So, you’re at a stoplight at a busy intersection. The light turns green and the car in front of you doesn’t move. How many seconds would you wait until you would give them a gentle honk?
Waiting, though part of our everyday lives, is not something anyone particularly likes. We can see those who make us wait as disrespectful of our time.
What about YOUR customers? What is their perception of your wait times?
A key principle at work in any customer service operation is “the power of one.” Here’s an example.
Let’s say we have 100 customers in the next 30 minutes. And let’s say it takes an average of five minutes to help those customers. Queuing calculators can tell you how long customers will have to wait based on how many staff are handling customer contacts.
For this example, 20 staff available would be pretty good in most customer service circles. There would only be five customers waiting longer than three minutes.
Why am I using three minutes as a threshold? Because that’s when the psychology of waiting begins to kick in for many common service situations. It’s more leeway than the few seconds at that stoplight—but we’re still on the clock.
With 19 employees, there would be 12 customers waiting 3 minutes or longer. With 18, that jumps to 30. And with 17, 74 of our 100 customers are waiting three minutes or longer. And the longest wait is over 30 minutes. (Murphy’s Law says THEY will be your most important customer!)
One person makes a huge difference. The power of one is indeed powerful. Make sure everyone on your team—and across your organization—understands how much they matter. Why across the broader organization? Because internal queues and bottlenecks are just as real as customer-facing services. This is a principle for everyone.
I’m often asked, “AI can help, right?” The short answer: that’s up to you. Will it be concierge or a bouncer? Will you use it to help your customers or to hide from them? That’s your choice.
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