Myth Busting Queue Management
A review on the Concierge role.
How technology is changing this from a customer experience & traffic management function to a core business driver of sales.
Are you looking for ways to improve customer experience in your busy sites where you experience customer queues?
What about reducing ‘walk away’ moments from your frustrated customers?
As important, what about improving your staff utilisation outside of peak trading times?
In many ‘service’ or mixed ‘product & service’ industries customers are required to queue for consultative conversations with staff.
This is a mixture of:
- Peak Traffic – most customers visit on lunch breaks or weekends
- Staff Breaks – many companies still have staff swapping out for lunch breaks at peak times
- Space Limitations – the busiest stores are often the most central, and with retail space at a premium these environments are often under-sized & staffed
- And many other more complex variables like weather, promotions, holidays etc.
Industries like Finance/Banking, Hospitality, Telco, & Insurance have implemented a Concierge function in their busy sites, with a staff member at the store entrance greeting customers, directing them to appropriate staff, managing wait time expectations, etc.
In recent years we’ve seen & implemented digital tools to improve this experience, allowing customers to take a place in a queue without actually waiting in line; or even the store. Providing the ability for customers to book an appointment at a time that suits them, and to receive text message confirmation when their allocated staff member is available, and even down to managing your appointment on the go if you’re early or late all results in a better customer experience, & a more tapered traffic flow & staff utilisation for the business.
What we’re not seeing in the industry are companies taking advantage of the absolute GOLD MINE of data that these tools provide when applied not just across the busy sites in the network; but across the broader network. The ability to log every customer visit, their purpose of visit, and the outcome they received into your CRM is hugely powerful in comparison to just capturing transaction data (for those customers who actually transact!).
What gets exciting is learning from a quantitive level which stores & staff are actually performing based on the number of customers who they successfully resolve the PURPOSE OF VISIT, as well as looking at their conversion ratio & resolution time.
Your greatest performing sites & staff may not have the highest stats if their traffic figures are down; and your most loyal customers may not be getting the quality of service or outcomes they rightly deserve.
So, for those looking to improve customer experience, reduce perceived wait times, improve staff utilisation, and increase your sales conversion while reducing your sales cycle there’s a lot that can be learned from a great Concierge function in your business.
