than you expect then the customer will think it is a great success if you can manage to deliver sooner than this time.
• 
  
• 6. Manage peak times. Every service and trading organisation has peak and quiet times. Let your customers know when these are. Encourage people to make better use of quiet times.
  
• 
  
• 7. Beware of appearing lazy to the customer. It is very annoying waiting if you can see a member of staff apparently doing nothing. Make sure that your staff take their breaks away from the customers’ field of view.
• 
  
• 8. Allow Customers to help themselves. Create alternative services, such as machines and self-service counters, for your extremely impatient customers. Sometimes such customers may be willing to pay a little bit extra for a faster service.
  
• 
  
• 9. Keep it going. When the improvements are introduced it takes a while for the level of your customers’ satisfaction to increase. It will not happen immediately. People must experience several positive aspects of your service before they change their opinion of your service.
• 
  
• The above tips are mainly aimed at giving good service to external customers. But some of the same principles can be adapted for improving internal customer service too.  As a supervisor, you should constantly focus on making sure your staff are friendly to all customers. Friendly employees can help to make up for any waiting time: if a customer has waited for something for 15 minutes only to be met by a sullen employee there negative experience will be compounded. Well trained and friendly staff who understand the principles of customer care as taught in sales training courses, are better able to bring the matter to a more positive conclusion.

Testimonials