Page 109 - DMGT522_SERVICES MANAGEMENT

Services Management

Notes The following are some useful ways to manage waiting lines:

Determine an acceptable waiting time for your customers.
Determine a standard acceptable time for which your customers are willing to wait to
avail the service. Set operational objectives based on what is acceptable to the customer.

Example: In a fast food restaurant, the personnel know that the customer will wait for
some time before moving out.
Try to divert your customer’s attention when waiting

This can be an effective way of dealing with the issue of waiting line. The service firms these
days provide music, a video, magazines, play area for kids, etc. that may help to distract the
customers from the fact they are waiting. Customers get involved in these things and don’t
complain much about the time they spent waiting.

Inform your customers of what to expect

This is especially important when the waiting time will be longer than normal. Tell them why
the waiting time is longer than normal and what you are doing to alleviate the queue.

Example: A pizza delivery boy can inform the customer that he is getting late because of
the bad weather. This will at least give the customer a thought that the service firm is concerned
about him.

Keep employees not serving the customers out of sight?

Nothing is more frustrating to someone waiting in line than to see employees, who potentially
could be serving those in line, working on other activities. If the employees are carrying out any
maintenance task or any back office task, he should be kept away from the waiting area so that
customers are not able to see him.

Segment Customers

If a group of customers needs something that can be done very quickly, give them a special line
so they do not have to wait for the slower customers. This has both advantages and disadvantages
as the customer who are served quickly in a special line get satisfied but those waiting for long
in the other line can get annoyed on seeing that.

Train your servers to be Friendly

Greeting the customer by name, or providing some other special attention, can go a long way
toward overcoming the negative feeling of a long wait. Rather than servers being told to just
“be friendly,” psychologists suggest they be told when to invoke specific friendly actions such
as smiling—when greeting customers, when taking orders, and when giving change (in a
convenience store). Tests using such specific behavioural actions have shown significant increases
in perceived friendliness of the servers in the eyes of the customer.
Encourage customers to come during the slack periods

Inform customers of times when they usually would not have to wait; also tell them when the
peak periods are—this may help to smooth the load.

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