Queue-Tips – Keeping Your Customers Moving

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1 Mar. 2019. Queues are the bain of any business. They stress you out, and you can bet they stress your customers, too. If you fail to take care of this, you may find that you lose sales as soon as people see how long they’ll be waiting. Even if customers do join the queue, they’ll be short-tempered and angry once they finally reach service. In short; this is no way to a positive working or selling environment. Let things get too out of control on the queue front, and you could soon struggle to stay above the water.

Which begs the question of how exactly you can keep queues modest at all times? In busy periods, it can often seem like an impossible task. But, that’s far from the case. In truth, tackling queues once and for all is a matter of getting on top of organization methods. Keep on reading to find out how.

A well-organized rota

A well-organized rota is always going to take you far in business. Knowing you have enough staff at all times is essential for the smooth running of everything. But, did you know that it’s also your best shot at keeping queues small? By putting plenty of staff on the rota at your busiest times, you can always serve customers in the shortest time possible. Even having two or three extra people during rush hours can make a massive difference to how fast your queues move. If you’re uncertain when your busiest periods are, look at your sales data, or observe peaks and trends for a week or so. Then, get organized by thinking about how to bring more people in at those times.

A warehouse with structure

In many ways, warehouse organization is essential for your mental wellbeing. If you shove your stock any old way, you’re going to have a headache just thinking about tackling the mess. On top of which, this can lead to lost inventory and lost profits. But, failing to get on top of a decent system here can also lengthen your queues. That’s because staff will have to spend hours searching for any items which aren’t on your shelves. All while customers keep waiting. Instead, invest in something like a pallet rack which can help you here. With one of these in place, you’ll be able to arrange your stock in a much more structured way. You could even invest in signs for each pallet to make sure your staff can get back to customers in double-time.

A planned queuing system

Your queue systems themselves could also do with a little planning prowess. For example, if both returns and sales go through your main tills, it’s no wonder queues are forming. Make sure it doesn’t happen by having a separate till for each task you complete. This can boost productivity no end, and it could see your queues at half the size pretty sharpish. Then, your customers will never walk past because they just can’t be bothered to wait.

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