The Waiting Game

Like it or not, waiting is an integral part of the holiday season.  Since deals are better lines are longer.  Want the new iPhone?  Please wait over here.  80 inch, curved, flat screen HDTV?  Yep, the line is right over there.  What I’ve noticed during this time of year is the longer the line the shorter the temper; of both the person serving and those waiting to be served. 

Here’s another holiday axiom I’ve picked up over the years – make a pumpkin spiced version.  It’s catnip for people.

Waiting is something we dread, a necessary evil we have to endure, and with some deep breathing exercises, have learned to cope with - especially this time of year.  I wanted to let you know that waiting can be a good thing even with the holiday shopping storm on the horizon.  Norman Vincent Peale said, ‘The cyclone derives its powers from a calm center. So does a person.’  With a storm of activity brewing about you on every side, it is to your benefit to approach it from a position of calm. 

Don’t be surprised by the wait.  Plan for it.

As a successful business owner you have the unique opportunity to craft a positive waiting experience for your customers.  Think about Star Tours, the Star Wars themed ride at Disneyland.  At peak season, wait times can approach 2 hours for the virtual reality adventure ride which lasts 5 minutes.  Like many long lines, customers slowly trudge through the switch back trail managed by post and rope stanchions. What makes the wait different for this attraction is the surrounding experience. There are displays to see, characters to encounter, technology available to capture the imagination, and information designed to prepare customers ahead of time.  This all serves to enhance the overall experience.

Albert Einstein said, ‘In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.’ If you think about the process, who in their right mind would wait in line for two hours in order to experience a 5 minute movie? Disney took the negative aspect of waiting and looked at it from a completely different perspective and saw an opportunity.  They effectively combined the wait time (the line) and event (the ride) into an overall positive customer experience.  You can too.

On-Hold Concepts from Woodstock Media Group will engage your customers waiting on hold, a critical piece of any customer service strategy - especially during the holidays.  Creative advertising messages will provide friendly characters for your callers to encounter who will prepare them with information about your products and services, providing a fresh perspective on your business that captures their imagination and keeps them calling back.

Enhance your caller’s overall on-hold experience.  Plan for it. 

Put US on hold and ensure that your callers are pleasantly surprised by the wait; every time they call.  It’s our specialty - turning this potential difficulty into an opportunity to help your business grow. 

Now, all we have to do is figure out pumpkin-spiced on-hold advertising.  It’ll be a gold mine!

Tom McTee, Super-Genius