opening & closing

Last Saturday, I was running on the treadmill as closing time approached (6 pm). I still had a few minutes to go and knew it would take me over the closing bell if I kept going.

I decided, as an experiment (and in an effort to finish) to see how long it would take someone to tell me I had to leave.

I watched the person clicking off TVs and lights as the exact moment approached.

On the dot... almost to the exact click of the second it seemed... 6 pm. I was thrown the rodeo roundup gesture from the gym's staff member. How sad.

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Several weeks ago, I took this picture...

It's a line of 4 people waiting to get into my bank at 9 am (more were in their cars). This picture was taken at about 2 minutes after 9:00.

The fact is... this line happens frequently at this particular bank. It starts with people sitting in their cars around 10 minutes before opening and then begins to form at the door at about 5 till. I'd seen it happen before and brought a camera on a separate day, confident I'd see it again and be able to use it for this post.

My suggestion...

We open our doors (actual and metaphorical) a minimum of 10 minutes before our established opening time and close them a minimum of 10 minutes later than our established closing time. Then we remind our teams to get over themselves and let our customers in and not to push our customers out.

With this... we'll send our customers a more authentic message of our gratitude for the opportunity to serve them... so they'll be more likely to stay with us over our competitor.

(tgit)

Comments

[Jon Clayton]

Yes indeedy. Without those who come early and those who stay late we do not have a viable business. Nor do we have a customer focused business...

[Andrew Whitney]

Sorry but I have owned a retail business for 40 years, quitting time is quitting time! I open my doors at 730 am and close 12 hours later. If you can't find what you need in 12 hours than make a list. I certainly take care of my customers but I have found that the public is quite rude and lacks much compassion for retail businesses.

[Sam Parker]

Interesting point, Andrew. It's sad we get rude as customers.

I'm sure I'm rude out of the gate at times but sometimes it's started with a negative spark from the other side. Of course, that doesn't change my responsibility to be compassionate, does it.

Thanks for commenting.

[Pat Gross]

Thank you for a point well taken. I'm a Banking Center Manager in Colorado. And I totally agree. Bottom line...let's just do what is right for the customer. If that means opening a few minutes early, ok. That won't kill anyone. It's doing something just a little better than everyone else.

[Jay T]

For the most part I agree with opening 10 minutes early and closing 10 minutes late. Until the member starts staying later and later, so that 10 minutes late is now 20 or 30 minutes. At what point do you stop?
I don't mind staying open for the person who is occasionally running late. But the habitual ones, it gets bad. Especially when they say "well you have to clean don't you? I'll finish while you are cleaning. . . ."