I’ve read that a typical person in the U.S. spends between 45 and 62 minutes per day waiting (e.g., on hold, in line, for the elevator, for the light to turn green, etc.). Wouldn’t it be great if service providers were intentional about reducing wait times?

I had time to think about this last weekend as my son and I waited in line for the basketball camp registration table to formally open. Although a line of perhaps 30 people had formed between 7:45 and 8:00am, everyone was forced to wait until the magical time of 8:00am when, apparently, the gals behind the registration table were finally able to confirm players’ names, issue uniforms, allocate color-coded wrist bands, etc.

From that point on, the registration process inched along slowly. Since no one had given any thought to the participant flow, the registration table was set up ten feet inside the main entrance. As a result, the line ran out the door and into the parking lot. (Fortunately, it wasn’t raining…)

By the time Cooper and I reached the registration table, the women were already frazzled after the initial wave of camp registrants, with a seemingly endless line continuing out the door. Their welcoming smiles had neutralized, their eye contact had shifted from people to paper, and greetings had been reduced to a lifeless “Name?” and farewells trimmed to a perfunctory “You’re all set… Next in line?”

Lost in the transaction were any attempts to engage my 9-year-old son with questions about basketball (e.g., What’s your favorite team? Who’s your favorite player? Who do you like in the NBA Playoffs? Is this your first camp?). Cynics will say, “Geesh! If they ask all those questions, the line will never move!” In reality, these are closed questions (Yes/No or short answer) designed to welcome camp participants, demonstrate genuine interest in them, and reduce their anxiety—especially if this is their first camp and they’re feeling a little intimidated.

Aside from reconfiguring the participant flow by moving the registration table farther inside the main entrance, the number one thing event organizers could have done to improve the overall registration process for registrants would have been to open early.

Go ahead and publish a registration time of 8:00am but ensure you’re there, set-up, and ready to register participants at 7:30am. Had the basketball camp organizers done so, the initial wave of 30 people could have been registered before the first 8:00am arrival. Instead of standing around waiting (which is expected at these events), they could have been pleasantly surprised.

Besides reducing registrant wait times and urgency throughout the registration process, another benefit of opening early is that margin (or white space) expands. The process is allowed to breathe and now (while smiling, making eye contact, and adding energy to their voices) the women behind the registration table have the time and capacity to ask, “So, Cooper, can you beat your dad one-on-one?”

As he nods ‘yes’ and smiles, we all chuckle. The ice is broken. And now, not only is Cooper registered, he’s also relaxed and ready to play.

Image: Flickr

Many companies use terms like “guest” and “partner” to convey the intimacy they have with their customers but the reality is that most employees, when given the opportunity, do not behave as though they are serving a valued guest.

If you’d like to test this assertion, simply show up at your choice of retailer after it has closed for the day. Assuming you can make eye contact with an employee through the locked glass door, see if she is willing to do more than point at her watch and mouth the words, “We’re closed.”

Now, this is where corporate types jump in using words like: policy, procedure, overtime, security, protocol, etc. While all of their points are valid, it doesn’t mean they’re right.

To illustrate, imagine that you had planned a baby shower at your home from 1:00 to 3:00pm and that one of your guests was delayed for some reason and didn’t arrive until 3:15pm—after the event had officially ended and the other guests had left.

Would you refuse to open the front door and simply make eye contact with her through the glass side light panel, point to your watch, and mouth the words, “The party’s over”?

Of course not.

Then why is it acceptable to treat “guests” like that in a business setting?

If you’re going to cite the above list of policy, procedure, overtime, security, protocol, etc. as your justification for this behavior, at least stop referring to your customers as “guests.”

Instead, call them what they really are to your closing staff: a nuisance—an interruption; someone we accept money from during business hours but whom we’d prefer not to see after closing time until the next business day.

Just last week I was in Logan, UT. Being a coffee enthusiast and having read about the mountain grown, Triple Certified coffee at Caffe Ibis, I made it a point to stop by on the day of my arrival.

I showed up at 6:45pm and learned that the store closed at 6:30pm. I peered through the glass door and made eye contact with an employee who pointed to her watch and mouthed the words, “We’re closed.”

Before I returned to my car, however, an energetic employee named Natalie unlocked the front door and engaged me.

I mentioned that I was in town for one night from Denver and had hoped to try a cup of Caffe Ibis coffee that I had read so much about and pick up a pound of beans to take back home.

She said, “The machines are off and the register is closed but let me see what I can do.”

A few minutes later, she appeared with a steeping (literally) cup of coffee and a pound of Double French Roast Blend coffee beans.

I thanked her, paid her $15 in cash, and enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee back in my hotel room.

The following day, on my way out of town, I returned and spent another $28.05 on a latte, ground Espresso Roast Blend, and a Caffe Ibis t-shirt. That’s $43.05 in revenue from a guest that many employees would have labeled a nuisance—an interruption in their day.

And my purchasing hasn’t stopped. I’m back in Denver but enjoyed the coffee so much that I’m planning a repeat purchase of Double French Roast Blend coffee beans from their website. My potential future value to Caffe Ibis is significant.

If the first employee was my only impression of Caffe Ibis, I would have left empty-handed, kept my $15, and may or may not have returned the following day to spend another $28.05. And if I hadn’t experienced its coffee in Logan, I certainly wouldn’t be ordering it by the pound on-line.

This is key: Did the first employee do anything wrong? No. She was following policy. I get that. She was also behaving in a way that is usual, ordinary, and expected by most customers.

Natalie, on the other hand, treated me like her guest. She behaved in a way that was beyond what is usual, ordinary, and expected by most customers. She was refreshing and unique. As a result, she not only made a positive lasting impression, she made a sale!

More key points:

1.) Natalie recognized that, while her job function was to complete the closing checklist, the essence of her job—her highest priority—was to serve her guests.

2.) Her decision to open the locked door and engage me, unlike the completion of the closing checklist, was optional.

3.) And finally, her willingness to go the extra mile cost her employer nothing—it was free! In fact, it resulted in $43.05 in additional sales (and counting…).

Natalie created a promoter (that’s me).

Promoters are customers who not only buy your products/services, they wear your t-shirts, are less price sensitive, and recommend your business to others (as I’m doing now).

While the first employee’s service was ordinary, expected, and made me feel like an interruption in her day, Natalie’s was extraordinary, unexpected, and made me feel like a valued guest.

Care to comment? Be my guest.

The other day, my family and I went to Dairy Queen for “Something Different” (the DQ slogan).

After waiting in line for a few minutes, our family of six made its way to the front of the line. Looking at the “scrumdelicious” pictures on the menus suspended above the counter, my youngest children could hardly contain their excitement!

Their eyes, wide with wonder, darted from one delectable menu image to the next. They smiled and began to giggle as they realized it was now our turn to order and that, within minutes, they would have their frosty treats in hand…

Smiling in response to my children, I looked up to face the counter employee. In sharp contrast to my children’s faces, her facial expression was matter-of-fact—even serious.

Her greeting consisted of, “Do you know what you want?”

She then robotically gathered information, processed the order, issued a receipt, and completed the transaction.

After we placed our order, my son Cole (age 9) and I waited off to the side for our order while the rest of the family found a place for us to sit on the patio.

I asked Cole, “On a zero to ten scale with zero being rude and ten being very friendly, how would you rate the girl who took our order?”

He said, “Six.”

I asked him why he rated her a six and he said, “Because she didn’t smile.”

I then asked him, “Was there anything else?”

And he said, “Yes, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

What Cole couldn’t put his finger on (because he’s only in third grade) is the leading cause of customer dissatisfaction: indifference.

In one survey, 68 percent of customers said they quit doing business with a company because of perceived indifference towards them as customers.

And here’s what is really scary: Most customer service providers are blissfully unaware of their own indifference. From their perspectives, they are efficiently executing customer transactions.

They may not recognize that what customers tend to remember the most are not the routine steps that make up transactions—they remember the demeanors and unique personalities of the employees who served them.

Behaviors like eye contact, smiling, and adding enthusiasm to one’s voice do more to convey appreciation for customers than any other aspect of a customer transaction.

These are the “little things” that make a lasting impression—and a real difference in customer satisfaction.

Earlier this evening, between dinner and dessert, my two-year-old son began singing the ABCs Song from his high chair. Not once, but again and again as he was cheered on by his siblings and me each time after completing the song’s finale: “…Next time won’t you sing with meeeee?”

His face lit up every time he was acknowledged at the end of his song. And then, as if it was the very first time, he launched into another rendition of the ABC Song. And what did we, his audience, do throughout each new performance? We smiled, nodded, encouraged, and clapped as though it were the very first time we had heard Carter sing the song.

It reminded me of when customers ask us questions we’ve heard a hundred (or thousand) times before. Common questions such as, “Where are you located?” or “How does your rewards program work?” or “What beers do you have on tap?”

The tendency is to begin answering the question even before the customer has completed his sentence. Sometimes the response is rushed in order to move onto other, more important, questions or priorities or is delivered in a way that is robotic. Efficient, yes, but ineffective.

Customers deserve to be acknowledged in unique ways. It may be the fortieth time you’ve heard the question today but it’s likely the first time this customer has asked it. Respond to their questions in ways that communicate a sincere desire to serve.

And here’s another benefit to tuning into customer questions—even the common ones: a chance to sell!

Take the three common questions above for example. Each question provides an opportunity to make a sale. When a customer calls and asks where you’re located, you have a chance to make a friendly first impression over the phone and to facilitate the customer’s drive to your location by providing clear directions with easy-to-spot landmarks.

Seriously, think of all the times that you’ve contacted a business for directions and because of the robotic, apathetic, or indifferent response, you made a decision to go elsewhere. It happens—a lot.

When a customer asks how a rewards program works, that’s your opportunity to shine, learn more about the customer’s use of your products and services, and enroll her in the program. She benefits from the program’s perks and your company benefits from her continued loyalty and future spending.

The alternative is to default to a script that you’ve spewed countless times in the past as you hand the program brochure to the customer before moving on to other priorities. The recipients of these rote pitches generally toss the program materials as soon as they round the next corner.

And the final example above, “What beers do you have on tap?” provides a great opportunity for engaged servers to sell high-margin draft beer or to upsell customers to a larger size—and a higher profit margin.

How many times have you heard a server respond in one breath, “BudBudLightCoorsCoorsLightAnchorSteamAmstelLightSamAdams andBass” or, worse, point you to the back of the menu? I recall times when servers were visibly irritated by the question. Their body language said, “Ugh…not again.”

Years ago I read the book, Hey, I’m the Customer: Front Line Tips for Providing Superior Customer Service by Ron Willingham. One of the quotes from that book that stood out to me was to “tune the world out and the customer in.” Whether “the world” refers to being preoccupied, distractions, or even the monotony of answering the same question again and again, you owe it to your customers to tune them in.

Think back to the beginning of this post. Imagine if, instead of acknowledging my two-year-old son with applause, I had said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah…ABCs. Look Carter, you’re my fourth kid. Do you know how many times I’ve heard the ABC Song? Here, eat your ice cream.” Efficient, yes, but ineffective.

So the next time you receive “that question” (you know the one), refuse to go on autopilot. Instead, pause, make eye contact, smile, and then, with a bit of enthusiasm in your voice, respond as though it’s the very first time you’ve heard the question. Look for opportunities—even in seemingly predictable questions—to learn more about your customers, to add value, and to increase sales.