It’s confirmed...Aussies hate queuing!

By Rowdy McLean.   April 2009

You could be losing customers in droves and not even know. Research has shown that 96% of customers don't complain THEY JUST DON'T COME BACK!!

New research released by Galaxy Research on April 2, 2009 proves that Aussies don't like to queue or be kept waiting.

So if your staff don't know how to engage customers in a queue, how to speed up service when a queue forms or how to manage a queue, you could be losing customers and sales.

Here is what Galaxy found...

• More than two-thirds (67%) of consumers abandon their purchases altogether if it means standing in line, while 75% of Australians will take their money elsewhere.

• The report says that organisations risk losing business unless something is done to minimise queuing, especially in peak times, as two in three (67%) Australians are frustrated within five minutes of joining a queue.

• Over half (52%) of customers get angry and frustrated because the cashier never seems to be in a hurry, suggesting more needs to be done to streamline purchases.

So what to do?  Here are some tips for your staff...

Make eye contact with every person that joins a queue (by the way a queue is any line with more than one person in it). 

Eye contact lets the person know that you are aware that they are there and that you know how long the queue is.

It is also good to use body language as well, a wave or nod of your head acknowledges them and reinforces the eye contact. This also means the customer is less likely to leave as they would now feel guilty and they will also wait longer, so you have more chance of conducting the transaction.

When people get close to the front of the queue start a conversation with them by saying "I will be with you in a minute", "thank you for waiting", "I wont be long" - there are many others that you could use.

Now the customer will continue to wait because you have engaged them and made them feel comfortable.

Sounds simple I know, but the research proves that companies just don't do it and staff are not good at it. So train your staff to deal with queues effectively and save some of that 96% who don't complain about your queues from going to your competitors.

If you don't have the time or skills to train your staff, call us on +61 7 5536 6049 and we will do it for you and the results will pay for themselves. 

Copyright 2009 Ron McLean

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