People generally don't reminisce about their latest visit to the bank, or the ISP office. Actually, what happens is quite the opposite.

Even briefly mentioning customer service in a friendly conversation between friends or colleagues could escalate the situation. Next thing you know, there’s a torrent of “I know, XYZ’s customer service is atrocious...” stories.

It’s usually down to a single employee when these stories are brought up. So how do we go about teaching our employees, to provide the best customer service every single time? We must create a customer-first culture, and an inviting environment for all visitors.

72% of customers believe the best thing you can do is not waste their time.

A survey, carried out in 2016 by Forrester, noted that 72% of customers say that valuing their time is the most important thing that a company can do to provide them with good service. One crucial step to take would be to please the 72%, just by making their time feel valued.

Queue management systems convince customers to believe that you value their time.

Customers are extremely quick to make complaints, especially when it revolves around customer service and waiting. They talk about the number of things they could be doing or how their valuable time is being wasted.

In this day and age, it’s odd that people line up and aren’t even addressed by the staff. If customers have to wait 15 minutes just to see the staff’s face, surely they will feel that their time is being wasted.

Customers no longer have to idly stand in line with a queuing system.

Your customers feel that their valuable personal time is wasted, just waiting to interact with you. If you can't talk to them right away, how will they ever feel valued?

It is your responsibility to make them feel valued. Don’t make them feel like you’re wasting their time. The same feeling will trickle down to your services and your product.

Using a queue management software gives your customers free time when when they're waiting. Of course, there are smartphones and newspapers, and in some cases, a friend in the line to chat with.

• When a customer doesn't actually need to physically stand in the line because of a QMS, then they are free to look around. It also gives you a pretty wide range of opportunities to improve customer experience in waiting lines. You can capture visitor interests or passively sell during the wait. Make the waiting experience feel like you're already servicing them.
• Queuing system Qminder improves the customer experience by measuring footfall, analyzing wait times and generating reports. You would know exactly what the customers are experiencing, and make business-oriented decisions based on the data.
• Qminder replaces sign-in sheets and take-a-number systems. With an iPad based solution, visitors can queue up by name. This enables visitors to look around freely and allows employees to approach visitors by name. All the data is gathered to improve staff resource planning and customer service.

By analyzing the queues, you can offer a better customer service experience. Customers being free while being in the queue make them feel like they're in control. Retail strategy like this improves your brand loyalty, while allowing easier relationship building, thus increasing sales.

Customer service oriented companies use a queue management system.

It’s proven that using a queue management system improves both the customer satisfaction and the sales numbers. Various types of businesses nowadays are adopting a barrier-free queueing system to welcome customers, track employee performances and gather retail intelligence.

Sprint is just one of many.

Sprint is a United States-based telecommunications company that provides wireless services, and is also a major global Internet carrier with a clear mission: to be number one in providing a simple, instant, enriching and productive customer experience.

Using Qminder as their waiting line management system has really improved Sprint on all fronts. Happier customers, engaging staff and reporting for the location managers.

Before using any queue management software, Sprint had built a special kids zone and provided comfortable couches for visitors while they waited. Sadly, nobody was using these because they were standing in line. Not standing in line meant they would have lost their spot.

George Frankie McAllister, store manager, believes:

"Our goal is to make five minutes seem like 30 seconds. The customer doesn’t mind waiting and can browse through the store. Qminder helps create that environment."

Queue management software has also made a tremendous difference in many retail companies.

Lancaster Archery Supply is one of the biggest 3D archery stores in the world. With customers from across the country, they also rely on the queuing system by Qminder.

Chris Scott, Showroom Manager at Lancaster Archery Supply confirmed:

"The old ticketing system was very impersonal and we couldn’t track how many people were waiting and where they were."

Now, by using Qminder, Lancaster Archery Supply staff greets every customer by name. As a result, clients are more open and relaxed at your location - a strategy that leads to more sales.

The fact is, not many locations think about using a queue management system for retail, simply because they don’t know about the benefits. More and more business owners and location managers today are aware of the benefits of integrating technology to retail business. It’s what keeps customers happy and it’s what provides them the edge over their competitors.

Bank or a beauty salon – a good retail queuing system places you ahead of the competition.

A survey carried out by First Data, a commerce-enabling technology and solutions provider, showed that customers are willing to wait different amounts of time in the line for different kinds of services.

The survey carried out in 2016 involving 1000 customers, reveal that 26% would be willing to wait for longest at a bank, and that their patience runs thin quickest when waiting at bars and pubs, retailers, and beauty salons.

Raj Sond, the General Manager of First data states:

“Queues are a sign of a thriving business, but if not managed correctly, can quickly undo the hard work that has gone into attracting customers, with an off-putting in-store experience.”

Weather it's a bank or a beauty salon – when the customer is standing in the line, then their time is in your hands. It's in your hands to control whether customers walk out to spread the bad experience, or end up buying even more than they came to you in the first place.

A well developed queue management software with an easy sign up system like Qminder gives businesses an uplifting push towards happier customers, and subsequently increase in sales as shown by our own customers.

Customers hate queues, and waiting in line is a major peeve.

• Long lines bring feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, and boredom.
• They fuel feelings of frustration and anger.
• They hurt sales — significantly.

Research shows that between 80 and 90 percent of consumers would rather shop with another retailer than wait in long lines.

Queue management systems provide companies with a comprehensive solution. This kind of software streamlines wait times by analyzing queue demand and notifies checkout staff of the number of customers waiting to use a service. Not all queue management systems are equal, however. Inefficient systems can make queues worse and result in profit loss for brands.

Here's how Qminder — a type of queue management software that provides staff with real-time queue insights — can revolutionize the customer experience.

The Science of Waiting in Line

Consumers' stress levels are influenced by the amount of time they spend waiting in line. Long queues also change customers' perceptions of a brand. In fact, consumers are so concerned about queues that they are willing to use digital methods to speed up wait times. Eighty-seven percent of customers said they would make use of some type of technology if it meant shorter queues, while 67 percent would download an app or use online check-in to save their place in a line at a retail store.

Customers who spend a significant amount of time waiting in line are less likely to purchase products from a retailer in the future, which could impact a company's bottom line. Seemingly endless queues have long been associated with poor customer service, and wait times could jeopardize a company's reputation.

The average consumer spends five years waiting in lines during their lifetime. Now, more companies are investing in waiting-line tactics that change customers' attitudes toward queuing. Research suggests that queues are associated with feelings of boredom, so quick-thinking location managers have devised ways to keep consumers entertained while they wait to pay for goods and services. In the hospitality industry, for example, restauranteurs might turn a waiting area into a bar. In the healthcare sector, doctor's waiting areas might include magazines and books.

"Some companies are doing innovative things to minimize the negative impact that queuing can have on the customer experience," says customer service and customer experience expert Adrian Swinscoe. "...[This includes] making their queue part of their whole experience so customers don’t feel like they are really queuing anymore, and informing customers of where they are in the queue and how long they have to wait to be served as a way of making their wait seem shorter."

These tactics are not always successful, however. Businesses that tackle the reasons behind long queues are more effective in improving customer service.

The Benefits of Queue Management Software

Queue management software optimizes queue demand, allowing retailers to manage a consistent flow of customers. Some of the world's biggest brands use these programs — McDonald's, Burger King, Best Buy and T-Mobile all utilize electronic queue systems — to accurately measure footfall, track wait times and employee performances — even during busy periods.

The premise is simple: customers use a self sign-in device in-store, which sends a notification to staff. The software then places customers in a "virtual queue." This is where we sort out the winners that enable customer satisfaction, from the losers that treat your visitors like cattle.

Queue management software prevents customers from walking out of a store by managing their expectations. Research shows that this technology increases service reliability, monitors staff performance and enhances productivity.

The Problems With Queue Management Software

1. Some programs come with complex user interfaces.

Companies often find difficult to decipher, resulting in poor adoption rates in retail stores. Location managers should choose a program that provides them with a flurry of features but doesn't complicate matters.

2. Most companies use server-based systems.

These are usually connected to big, bulky pieces of hardware — ticket dispensers, digital signage, net points, monitors, etc. — and are expensive to maintain. A vendor needs to visit an organization's physical location if a technical problem with an on-premise system arises, which could take several days. Moreover, problems can occur if more than one physical location shares the same server. Wireless systems, on the other hand, provide users with much more flexibility and are cheaper to operate.

3. Some queue management systems only measure the number of customers who are waiting to receive a service.

Companies should opt for a digital tool that displays key performance measurements that help them foster business development. These might include average wait times and queue length, employees who handle customer transactions in the speediest time frame and the number of people who have entered a retail location.

4. Then there's the problem of inadequate system design.

If a queue management tool has been configured poorly, the staff will have trouble operating this technology let alone provide good customer service. This could directly influence the service and the customers' perceptions of a brand, costing companies more money in the long run.

Why Qminder is Different to Other Queue Management Tools

Qminder providess invaluable data, unlike the typical queue management system. It comes with an easy-to-use interface that has been designed to help users, not confuse them. It's completely wireless too, so there are none of the expensive costs that are normally associated with the typical queue management system with server equipment.

This SaaS solution generates accurate insights into location events. These easy-to-understand metrics facilitate wait time management, providing location managers with real-time retail intelligence so they can make more timely decisions. Users access data — like employee performance reports, wait times and serving times — from one centralized dashboard.

Unlike some queue management tools, Qminder is completely transparent about its prices, and there are no hidden fees or nasty surprises. There's nothing to download, either — users access the program through their Internet browser on a laptop, smartphone or tablet. Qminder's queue management app makes it even easier to organize wait lines.

Customers who experience poor service when waiting in line often show signs of dissatisfaction. As a result, companies might completely lose future business and receive complaints. That's why it's important for businesses to have an effective queue management and customer service strategy in place. A platform like Qminder automates queue management, resulting in happier customers — and happier staff. The tool is designed for a variety of environments, such as retail, healthcare, government, education, and telecoms.

Data Behind the Queue Management System Increases Sales

65 percent of all business comes from repeat customers, and the probability of selling to a new customer could be as low as five percent. Queue management software prevents loyal customers from shopping with rivals by streamlining the queue experience. This technology can reduce waiting times, improve customer satisfaction and even increase sales.

Not all queue management systems generate accurate results. Qminder, however, improves the customer experience by measuring footfall, analyzing wait times and generating accurate analytics. New users can sign up for a free 14-day trial online and experience the system's powerful features.

Nobody has ever signed up for waiting in lines - but they are inevitable regardless of whether we are in a supermarket, waiting for a doctor’s appointment, or transferring funds at the bank. Different businesses manage the queue differently, which could impact the customer experience accordingly.

Here are 7 tips for smart entrepreneurs who want to reduce the tension and increase the number of recurring customers for their brick and mortar business.

1. Personalized Experience

Providing a service doesn’t have to be anonymous. Think of Starbucks - even though they don’t know you at first, baristas ask for your name and write it down on your cup. A few drinks later regular customers don’t even have to say their name, and they often receive their “usual” at the bar before even ordering.

Store and venue owners can improve their customer experience at waiting lines by:

• Implementing a software that improves and takes care of personalized service.
• Training their staff to switch from generic to personal communication when interacting with customers.

Even if you are worried about casual mistakes at first, see how you can turn them into a promotional channel for yourself.

2. Magazines and Newspapers

Waiting for half an hour or more may lead to a lot of tension for everyone at the line - or even losing some of your customers. Have you been in a shopping mall (about to visit the bank, grab a coffee or pay your bills), giving up once you see a long line ahead?

Installing magazine and newspaper stands in your waiting area would distract people for some time, or even convince them to stop by more often when you are competing with other owners providing a similar service in your area.

Depending on your audience, you can select your compilation carefully - more conservative venues would likely benefit from political newspapers, sports bars can use baseball or football magazines, and veterinarians can offer educational papers for dog and cat owners. An extra tip would be providing puzzle magazines with crosswords, sudoko or other games, together with branded pencils for people to use and fill up while waiting.

3. TV

Installing TV screens in your room could also improve the customer experience in a waiting line. You can turn a music channel on, or a sports one with the latest game running at the moment. Pick a cartoon or even a movie depending on what works best for your visitors.

Think about your local pub or bar with regulars who meet and watch games together, or boutique places that gather people for a “Game of Thrones” night. Your regulars can plan their schedule around some series, and quit cancelling their appointments when overlapping with a sports game.

4. Brochures and Bonus Points

Brochures are often used in large chain stores or banks, but quite a few businesses are yet to upsell their services to their visitors stuck in lines.

You can compile your latest products or promotions on a weekly/monthly basis, and present them to people waiting in line. Often customers stop by for something, but can certainly benefit from other services or products provided by your staff. Recurring customers could take advantage of bonus point programs, turning them into loyal clients and even ambassadors of your business.

Examples for using brochures:

1. Banks sell credits, pitch new credit cards, or offer packages with discounted withdraw fees
2. Supermarkets list their discounts or offer their promotional cards accumulating bonus points
3. Gas stations offer bonus points for discounted gas bill or 20% off for certain products sold there exclusively
4. Telecoms list their best plans, promotions, and the latest cell phones that you can grab when signing a 2-year contract
5. Universities list their top accomplishments, alumni programs are outline their best programs - since high school graduates often apply to several places

5. Guerilla Marketing

By definition, guerilla marketing is a creative advertisement strategy for business owners coming up with memorable ideas to promote their brand in an unconventional way at a low cost. Those can be implemented everywhere, including waiting lines, as you can see in The 80 Best Guerilla Marketing Ideas I’ve Ever Seen.

If your marketing team can come up with some ideas, a guerilla campaign can support your brand awareness. It could even increase your exposure online from visitors taking photos of your campaigns and sharing them with friends.

Otherwise you can reach out to your partners and discuss ways to generate additional revenue by promoting their services in your place.

Why not place a couch like this for customers waiting for their turn?

6. Quests

If you have ever played video games, you are probably familiar with the idea of quests. Game architects come up with series of events that players need to follow in order to gain experience, receive gold, and advance in a game.

Quest “adventures” are available in large luna parks and all sorts of amusement parks around the world. Customers can get discounts for a site if they have visited a previous attraction prior to that, or in case they managed to escape from a tunnel within a certain amount of time.

Gamification is a big thing in today’s world, and while it has started primarily in the gaming communities and among teenagers, the past 10 years have switched the model completely, making it accessible to everyone.

When using a software for managing your queue, your customers don’t need to stand still in an actual line in order to keep their spot. Which is why venue owners can introduce monthly games where customers need to go through a series of challenges and achieve a priority status (through discounts or added service benefits).

In addition to making the whole experience fun and adventurous, it could allow your visitors to go to other venues in the same area while waiting, thus sharing customers with other local businesses and allocating buffer for more people waiting in your place.

7. Provide Longer Waiting Estimates

Now, this may seem contradictory as people hate waiting anyway. But there is one universal thing that customers hate more than waiting: waiting longer than what they’ve been promised at first.

It’s a common struggle for fast food chains who promise “fast food”, and often take much longer whenever several customers are waiting in line. This causes conflicts and even expressing dissatisfaction online in forums and social media.

Amusement parks often disclose extended waiting times and, whenever they deliver faster, customers are excited and thrilled about receiving outstanding customer experience. Airline companies follow that model, too.

This is not applicable in every single case, but works like a charm for many businesses - managing expectations through the “Underpromise and Overdeliver” mantra.

In many organizations, visitor sign-in is a crucial part of everyday operations. The sign-in allows visitors to share the reason of visit, names, date and time, and any other additional information that you want.

There are two types of sign-in sheets: digital and paper. Learn about the differences, or try them out yourself. It's worth noting that digital versions are easy to use and filled with data - with reports to help you keep track of all sign-ins. With paper, it is an tedious process of not only inventory management but data management.

Electronic Sign in Sheet

An electronic sign-in sheet allows visitors to sign in with privacy in mind, and organizations to collect waiting time and serving time information. No more trying to read illegible handwriting on paper. Get all the data in a few clicks.

Electronic sign-in allows you to greet visitors as soon as they walk in. It’s a platform where all your visitors can sign in by themselves. The staff can also act as “greeters” to welcome visitors individually. Get visitor data with an electronic sign in sheet.

Another benefit of replacing paper sign-in sheets, is that the record lasts forever. Ink fades away, and paper deteriorates over time. Not data.

Printing paper and wasting time on trying to read illegible handwriting costs you money.

Get access to digital sign-in. Save hours of valuable work time and get automatic reports.

Paper-based sign in sheets are more trouble than you assume. First, you must find a printable sign in sheet (which we are providing, for free). Then, you must keep printing the sign in sheets every single time you need it. If you have a lot of foot traffic at your location, it may be more than once a day. If you are a teacher, you surely have to print these out every day.

The most painful part about paper sign in sheets is...
You are responsible for analyzing and maintaining the data.

We live in an age where everything is digital. Reports can easily be made and in your inbox in a timely fashion. If you choose to use a paper system, you are choosing to waste time researching, printing, analyzing, and calculating. Not to mention the logistical nightmare of keeping all papers you're printing out.

All things said, if you like wasting paper, and more importantly, your valuable time, scroll down to download your sign in sheet template.

Sign in Sheet Template

Free sign in sheet template downloads in PDF, Word, Excel and Google Docs. If you were looking for a printable sign in sheet template, you can download them here. We offer various sign in sheet templates in popular formats. Our sign in sheet templates are printable in A4 format for ease of printing.

Visitor Sign In Template

A visitor sign in sheet allows visitors to sign in using simple fields such as name, comment and time in. A more detailed form may be visitor sign in/out template which is available below. This is the most basic and widely-used sign in sheet. An all-purpose design is used for this specific template, so you can make use of it in all cases.

• Download Visitor Sign In Sheet Template in PDF

Visitor Sign In/Out Template

A visitor sign in/out sheet has an additional field where visitors can write down what time they are signing out. This is similar to a visitor sign in template, but neatly packaged so you don't have to make any edits to the file above.

• Download Visitor Sign In Sheet Template in PDF

Patient Sign In Sheet Template

If you are an organization in health or medical industry, a patient sign in sheet is a must. Visitors can sign in to a patient sign in form and become a registered patient. Our patient sign in form includes names, doctors’ names, first time visitor status, time in/out. A generic patient sign in isn’t so flexible, while an electronic sign in sheet would easily allow you to ask visitors for more details.

• Download Patient Sign In Sheet Template in PDF

Medical Sign In Sheet Template

A medical office of any kind must have a sign in sheet, electronic or paper-based. This allows visitors to share their information with your office. By HIPAA laws, there are certain steps to take before using a paper sign in sheet. With Qminder, you can easily identify all your visitors and call them by first name - thereby avoiding any lawsuits and fines.

• Download Medical Sign In Sheet Template in PDF

Student Sign In Sheet Template

A sign in sheet for students is common among educational institutions. Whether it's for a university lecture, field day or a small elementary school class, a student sign in sheet is needed to keep track of class attendance.

• Download Student Sign In Sheet Template in PDF

Everyone hates waiting in line. Especially when the retail locations don't use a queue management system.

We've all been there. You're at the grocery store, and it's busy. You've come in to grab a few things and you scowl trying to find the shortest line to check out. You're not sure which line to pick, so you choose one and get ready to wait.

A minute goes by and you notice the line next to you is advancing faster. You do a quick queue switch. As soon as you do, your old line starts to speed up again and fills up with a few more people. You can do nothing but shake your head. And the same thing happens with traffic. The classic film "Office Spacequeue" opens with a sequence so recognizable that we can't help but laugh as the protagonist, late for work, tries to switch lanes only to be continuously stuck in the slower lane. These situations beg the question, why does it always seem like the other lane is moving faster?

The key word here is seem. The impression that the other queue moves faster, whether in a busy store or stuck on the highway, comes from a mental phenomenon known as illusory correlation. Illusory correlation is a key part of our cognitive functioning referred to as heuristics. Heuristics enables us to make connections and assumptions in order to think quickly and react to the world.

How illusory correlation works

Our minds are highly complex systems of memory, emotion and recognition. We are naturally more impacted by stronger sensations and experiences than weaker sensations, whether they be positive (joy, elation) or negative (despair, anger). Our memory reacts the same way, being more impressed by stronger experiences than weaker experiences. The stronger something is to us, the more it is salient. In short, we recognize and remember more salient things than less salient things.

Salient things are new, rare, shocking, or powerful. They stand out from the norm, so we pay more attention to them. Such cases include hearing about a crime committed by someone of a minority group. The crime is salient because it doesn't happen every day (hopefully!). The criminal in the minority is salient because he or she is less common than a regular person in the majority. This is exactly why we have stereotypes. We are more affected by salient information than normal information causing us to make generalizations and assumptions that we believe, regardless of whether there is real evidence to support it.

When other very salient things like situations and emotions affect us at the same time, we create the same sort of automatic assumption that the two go together. Take driving as an example. When you are coasting along normally, driving is a rather neutral experience. But when you are inching along the motorway in stop-and-go traffic, you become frustrated. Being idle counts as unoccupied time. We feel unoccupied time more than occupied time. This gives us a misconception of how long we wait, and it's one of the reasons why we hate waiting in lines. The stronger negative emotion makes the experience more salient.

Now let's drill down a little deeper into the experience of waiting in line. When we see everyone waiting together, the whole experience is negative in an equal way. If it's our line that starts moving, we rarely look around and say "haha! look at me!" We just proceed ahead and the experience becomes more neutral (less salient) to us. That means that our memory is less likely to cache that experience.

If we look around and notice that another line is moving, we feel worse because we want to be in that line. Instead of becoming more neutral, the experience becomes more negative (stronger) making it more likely to stay in our memories. If you've ever tried to switch lines and get stuck again, it becomes even more salient of an experience. It's this saliency that creates the correlation in our minds.

Certainly, there are many factors that can contribute to actually slower lines, like a lazy cashier or someone paying by check. And personality traits like the aggressiveness of a driver can determine how efficiently someone usually moves through traffic. In places like stores, banks, or government offices, queue management systems can be implemented to improve a customer's experience, sometimes with unexpected ideas. Elevators have mirrors as a way to improve customer satisfaction by reducing perceived waiting times. If you're occupied checking your hair or shirt, you won't feel like you're waiting as long. Providing customer service up the queue is another way to reduce perceived and real wait times, like when ordering at Starbuck's. The process of making a coffee starts up the line before the customer arrives at the register to pay, instead of waiting to get to the register and then waiting longer for the order. It's a more efficient queue management that results in happier customers.

The universe is not out to get you

The most salient thing in the world is ourselves. We perceive everything from our points of view and our points of view only. That means that each of us feels like a situation or experience is happening to us, not simply with us, also known as the fundamental attribution error. Illusory correlation is just our brains relying on fewer, stronger experiences to create wide generalizations, even though those correlations are not necessarily true.

So the next time you're waiting in line, it might make you feel a little better knowing that everyone else is thinking the same thing. And if you're the lucky one in the fast line, or in a place with a solid queue system, take a second to notice and enjoy it. You just might start making a positive correlation instead.

Why do we queue up for everything?

A couple of decades into the future, humans will review our CCTV tapes in the quest to understand what made us tick - and they will be dumbfounded.

We collectively do inexplicable things. Why do we keep on scrolling down our Facebook feeds without actually reading the posts? Why do we hate wearing seatbelts when they’re meant to save us from death? Why do we buy 30 bottles of bleach just because they’re on sale?

In about 50 years, all these won’t make sense.

If we hold a contest today on what’s the most mind-boggling thing people do, what do you think will win?

People queuing up before boarding a plane is sure to be one of the strongest contenders, right? It has to be.

Let’s give it a quick spin and look at the facts.

Race to the gate

Airlines and airport procedures have progressed pretty well in the last decade. When you book a flight, you usually get an assigned seat. Along with your ticket comes important information: boarding gate, flight schedule, and other things you have to know.

To you, it’s a race - whoever reaches the gate first gets the comfiest seats. Still, sitting on the floor is not too bad, especially when you’re close to the power sockets.

As you wait, you wonder whether that’s your plane moving near the boarding area. When the tarmac isn’t visible, you just crane your neck a bit each time you hear a voice through the PA system.

"Now boarding. Flight ABC123 to Denver." Nope, still not your flight.

You will get a few false alarms where you stand up thinking this one's finally yours, only to find others are still glued to their seats, watching Netflix on their tablets or cuddling with their beaus.

You know how it is. If you’re not quick, you’ll be way behind the line.

Here’s the question, though. You have a seat assigned to you. You’re just in front of the gate. Sometimes, you can even see the plane.

Did you ever stop to think why you rush and queue as the flight is boarding?

Here’s how the scenario usually looks like.

If your internal dialogue goes something like: "I’ll be agonizing in a skimpy seat on this airplane for the next six hours, I might as well stretch my legs here while waiting," then you’re wiser than most.

The truth is, it’s unusual to find a person sitting down when the attendant already announced boarding. Everybody’s rushing and rushing. Often, only to get stuck in line, not to get to the plane any sooner.

Familiar? Let’s examine the possible excuses, um, reasons.

Why do people want to line up so bad?

In this world that’s obsessed with getting things done fast, it seems counterintuitive to want to wait in line even when you don’t have to. Let this list shed light on this irrational behavior:

Herd mentality. "Everybody’s doing it, why won’t I?"

Reason #1

Going with the flow and making decisions based upon the actions of others could take you far in certain situations - say, riding a new technological wave. However, there’s no doubt that in this case, it’s just inefficient.

In a research about herd mentality, scientists from the University of Leeds found out that as the actions of as little as five people can influence a crowd of 100 to follow suit. According to their study, this subconscious behavior is found across species - not just humans!

It’s a competition 24/7. "I want to be ahead, always."

Reason #2

People want to be first, get the best, be the best. When in an airport or even in stores, you see people finding ways to save a spot in the line - never minding if they’re getting the stink-eye from everyone in line. The naysayers are reluctant to speak out, as if saying, "We understand".

Afraid to run out of bin space. It’s a myth.

Reason #3

Save for very, very rare circumstances, airplanes always have enough overhead bin space for every passenger. Most airlines have increased bin space to appease complainants. That said, this is just an excuse. There’s a deeper reason people fall in line even when there are seats around, and there’s a boarding system in place. It's FOMO - "Fear Of Missing Out" - in full effect.

The illusion of getting to the destination faster. "I’m in a hurry!"

Reason #4

The plane leaves when everyone is on board. That’s the non-negotiable truth. People rush into falling in line because they want to get to their destination faster and they feel being first on the plane will give them just that.

Columbia University Professor David Maister argued in his paper entitled The Psychology of Waiting Lines that "occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time".

Is lining up more productive than resting your behind and stretching your legs before a long flight? It may feel that way, but it certainly doesn’t work that way.

Is it good for business?

From a customer service perspective, there are valid reasons people rush in line at the airport. Perhaps they want a window seat? Maybe they’re a customer with special needs? Reasons like being over-the-top exhausted are valid as well.

However, as customer service professionals, you have to see this from the inside-out. Is unproductive queueing hurting your store’s performance? Does this line-stuffing, get-me-to-the-front customer attitude hamper your business?

If your customers are hurrying to get to the counter - you’re in bad shape. And it’s not necessarily the customer's fault. (Not that it ever is.)

Do you notice how entering huge stores like Target and Best Buy makes you feel like you just got into another dimension? Super bright lights, smiley faces, expansive white spaces, periodically interrupted by uber-colorful, popping signs. If you’re lucky, you also get the latest party hits blasting from the speakers.

Customers need to be kept busy - whether it’s speaking with a store specialist, checking out an interactive ad, or taking advantage of free samples. Otherwise, they’ll get in line pronto. Few products, no upsell. No sales for you, and a forgettable experience for the customer. You must always think about how to improve the retail experience.

While some businesses like Olive Garden get away with (and even make a profit!) keeping people in line for longer wait times, the results are not typical.

In business, you want to manage the queue and not let people’s herd mentality take over.

Remember:

• The longer people stand in line, the less likely they become repeat customers.
• The length of wait times is directly proportional to your customer service reputation.
• The more annoyed people get rushing past each other to the cashier, the more they associate a negative customer experience to your store.
• Honesty about wait times on busy days makes the wait more pleasant for the customer.
• Never skip a customer to favor another especially during rush hours.

Manage the customer’s journey - from stepping into the store, queue management, to stepping out. You wouldn’t want a mob of angry, frustrated buyers pressuring your cashier to pick it up and check them out as quick as possible. Not only does that disrupt your store's selling environment - it loses you sales and probably get you a couple of not-so-friendly Facebook reviews.

Keeping customer’s herd mentality from switching on is good for business. How do you keep it at bay in your store?

Long waits are one of the easiest ways to turn off customers in our on-demand culture of the 21st century. When reactions are measured in nanoseconds and everything is available at the tap of a thumb, effectively managing customer flow is more crucial than ever.

This is becoming even more true for businesses in the physical world too, like salons, clinics, barber shops, and veterinary centers; It's crucial that all businesses find a way to manage the queue.

Everyone is familiar with how appointments work, and in theory, appointments make a lot of sense.

People reserve a time, show up and sign in, spend exactly the right amount of time there, and everything runs smoothly. As anyone who has spent hours waiting for an appointment will attest, that system rarely works the way it should. There are simply too many factors that can cause the system to stop functioning, resulting in long wait times and unhappy clients.

What goes wrong with appointments

The appointment scheduling system is so easily jarred into inefficiency because of three primary factors. First, appointments take longer than expected. Dr. Anthony Youn explains that in his experience "a patient can single-handedly cause a physician to run 30 minutes behind" by asking questions about other issues or by holding back pertinent information until the end of the appointment. The second reason is that people show up late to their appointments. Dr. Youn reports that one-third of his patients shows up at least 10 minutes late. A few of those overrunning appointments coupled with a large portion of appointments arriving late leads to the third problem with scheduling: problems compound throughout the day. One late appointment could make everyone else late. Many late appointments will make everyone else late.

Moreover, in many instances, a problem arises which should be taken care of quickly. A dog gets sick, or a person comes down with the flu. It's a pain to have to make an appointment while suffering from an awful toothache for the same day, let alone having to wait for an appointment a few days later. Therefore, walk-ins are an inevitable part of business for salons, clinics, barber shops, and veterinary clinic managers. Creating better solutions for managing walk-ins can significantly help to improve the bottom line and customer satisfaction at the same time.

Looking at the restaurant world as an example, the trend veers towards no-reservation policies. When they are popular, buzz-worthy restaurants often refuse reservations in order to build up hype around their establishment. Plus, what dish wouldn't taste better if you wait an extra hour and a half to eat it? Economically, they want every table full and are not willing to risk a no-show.

Most clinics, veterinary centers, salons, and barber shops don't benefit from this luxury of famous chef star power. But there are a few key takeaways here. Empty tables are lost revenue. People tend to be late or not show up. Doctors, dentists, barbers, and hairstylists are subject to similar economic forces. Doing a better job of managing walk-ins is the way to capture this revenue and create a more positive customer experience.

Making walk-ins better

One doctor reportedly pays his patients $5 if he is running late. Other clinics have implemented 30-minute policies where no one who comes to the clinic waits more than 30 minutes to see a doctor. Aside from incentives and processes, technological innovation can help too. Appointment apps make scheduling automatic, where appointments can be made and adjusted in real time, marking a large improvement over the old sign-in sheet.

What's more, if the appointment and walk-in booking system can be improved by making walk-ins more accessible, then people will be more likely to stop by because they know they will get the service they need without wasting their day away. It's a virtuous cycle that will work in favor of the businesses that best manage their walk-ins.

Many people who show up on time to appointments and who don’t take longer than planned benefit from the traditional appointment booking system. But businesses need to do a better job of preparing and adapting when things start to get off schedule, as they inevitably do. When patients show up late, or take longer than usual, everyone suffers. That’s why finding ways to improve the management of walk-ins, such as technology solutions or incentives discussed above, can help every single customer have a better experience, walk-in or not.

The simplest and best way to increase sales is to greet every customer.

To understand how to improve the bottom line through customer service, let's take a step back and do some "reverse thinking." What are the lost opportunities when a customer is NOT greeted?

One obvious lost opportunity is this: customers who know exactly what they want but couldn't find it. Yes, some will proactively ask for help, but many more will not. In cases like this, not greeting a customer lets an easy sale walk out the door.

Another lost opportunity is in the area of trust. It is a proven fact that people buy more when they feel a sense of trust, and trust is best established in a retail setting by engaging potential customers in conversation.

The other key missed opportunity is for repeat sales. This is a big one. Many shoppers will give a store one chance and if they are ignored or receive poor service, that's it. They won't be back.

When you think in terms of missed opportunities, it's easy to see the customer service impact on sales.

Common Objections

As convincing as the evidence is for the connection between sales and greeting customers, some still have objections.

Objection 1. Some Customers Don't Want to Be Greeted

This is mostly a myth. Almost everyone will respond positively to a greeting that is warm and sincere. Remember, this isn't about being pushy, it's about opening a conversation. Stay away from canned phrases like "Can I help you?" and instead try something a little different. "Is there something specific I can help you find today?" or "Have you been in the store before?"

Objection 2. There Are Too Many Customers to Greet All of Them

There are definitely times when it's more challenging, but solutions are available. One key is to use client flow patterns in the store as a guide for strategically placing staff for maximum interaction with customers. Also, be aware that it is okay to say "Do you mind if I take a second to greet this customer and I will be immediately back to help you?" Once they say "yes," greet the other customer by saying "Thanks for coming in today, I'm helping another customer, but I will be able to help you as soon as I'm finished."

Objection 3. I'm an Introvert

Not everyone has to be the same personality to be successful in retail sales, but greeting customers is not an optional skill. You can train yourself to do this and it will become more natural quickly. One tip that might help: Remind yourself that you are a professional and that a true pro is willing to tackle challenges that don't come easily at first.

Finally, remember that greeting every customer is a simple way to quantify customer service if you don't use a customer experience system. It's a goal that is both clear and specific: Is every customer being greeted or not? Store teams need to challenge themselves to increase the bottom line by committing to greeting every customer.

Brick-and-mortar retailers are under pressure due to growing e-commerce. This is sometimes taken to the extremes, stating the end of physical stores in near future. "How can I fight Amazon?" is a commonly asked question.

The definite answer is that brick-and-mortar stores are here to stay. Combining physical locations with e-commerce capabilities, we are entering to an era of customer bliss where customer experience means something.

Sure, but what does it actually mean for retailers?

The landscape of commerce is changing and retailers do need to go with it to continue making revenue. Doug Stephens in his book The Retail Revival suggest that we are in the middle of the market dividing into two opposites of searching for experience or ease. He is backed up by John Gerzema and Michael D'Antonio who in their book Spend Shift argue that consumers are disregarding what has known to be middle-class average to experience high-fidelity or convenience.

What do they mean by this? On one hand consumers enjoy an easy access to a variety of products - convenience. A good example for this is Amazon with its unprecedented selection of products that are easier to purchase than ever before.

On the other hand, the consumer is looking for unique experiences coupled with high touch service, or in other words high-fidelity. Stephen has even suggest a new metric to be take into consideration to support this: experiences per square meter.

It is not as simple cut as consumer being one or the other, however. Your average buyer might log onto Amazon to make a 5-minute purchase of slacks for $15 after they had a concierge like service buying a classical Burberry trench coat for $2,000.

In this new age, the consumer is a creature who economizes on products s/he doesn’t care about so s/he could spend excessively on things that matter.

Facing this consumer, retailers need to ask what are they offering - fidelity or convenience.

To understand today’s consumers and why they spend on average 500% more than their parents in the same age, and how retailers can tap into this potential, we need to know where they came from.

Birth of retailing as we know it

Second half of 1940s saw the beginning of what was later states as the beginning of retailers heaven. Until 1960s, US continued having increase in births from year to year establishing the baby-boomers generation. Simply put - there were new consumers born every day more than ever before.

The generation born during baby-boomers are also known as the Jones for their eagerness to be like everyone else (or at least like their neighbors). “Keeping up with the Joneses” was a well sought after mahtra.

For retailers this meant having an increased amount of buyers who were looking for the same thing (what the neighbor has) making them similar in their consumption habits.

The majority of consumers were mostly white, middle-class children from two-parents, single-income homes. They wore similar clothes, ate similar food and lived a similar lifestyle.

All retailers needed to do was to meet the demands of an ever growing population that created a market of fairly homogenous buyers.

By the 1960s the Joneses kids were in grade school, listening to the Beatles sing A Hard Day's Night while eating a McDonalds burger 15 pennies a piece. With them grew the demand for more clothes, toys, food and everything else. New stores were popping up and today’s retail giants like Best Buy, MasterCard, PepsiCo, Wallmart, Target and many others were established.

James is happy with his burger. The same burger that all of his friends are eating and loving.

During 1970s the baby-boomers had grown up, entered the working force to bring home salaries themselves and married to have kids of their own. The sheer mass of babies born a decade ago were starting to make their own money and spending it too.

A retail bliss!

Retailers went on a building frenzy, constructing bigger and bigger shopping centers. Stephens calls this the retail industrialization, a time when retailing ceased to be a craft and instead became an occupation.

The new era would bear witness to the displacement of personal service, unique products and artful merchandising by stack-outs, blowouts and rollbacks. Quality would take a back seat to availability, and abundance would triumph over substance.

The Joneses are gone

Baby-boomers themselves failed to give birth to an ever growing army of consumers. Their kids, the Generation X is at least 15% smaller. It's nearly impossible for them to fuel the economy through everyday shopping the same way as their parents did.

Stephens and Gerzema-D'Antonio suggest that the current situation of retail isn't a dragged out recession like many would like to believe but an end of the 50 year long era that resembles hazed college years beer-party extravaganza. Many of those brands established in the 60s are experiencing the following hangover coupled with confusion.

More-so the era of middle-class Joneses, where everyone wanted to be like everyone else, is over. During the past 50 years many changes have occurred in the way people live, access to diverse backgrounds and opinions, the new debt filled rules of economy and many more. Buyers are returning to pre-baby-boomers era of consumption when quality trumps quantity and craftsmanship is back in fashion.

Consumers these days aren't as simply cut as they were just few decades ago, demanding more from brands.

In his book Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don't author, Kevin Maney, explains the difference of what he believes to be the new norm in consumption where buyers choose between fidelity and convenience.

"Fidelity is the total experience of something"- a brand, a retailer or a product - the sum total of price, service, merchandising, product quality and so on wrapped up into the feeling the consumer walks away with.

Convenience-based experiences, on the other hand, are comparatively ubiquitous, accessible and inexpensive. They are less about the experience and more about the sheer ease with which a product or service can be acquired.

The question that retailers need to ask themselves is - in which category do I belong? The middle ground is a deadzone of brands who consumers can’t trust to be one or the other. Think of it as the poisonous fog Jennifer Lawrence needed to battle in The Hunger Games.

Understanding product and service

In high-fidelity, the service or product is exclusive, premium priced, has limited availability/distribution, provides concierge level of service, have niche appeal and in the end the consumer develops emotional connection.

A typical high-convenience product would be ubiquitous, low prices, available through multiple channels/mass, low service or self-service, have wide appeal and consumer forms cognitive a connection.

Retailers should be aware that this isn't as simple question between cheap versus expensive products and services. Stephens brings an illustrating example between buying a coffee in Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts where the price of the coffee can be the same, but the experience that the buyer receives is very different.

The retailer’s mantra: Giving customer what s/he wants will increase revenue.

Easy enough, until the daily nitty-gritty sets in with product orders and clearing the aisle; cash register bells and a dirty floor calling out for a mop; assigning shifts and making your team happy.

In the middle of all of this you stumble upon one of the hundreds of articles that emphasise the importance of knowing what your customer wants. You think for yourself how you agree with this and will get to it as soon as this latest tax forms are filled.

And you are correct in doing so. I mean, the government won’t say "sure, fill them when you can because you need to concentrate on the customer right now".

Understanding your customers isn't about taking one hour or a day off to listen to them. Its about the daily small actions from retail manager to staff, from hello's to goodbye's to managing the queue, and everything after that.

Sure, the store won't cease to exist when the clerk is a bit rude or manager not informed with the latest consumer preferences. The store will continue existing, people will continue to come in and make a purchase. The manager and cashiers and other member of staff will continue to get their paycheck.

Lets think of a typical convenience store that carries a selection of everyday items from groceries to household supplies. On average, the size of the store is small so the selection is sparse. That is OK for the convenience store consumer because s/he is looking for a fast pickup of a general item on the commute from work to home. Due to its smaller size and thus more limited selection, the average prices in convenience store are higher than similar items in supermarkets.

The guests of this store are mainly limited to the neighbourhood making the customer base repeat visitors. The main question for the people living couple of streets over is if I should pop by the convenience store down the street for a carton of milk or should I go drive down to the supermarket to get it cheaper and grab some more things as I am there already.

At this point, I can guarantee that when that bloke down the block feels good in the convenience store, he will choose most of the time to go and by there even when overall it would cost him more. When the local store has neglectful staff or displeasing surroundings, he will decide to avoid the place unless it is absolutely necessary.

This is where the convenience store is leaving some serious money on the table.

How customer satisfaction influences sales: a formula

Using simple deductive reasoning, lets construct a formula to make us understand how good customer service effects store’s revenue.

How does customers positive impression influences the likelihood of coming to the store.

The satisfied customer

Coming back to Dave’s experience. Dave is making a cup of coffee while he realizes he’s out of sugar. He often frequents a convenience store three streets over in case of emergencies like this. The clerk there is a nice enough old man and he gets his essentials so without giving it much thought he decides to go there.

Rule 1     likes = comes

The aversive customer

Now the same thing in another neighbourhood happens to Mike. He is making a cup of coffee and realizes his out of sugar. The convenience store in his neighbourhood though is run by a man who hardly notices his customers having Mike had waited in the cash register without serving for what seems eternity. Its annoying to go there. Mike decides to go to the store farther away.

Rule 2 not like = avoids

Hereon we can use simple logic to derive how both of these behaviours from Rule 1 and Rule 2 influences revenue.

Rule 1
customer likes = comes = buys things = revenue

Rule 2
customer not like = avoids = doesn't buy things = lost revenue

A good wireless system can provide an easier way to manage your waiting lines with more flexibility in cost efficient way. It should also be integrated into your daily activities seamlessly.

When selecting a queue management system you should consider both your current needs and possibilities for down the line, let's say in 2 or more years. Terms like cloud based, wireless or server can be daunting but understanding what you need benefits you in long term.

In this post, we take a closer look at wireless queue management system pro’s and con’s. Lets take a look at couple of questions that will help you decide if wireless system is more suitable for you.

What do you want to accomplish?

If you are simply looking to manage waiting lines in your location, a simple number ticketing machine would suffice.

If you are also interested in understanding your clients more to provide better service and increase bottom line, read on.

Queue management system can give you valuable information about your visitors. You can use that knowledge to better understand how to improve your current service design.

Some of the information you can get is:

• how many visitors walk in,
• how long do visitors spend time in your location,
• what service are they interested in.

Combining this and other data with your operational insights lets you know how to increase your bottom line. The good news is that the more you use your waiting line software the more accurate data you have about your location.

Now, the question is where to keep all the information it and how to use it?

Your main choices are between maintaining your own server or in other words premise system and going wireless and cloud based.

Choosing to have your own server forces you to maintain that premise system, incl setting it up and running, and allocating additional resources for maintenance. As time goes on, you need to take care of updating the software and manage security related issues.

Wireless queue management system that is also cloud based holds or your data in the service provider servers. For you this means that the provider is responsible for successfully managing the premise systems and you don’t need to worry about it.

Are you already using a computer, tablet or smartphone?

Wireless based systems may allow you to use your existing computers and other devices, giving you the flexibly to design your own process of how to work.

It also means that in setting up customer facing sign-in and notification devices you don’t need to worry about connecting them to main computer or server.

Additionally different devices that are connected with queue management systems (i.e. sign-in device and clerk’s dashboard) don’t need to be connected to each other with lines.

This has an important side-effect for a location that is constantly evolving with customer wishes. Giving your hardware the flexibility to move around your location, you can test and see what type of room design works best.

Wireless app based queue management systems can be used in multiple ways. For example, using an iPad sign-in device can be stand-alone customer facing sign-in or can be also used by your staff as a greeter.

Software that works in any computer, tablet or smartphone with internet access gives on-the-go and live access to what is going on in the location.

Many wireless based software uses hardware from a trusted provider. This gives you the flexibility to choose yourself what system are you most comfortable with. This is especially handy when you can access your work-dashboard from any device that enables browser, may it be computer, tablet or smartphone.

How much resources can you allocate for maintenance?

In managing your system, you need to plan for software and hardware updates and maintenance.

The upside of wireless based software is that your ongoing costs of managing the system are small or non-existent.

Server based systems often need the provider to come on-site to update the software. You also have to take care your own premise systems. If you already are using your own servers then that’s of course not a problem.

Entrepreneurial people and large brands alike are testing the waters with what seems to be a new Holy Grail of retailing - a pop up shop.

Short-term stores isn’t necessarily a new thing in the retail space, but creative people and business managers both have rediscovered this format to let loose their imagination and test new concepts.

And rightly so.

Opening a brick and mortar store is a resource consuming project and pop ups is a neat tool to understand the risks involved. Before laying a huge sum of money on the table and signing a long lease with full storage, why not test the waters with a short term store.

Pop up gives the freedom to test how your store would do in different locations and various concepts from outrageous design to monochrome ease.

See more how to set up a pop up store here.

In the end, testing and analysing the results gives an understanding if the idea and execution was a success. From counting how many visitors you had to how many of them bought your service/product and what effect did your marketing effort have.

Based on the outcomes you can guesstimate what worked and what not.

Here are some of the points you should keep your eye on:

• Foot traffic. Mark down how many people came to your shop. If possible, ask neighbouring retailers how many people they usually have coming in during the week or month for comparison.
• Sales conversion shows you how many visitors made a purchase. Taking a look at what they bought gives you insight of what shoppers are interested in.
• Walk outs. You should also ask yourself what happened with the visitors who didn’t buy anything. Perhaps they were looking for something specific that you should start carrying or you should improve service to increase sales.
• What are visitors doing in your shop. See how your shop layout works for customers, what they see and if there are products that don’t even get seen.
• Sales data. See what and how much you sold in your store by product and employee.

Here is a list of 10 surprisingly simple ways to improve brick and mortar customer service. These tips help to improve your retail store team, from mindset to getting new results in a quick and simple way.

1. Raise your thumb in shift meetings

   Shift meetings are an easy way to set the tone for the day. There is a lot you can do in one of these huddle ups - recite sales goals, share sale tips, talk about offers on sale - the list is endless. In any case, its better to throw out the rules and have fun with this. Unfortunately we can’t all be Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday but we sure can give a thumbs up to the people we work day in and day out.

   

1. What annoys the heck out of your team?

   Obstacle course may be fun, but don’t tire yourself out. Is there something that happens multiple times in a day that makes working difficult? Perhaps it the outdated POS system? Or the store layout near impossible to move around? Do they have change in the register? You and your team might have small obstacles on the way that pile up and cause exhaustion.

   
2. What is the most bonkers sales tips your team has?

   Your sales team talks to the customers each day, every day. They know first hand what works and what not. Is there something particular they have noticed that makes customers happy and drives sales? Share them in the shift meeting and test out during the day.

   
3. To goal or not to goal?

   Have a chat with each member of your team about what do they want to get out of the day. Are they worried about keeping the store clean and presentable? Are they testing the new sales tips? Do they want to do reach a specific number in sales?

   Its a good way to understand what is on your teams mind and if you as a manager can help to focus them to achieve better results.

   
4. Beat fear of rejection.

   Fear can be a huge stopper in sales. Apparently you still feel bad even when you get rejected by a group you don’t want to join to the extent that it even makes you stupid. Duh.

   Jian Jiang did this by going after rejections, asking people to do the most audacious things (riding a police car for example). Don’t worry, there are more down to earth ways to beat fear of rejection too.

   Read more: Fear Of Rejection: 2 Ways To Beat It, Backed By Research.

5. Say "together"

   This word is just shy of having magical powers to increase performance:

   "The feeling of working together has indeed been shown to predict greater motivation, particularly intrinsic motivation, that magical elixir of interest, enjoyment, and engagement that brings with it the very best performance."

   Basically, the idea is to give your team a better feeling of belonging that makes the work harder for the group they belong to.

   Read more: Managers can motivate employees with one word.

6. Applaud for acts of kindness

   Support and acknowledge thoughtful interactions. Create an environment where talking with customers in an informal and easy manner is accepted.

   Read more: This picture taken outside of a Hardees is giving the Internet tons of feels.

   
7. What do you really mean?

   We don’t always speak the same language event when we do, you know what I mean? Dig deep into what customers need and be open to find surprising results. Have fun with it.

8. Take care of the last two seconds

   Customer service doesn’t end after the cash register bell. In fact, that might be when the most important part begins. As a world renowned psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains in TED talk how our whole human experience can be haltered by the memory of what happens in the end.

   See this: The riddle of experience vs. memory.

9. In the end, just love customer service

   Neil Patrick Harris and Joseph Gordon-Levitt demonstrate in a 5 minute sketch how emotions can be a musical or a horror movie. And what is customer service if it is not people communicating? Every connection, whether is small or big, has its surprises with a twist of oh-dear-lord and awesome on the side. It all depends how you look at it.

How does your retail store experience look like? Do your customers spend time with offered products? What products do they care about?

Retail management struggles daily with these questions wanting to find out how to increase sales.

To find out what products customers would potentially be interested in means giving them the freedom to walk around the store floor. Waiting lines can be an obstacle if not managed effectively.

Simply put, queues keep people pinned to a certain spot in a room. This takes away the opportunity to spend more time by going around the room to look at additional products they could be buying.

Customer experience scenarios

Lets assume a client comes into a store with a specific request. After she has selected what she came from, she either:

• stands into a waiting line when no staff is free to serve her or
• signs up for a virtual line and goes around the store to have a second look until she will be served.

The first option forces her to stand still amongst other buyers, leaving her to spend time by playing with her phone or thinking about where the world is heading towards.

The latter gives her time to take another look around the store and make sure she didn’t miss anything or discover new products she had no idea even existed.

Be mindful to use clear notifications how next customer is called. This will reduce your visitors worry of missing ones turn. Customer can see freely what the store offers.

In this simplified scenario, a small change from physical queues to effective virtual queues might lead to a increase in bottom line - just by letting your customers know that they are taken care of.

Follow these steps to retail success

If possible, use this as a team exercises. This gives you as a retail manager or in other roles a chance to share ideas. Service staff spend immense amount of time directly interacting with the customer. They might have valuable input.

1. Write down a short answer for the following questions:
   
   
   • How do your customers move around in your store?
   • What are the main spots they spend more time?
   • How does your staff approach customers?
2. Come up with quick and simple improvement ideas for each question.
3. Have an experiment.

Do this constantly to achieve results. Don’t worry about the results of the experiments initially. Doing this process weekly or monthly builds a culture for improvement and contributes to long term success.

Having trouble connecting with your customers? Try Qminder's queue management system that allows you to learn more about your customers.]]>

How does your retail store experience look like? Do your customers spend time with offered products? What products do they care about?

Retail management struggles daily with these questions wanting to find out how to increase sales.

To find out what products customers would potentially be interested in means giving them the freedom to walk around the store floor. Waiting lines can be an obstacle if not managed effectively.

Simply put, queues keep people pinned to a certain spot in a room. This takes away the opportunity to spend more time by going around the room to look at additional products they could be buying.

Customer experience scenarios

Lets assume a client comes into a store with a specific request. After she has selected what she came from, she either:

• stands into a waiting line when no staff is free to serve her or
• signs up for a virtual line and goes around the store to have a second look until she will be served.

The first option forces her to stand still amongst other buyers, leaving her to spend time by playing with her phone or thinking about where the world is heading towards.

The latter gives her time to take another look around the store and make sure she didn’t miss anything or discover new products she had no idea even existed.

Be mindful to use clear notifications how next customer is called. This will reduce your visitors worry of missing ones turn. Customer can see freely what the store offers.

In this simplified scenario, a small change from physical queues to effective virtual queues might lead to a increase in bottom line - just by letting your customers know that they are taken care of.

Follow these steps to retail success

If possible, use this as a team exercises. This gives you as a retail manager or in other roles a chance to share ideas. Service staff spend immense amount of time directly interacting with the customer. They might have valuable input.

1. Write down a short answer for the following questions:
   
   
   • How do your customers move around in your store?
   • What are the main spots they spend more time?
   • How does your staff approach customers?
2. Come up with quick and simple improvement ideas for each question.
3. Have an experiment.

Do this constantly to achieve results. Don’t worry about the results of the experiments initially. Doing this process weekly or monthly builds a culture for improvement and contributes to long term success.

Having trouble connecting with your customers? Try Qminder's queue management system that allows you to learn more about your customers.]]> Mari Suviste https://www.qminder.com/long-wait-time-can-reduce-add-on-sales/ https://www.qminder.com/long-wait-time-can-reduce-add-on-sales/#comments Wed, 27 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.qminder.com/long-wait-time-can-reduce-add-on-sales/

Add-on sales, or in another words upselling, might take up a large part of the revenue a business makes. Upselling happens when a customer has already made a decision to purchase a product and is offered an additional benefit e.g. insurance, additional gadgets, etc.

Its important to understand, that at the point of add-on sale, the customer has already decided to buy the core product making them committed before stepping up to wait in a queue to purchase.

What do people do while standing in queues?

We haven’t done a thorough scientific research on this here at Qminder, but our experience show that some think of next tasks for the day, whether its the amount of laundry waiting for them at home or work assignment that needs to be finished before the upcoming deadline. Whatever the specific thoughts are, they mostly are not about matters related to the store they are currently in.

If their commitment level for buying a product is shaky in the first place, the worst case scenario is they are thinking weather they have the time to wait there (all of that laundry needs to be washed ASAP!) or if they need to buy the thing right now at all.

Openness is important when upselling.

Especially when the wait has been tedious (frustration builds up thinking about all that laundry they could be doing instead of standing here), there is a high probability that by the time the customer gets to the checkout counter, they just want to get out of the store. While the staff is offering other beneficial items the client could actually use, their thought is million miles away ("Why are you talking to me about the XYZ, I need to get my laundry done!") and just don’t have the mental space to take into the additional benefits they could get.

Giving the client a chance to be the master of her own time, or in other words give them a chance to move around the store, doesn’t necessarily diminish the wish to get out of the store when she’s had too much time to check every detail of your offers, but her mind has been on things she theoretically could buy. Maybe now she has questions about something else too? Maybe he even found something else to buy on the spot. If a member of staff asks "is there anything else you are interested in" it gives her space to go through the things she saw.

How do you manage customers of various age groups? Customer experience solutions expert, Qminder, has a little insight to share...

Millennials are the talk of the year with more brands opening up new specialized concept stores to satisfy this market niche. Its not really news that the 19 to 29 year olds differ from their older counterparts but what does it really mean for physical retail stores?

25-year-old prefers personal touch, 35-year-old convenience

The 25 year old millennials look to technology to collect information online but hopes for personal touch in making the actual sale in comparison to the 35 year old that prefers online shopping more if possible.

"Gen-X and Boomer shoppers may buy online more, but Young People (a.k.a Millenials) actually use interactive technologies more for utilitarian/information gathering purposes and entertainment" - Wayfind (for the research on how millennials differ see here).

Retailers need to ask themselves how to satisfy shoppers emotional experience both offline and online. This has created an interesting mixture of apparel, food and other retail brands opening flagship stores that compete with activities specifically catered for leisure times.

Online benefits demanded from offline shopping

Online shopping has set standards that have, for better or worse, spoiled the consumer to take for granted seamless service and fast delivery without needing to pay extra price for it. Bridging the gap between comfy and fast online purchasing with the real world's ruggedness (in the real world we are humans after all) is a challenge to be overcome in the upcoming years.

Physical locations aren’t anymore about "brick" and "mortar" but also about the technology seamlessly integrated into consumption. Stores themselves need to continue the communication that has been happening online when consumer steps into the store.

Qminder helps physical locations make consumer experience more personal and gives customer insight through a simple cloud based queue management system.

How do you manage customers of various age groups? Customer experience solutions expert, Qminder, has a little insight to share...

Millennials are the talk of the year with more brands opening up new specialized concept stores to satisfy this market niche. Its not really news that the 19 to 29 year olds differ from their older counterparts but what does it really mean for physical retail stores?

25-year-old prefers personal touch, 35-year-old convenience

The 25 year old millennials look to technology to collect information online but hopes for personal touch in making the actual sale in comparison to the 35 year old that prefers online shopping more if possible.

"Gen-X and Boomer shoppers may buy online more, but Young People (a.k.a Millenials) actually use interactive technologies more for utilitarian/information gathering purposes and entertainment" - Wayfind (for the research on how millennials differ see here).

Retailers need to ask themselves how to satisfy shoppers emotional experience both offline and online. This has created an interesting mixture of apparel, food and other retail brands opening flagship stores that compete with activities specifically catered for leisure times.

Online benefits demanded from offline shopping

Online shopping has set standards that have, for better or worse, spoiled the consumer to take for granted seamless service and fast delivery without needing to pay extra price for it. Bridging the gap between comfy and fast online purchasing with the real world's ruggedness (in the real world we are humans after all) is a challenge to be overcome in the upcoming years.

Physical locations aren’t anymore about "brick" and "mortar" but also about the technology seamlessly integrated into consumption. Stores themselves need to continue the communication that has been happening online when consumer steps into the store.

Qminder helps physical locations make consumer experience more personal and gives customer insight through a simple cloud based queue management system.

"I know this great queue coming up today past 8 PM. Lets go check it out!" - Said no one ever.

Queues can be a good sign, especially when they are long. It may mean your business is thriving. After all, a queue is a line of people who want to buy something from you. But it also may mean that you have an opportunity to increase your cash flow even more in couple of simple steps.

Make queues shorter

This might seem counter intuitive at first but the logic behind this is that instead of keeping clients pinned to a spot, let them get familiar with your other products or services by using a queue ticketing system.

A good waiting line system lets the business know how their customers behave, by e.g. showing the peak hours for high volume. If you know that evenings are the most popular time to get your product, put some more staff there, instead of other times that are more manageable.

Get rid of lines

And by this we don’t mean get rid of your customers! Instead, we ask you why put your clients stand in a specific spot in queue when they could sign up for service and walk around to explore what else the store has to offer them.

Use virtual queues

Customers can tell what they are looking for as soon as they step in the store. Knowing what is expected, gives sales personnel the chance to react to clients needs quicker with an added personal touch.

Lets test this. Which one sounds better:

• "Number 153! Is number 153 here?"
• "Hi John, I see you are interested in our sports goods? Let me show you what we have!"

Qminder can help you with:

• customer insights like peak hours and waiting times to allocate staff;
• virtual queuing with customer request tag’s;
• personal touch by signing up with customers name.

Start using Qminder to manage waiting lines and get customer insight!

"I know this great queue coming up today past 8 PM. Lets go check it out!" - Said no one ever.

Queues can be a good sign, especially when they are long. It may mean your business is thriving. After all, a queue is a line of people who want to buy something from you. But it also may mean that you have an opportunity to increase your cash flow even more in couple of simple steps.

Make queues shorter

This might seem counter intuitive at first but the logic behind this is that instead of keeping clients pinned to a spot, let them get familiar with your other products or services by using a queue ticketing system.

A good waiting line system lets the business know how their customers behave, by e.g. showing the peak hours for high volume. If you know that evenings are the most popular time to get your product, put some more staff there, instead of other times that are more manageable.

Get rid of lines

And by this we don’t mean get rid of your customers! Instead, we ask you why put your clients stand in a specific spot in queue when they could sign up for service and walk around to explore what else the store has to offer them.

Use virtual queues

Customers can tell what they are looking for as soon as they step in the store. Knowing what is expected, gives sales personnel the chance to react to clients needs quicker with an added personal touch.

Lets test this. Which one sounds better:

• "Number 153! Is number 153 here?"
• "Hi John, I see you are interested in our sports goods? Let me show you what we have!"

Qminder can help you with:

• customer insights like peak hours and waiting times to allocate staff;
• virtual queuing with customer request tag’s;
• personal touch by signing up with customers name.

Start using Qminder to manage waiting lines and get customer insight!

Before Qminder, the Sprint store was more like a bank and provided an environment that was not conducive to interaction between the sales representatives and customers. There was no waiting line management of any kind.

Kirby Ulmer, sales representative, says: "In the past we had stanchions and belts like in an airport, and it was like cattle. With Qminder, we have people everywhere and they’re not bunched together. They are not standing at one place like a herd of cattle."

Sprint’s goal has always been to make the stay in its store as pleasant as possible and provide the best possible customer experience.

Making every interaction as personal as possible

Customers hate taking numbers. Each customer gets greeted right away. Once the iPad Sign-In application has the customer’s name, it tells to browse the store and that employees will be with the customer as soon as possible.

George Frankie McAllister, store manager, says: "Qminder is for the customer experience. We want to make every interaction as personal as possible."

Statistics improves efficiency

Qminder provides detailed and precise statistics about store visitors. Store managers can better manage their employees. They know exactly when the shop has spikes or slower times.

"Once I saw the statistics, I was shocked. Who is productive, who is helping that kind of customer. I can track my personnel during the day. Qminder data is a valuable tool when you have one-to-one conversations with your employees," adds George Frankie McAllister, store manager.

Qminder helps Sprint to boost sales and makes customers happy

Sprint stores with the Qminder system constitute a perfect use case demonstrating how retail stores can significantly improve their customer service, making it as personal as possible and can boost sales as well.

George Frankie McAllister, store manager, confirms: "Since Qminder, our numbers have increased. Our numbers have spiked and now we’re consistently above 110 percent all of the time."

Read detailed case study and explore how Sprint did it!

Sign up for Qminder’s free trial right now and improve your customer experience today!

In theory a sign-in sheet would gather the names and reason of visit to enable employees offer faster and better customer service. The reality is that most of the sign-in papers are a mess.

• It’s not always clear for the visitor what to put down there or how to word the reason of visit.
• Handwriting is a challenge to read.
• People get striked out all the time.
• In the end of the week the managers have to spend hours just counting the scribbles in hopes to get some kind of statistics.

Every queue management system's main goal should be to offer better customer service. This can be an old take-a-number system, a waiting list or a sign-in sheet of paper.

A sign-in sheet is typically used to record attendance, to get the name and reason of visit. Although most establishments would like that information it simply isn’t very efficient or fast.

Qminder Sign-in app on the iPad offers both the personal touch and efficiency.

But you don’t have to take our word for it. Click on the video and check out some other locations who are benefiting from Qminder:

Ditch your binder, grab an iPad and you can set up Qminder for your venue within minutes.

Previously we shared how the most valuable company in Latvia, Latvenergo, moved its queue management to the cloud. Now we would like to show how the company is using business intelligence tools integrated with Qminder.

Latvenergo uses Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise tools to evaluate customer data and make predictions for the future.

The company’s operating, finance, marketing, and customer departments use business intelligence tools to prepare reports for management and to carry out strategic planning.

About Latvenergo's Data Warehouse

Latvenergo has a data warehouse for its financials, clients, customers, electricity, and more. The company uses the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise package, which allows for data analysis, the creation of graphs, and a better understanding of the business.

Before, Latvenergo maintained three different queue management systems. The company had trouble obtaining customers’ data because the data was not centralized. Maintenance was complicated and caused many problems.

The resolution was they would integrate Qminder's queue management system to Oracle with API.

Integration

To obtain customer data from Qminder, the Latvenergo development department uses our public API.

Every night, visitor data is copied to Latvenergo’s in-house data warehouse using the JSON format with the help of the Oracle Data Integrator tool.

"The Qminder API is understandable for our programmers and is very well documented," says Aigars Akmens, DWH analyst at Latvenergo.

Benefits

The Qminder API for the Latvenergo development team is simple and understandable. The company needed just a couple of days to get the system up and running. Our documentation is well written, so the company could understand and complete necessary tasks.

"To integrate Qminder with the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise was easy; we just needed to find out how to get the right data," says Aigars Akmens, DWH analyst at Latvenergo.

It’s much easier to maintain one centralised and well-documented system that requires less work to update or change.

Says Aigars Akmens: "A solution that works with one centralised server is much more simple to maintain and support."

The customer and marketing departments can now make meaningful, precise summaries for strategic planning, and understand their business even better.

"We check and analyse data every day and see if the main metrics are going up or down. This is a really good indicator if something is bad or good," says Inese Vaineiķe, head of the Customer Service Unit.

Want to see how the fastest growing city in Metro Vancouver, Canada, implemented Qminder in their brand new city hall?

Surrey opened its new city hall on February 17, 2014. It is a modern, energy-efficient building located in the city centre. It serves more than 8,000 visitors every month.
Consequently, it needs a modern queue management system.

The city’s IT department came upon Qminder and used our free trial to test the service.
"Qminder was everything we were looking for to get up and running in the new city hall." — Don Kidd, Audio and Visual Specialist.

The Setup

To speed the queuing process, Surrey set up two Qminder printers.
Three Samsung Smart TVs with Qminder Connect are placed throughout the waiting area to show line information.
At the counters, clerks use Google Chrome with the Qminder dashboard to call the next person in line.

The Benefits

The main reason city staff members implemented Qminder in the new city hall was because they wanted to modernize the building and ensure improved performance for customers.

"Our main goal for integrating Qminder was to make it more efficient for our customers." — Steve Kish, Desktop, Mobile and Telecom Services Manager.

Qminder can be set up quickly and is easy to use. Just connect the device to the Internet. That’s it.

"The Qminder solution is complete. We got literally up and running within a couple of days." — Steve Kish.

With Qminder, the city of Surrey can generate meaningful, precise and real-time statistics about its customers—an ability it didn’t have before—and use those discoveries to make changes in the way it does business.

"We need to adjust the ratio between customers and employees." — Steve Kish.

The city of Surrey provides a prime example of the ways in which a modern-thinking city management can improve its services and enjoy cost efficiency through the use of Qminder.

Try Qminder right now and improve your service today!

This time we want to show how one of the biggest archery stores in the world improved their customer service and made it personal with help of Qminder iPad app. Lancaster Archery Supply is one of the largest 3D archery shops in the world, and has customers from across the globe.

Lancaster Archery Supply used the old-fashioned ticketing system Turn-O-Matic. With this system clients didn’t like to be regarded as numbers. Staff couldn’t track the number of people in the store or why those people had come.

"The old ticketing system, Turn-O-Matic, was very impersonal. We couldn’t track how many people were waiting and where they were," says Chris Scott, showroom manager at Lancaster Archery Supply.

The Queue and Customer Support Setup

The Qminder setup in Lancaster Archery Supply consists of three main steps.
Next to the store’s entrance, in an iPad where customers can enter their names to get help from the archery TechXPerts.
Lancaster Archery is proud that it also has mobile check-in capabilities. Using the Qminder mobile application, clients can check in on their way to the store.
Three Samsung Smart TVs with the Qminder application let customers know when they will be called.

Scott explains: "Our customers know that they are waiting for the service and can see on the TV if they are the next up. They feel free to move around the showroom."

The archery TechXPerts can call their next customers from the computer, a tablet or even a phone. No barrier exists between them, like it usually does when they are behind the serving desk.

The Benefits of a Queue Management System

Now Lancaster Archery Supply staff members greet every customer by name. At the same time, clients are more open, a trait that leads to more sales.

"Qminder has significantly helped in the daily work with customers. Now a consumer has a name, not a number. We can greet with a more personal environment," says Scott.

Now clients can see how long their wait times will be. Qminder has completely eliminated Lancaster Archery Supply’s customer claims about waiting for the service.

Scott confirms, "Clients exaggerated the time of waiting, but now we can see how long it actually is."

Read detailed case study about Lancaster Archery Supply and explore how a retail shop improved their showroom and increased their sales.

Try Qminder and make your service personal right now!

This time we will share how the most valuable and biggest company in Latvia Latvenergo adapted Qminder and moved the queue management system to the cloud. The firm was established on 22 December 1939 and operates in electricity segment. All shares of Latvenergo are owned by the State.
They have 10 customer centers all around the Latvia. The monthly visitor count varies between 15,000 and 20,000 visitors.

Latvenergo already had experience with Qmatic, Qnet and EWQ, but were not satisfied with any of the previous services. The time had come for new solution to improve experiences.

The Queue Setup

Every branch has setup up our modern take-a-number printer and a Samsung Smart TV with Qminder application to show the line status and notify visitors about their turn. In three of the largest locations, Samsung tablets are used as desk monitors.

To call the next visitor, clerks use the same computers that they've had before. No extra hardware was needed.
Furthermore, visitors can queue up using the Qminder smartphone application.

Samsung LFD screens with Magic Info digital signage software are put up to show news related to Latvenergo and other useful information for their clients.

"Qminder is a modern and innovative queue management system following the latest trends," told Inese Vaineiķe, Head of Customer Service Unit.

Business Intelligence Tools

The Customer Service Unit is using Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise to follow actual data from all customer centers. Employees can work with data, make graphs and analyze the data. This is done using Qminder open API.

"Software as Service and cloud solutions are becoming a standard even for bigger companies," said Valters Bušs, service manager in the IT Service Management Department.

The Benefits of Queue Management

Qminder is working in the cloud and is a unified source for statistics. Latvenergo employees can check statistics in real time. The system is easy to maintain and support.

"Now it is super simple to change the layout of any customer center to match visitor needs. With previous systems, it was hard and almost impossible," explains Andris Skadiņš, IT&T Sales Director.

Read detailed case study about Latvenergo and explore how a big governmental business company benefit from cloud queue management.

Try Qminder right now and improve your service today!

Qminder has been set up in Verizon retail store with cooperation of Wireless Zone, the largest franchise in the US.

Verizon Wireless is the first wireless broadband network provider in USA. The company is a recognized leader in customer service, investing heavily in services and self-service tools that consistently deliver customer satisfaction. They operate in more than 2330 retail locations and provide wireless services to 122 million subscribers.

"We have a high volume of customers which sometimes results is a number of customers waiting. Qminder helps us take care of customers in the order they arrived, and gives them peace of mind, from knowing they are in the queue." tells David Bogart, Owner of Wireless Zone store in Lockport, NY.

Previously the problem of waiting caused many complaints from the clients. How it was managed wasn’t clear nor understandable by visitors.

"Sometimes with greeters, sometimes with waiting lists maintained as customers entered the store, and sometimes by asking, "Who's next"?" explains David Bogart.

The setup at Verizon is simply an iPad for clients to line up, by selecting the desired service and entering their names. It is placed near the entrance for all to see. Employees see the visitors from their computers, tablets or smartphones and greet them by name. Meanwhile customers could browse around in the store and don’t need to stand in a line or a serpentine maze.

Use case of Verizon Wireless retail location is an inspiring example of how large enterprise can simply increase their much valued customer satisfaction and sales by using Qminder tablet application.

Try Qminder right now and improve your service today!

Carrier Enterprise loves the Qminder provided statistics. Qminder is their choice of line management system.

So how did Qminder resolve the problem? We provided a visitor sign in solution and managed the queues.

Carrier Enterprise is a subsidiary of the largest independent HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) distribution company in the world, Watsco, Inc. They distribute air conditioners, as well as a full-line of aftermarket parts, supplies and accessories.

During the summer months the location can have more than 40 customers waiting in the showroom for assistance, with a total wait time up to an hour. Many times the customers were waiting in the wrong spot, or didn't need to wait in showroom at all. They used to have an old fashioned take-a-ticket system which didn’t satisfy their needs.

The president of Carrier Enterprise found Qminder while googling for a solution and tested it out quickly himself. After a successful pilot they started to use Qminder in one location, with more to be added in the future.

In this location they are using a greeter with an iPad to take the personal approach to every customer. While waiting, visitors can browser around the showroom and be sure that they will be called. Called customer names are showed on the regular TV which they had before.

"Things are going really well here and we are loving the information we are getting so far. The response from our customers has been great as well," says Shelley Powell Graham, Store Manager of Carrier Enterprise Carrollton, TX.

Carrier Enterprise loves the Qminder provided statistics. Exploring the data they can make better assumptions how to improve their customer service in future. This gives a clear overview what exactly is happening in the store.

"I cannot begin to tell you how amazing it is to have this data and we have already been able to positively impact our business," explains Mrs. Powell Graham.

The use-case of Carrier Enterprise is a nice example how Qminder can help to improve customer service, sales and understand the business from a new angle.

She adds: "We are really loving the system and the data that we are able to use from it."

Try Qminder right now and improve your service today!

Every business should focus on the customer. Queue barriers are ineffective at doing that.
How do we provide the best queue management system across various industries?

Picture this: you are at the airport, between you and the check-in desk there are miles of rope and barriers - what do you do? You know that you should enter the queue-maze, but there is nobody in it.
Can you approach the desk outside of the queue and take the risk? Or do you have to run left and right for the amusement of the airline employees watching you?

Queue barriers are an awful way to manage a waiting line. A location using this kind of system essentially sees their visitors as mindless cattle.

While we can somewhat understand such frigid approach at busy international airports, seeing this used at banks, museums or state offices is absurd.

Maybe these locations aren't concerned about queue management or customer service. Maybe they don't care about you at all.

What’s wrong with queue dividers?

• It forces visitors to take an unnecessary path. It is just frustrating to walk 20 feet left and right multiple times, when the destination is 5 feet in front of you. Even worse with luggage or a shopping basket.
• Once in the queue, there is no (easy) way out. Whether you want to pick up another purchase or realize you are in the wrong line – it’s either a lot of "Excuse-me’s" or limbo time. Good luck getting back in!
• Some location use ropes to create separate lanes. In theory to straighten the lines and thus create some order. In practice it usually is to make it impossible for you to switch lines, when there is someone holding up yours.
• The unnecessary path is totally ridiculous when you still have to zig-zag run the constructed maze even if there are no people waiting.
• You can’t relax. In a serpentine maze, you can’t ever feel comfortable! You can’t even sit on your own luggage not to mention a couch or a chair. Instead you have to constantly shift tiny lengths or face the wrath of people behind you.
• It’s passive. Often you have to wait a long time before being told that you are in the wrong line or the service is not currently available.
  Visitors are happy to engage beforehand and let you know about their needs. Especially if they see this helping to make their visit faster and better.

Your visitors are not cattle. Treat them better!

To use Qminder, it’s as easy as just setting up an iPad on site. Visitors can then choose the service they need and enter their name. Then visitors know that they are now in the virtual line and you have a head start to provide excellent customer service. Some of them might even have a smartphone and commit to your location from distance with our free smartphone app.

Every business should focus on the customer. Queue barriers are ineffective at doing that.
How do we provide the best queue management system across various industries?

Picture this: you are at the airport, between you and the check-in desk there are miles of rope and barriers - what do you do? You know that you should enter the queue-maze, but there is nobody in it.
Can you approach the desk outside of the queue and take the risk? Or do you have to run left and right for the amusement of the airline employees watching you?

Queue barriers are an awful way to manage a waiting line. A location using this kind of system essentially sees their visitors as mindless cattle.

While we can somewhat understand such frigid approach at busy international airports, seeing this used at banks, museums or state offices is absurd.

Maybe these locations aren't concerned about queue management or customer service. Maybe they don't care about you at all.

What’s wrong with queue dividers?

• It forces visitors to take an unnecessary path. It is just frustrating to walk 20 feet left and right multiple times, when the destination is 5 feet in front of you. Even worse with luggage or a shopping basket.
• Once in the queue, there is no (easy) way out. Whether you want to pick up another purchase or realize you are in the wrong line – it’s either a lot of "Excuse-me’s" or limbo time. Good luck getting back in!
• Some location use ropes to create separate lanes. In theory to straighten the lines and thus create some order. In practice it usually is to make it impossible for you to switch lines, when there is someone holding up yours.
• The unnecessary path is totally ridiculous when you still have to zig-zag run the constructed maze even if there are no people waiting.
• You can’t relax. In a serpentine maze, you can’t ever feel comfortable! You can’t even sit on your own luggage not to mention a couch or a chair. Instead you have to constantly shift tiny lengths or face the wrath of people behind you.
• It’s passive. Often you have to wait a long time before being told that you are in the wrong line or the service is not currently available.
  Visitors are happy to engage beforehand and let you know about their needs. Especially if they see this helping to make their visit faster and better.

Your visitors are not cattle. Treat them better!

To use Qminder, it’s as easy as just setting up an iPad on site. Visitors can then choose the service they need and enter their name. Then visitors know that they are now in the virtual line and you have a head start to provide excellent customer service. Some of them might even have a smartphone and commit to your location from distance with our free smartphone app.

Tele2 AB Group is one of Europe’s fastest growing telecommunications operators, with 15 million customers in 10 countries. In Latvia, Tele2 was the first mobile operator to breach one million customer threshold in 2006 and currently with 46% market share of active voice service customers Tele2 focus is to cement its position as the leader in mobile communications area.

Qminder was chosen for queue management in 6 locations in Latvia and more to be coming this year. With the system being in daily use for more than 6 months the feedback has been positive.

New queuing concept

Last year Tele2 started to remodel its clients’ centers by introducing a new design concept elaborated of Tele2 AB Group in close cooperation with Swedish company called "Boys don’t cry".
The new layout tears down the boarders between clients and employees for a better customer service.

"Tele2 aims to achieve that customers could browse around the store while waiting and Qminder is doing this right now", tells Arnis Pucins, Director of the Tele2 Retail Department.

The Setup

Tele2 is using the Star Micronics AsuraCPRNT Printer and Samsung Smart TV.
To learn more about the setup visit our customers page for in-depth analysis.

Arnis Pucins adds: "Tele2 likes the simple and quick setup of Qminder with no servers to setup and no software to install. Time spend on the setup was rather short and it was easily understandable for the company and our employees."

As a fellow innovator in the mobile communications area, Tele2 also promotes the Qminder smartphone application for their mobile customers.
Many of Tele2 clients’ centers are located in shopping malls. Customers using smartphone app can visit other stores and be sure that they will not miss their turn.

"With Qminder smartphone application customers can easy keep track of the queue and use their time as they wish," explains Mr. Pucins.

In conclusion

Use case of Tele2 is a inspiring example of how a telecom company can simply increase their customer satisfaction and sales by using Qminder.

This is a nice example how such big company sees potential in cloud solution. Qminder allows to maintain and to see an overview of a client center from the distance.

Most of us are familiar with queue management system at banks, telecom shops or governmental offices. This has been the status-quo for 20 years, because the cost of these system has been absurd and setup complicated.

This time we want to share light through three use-cases how Qminder is helping new type of customers and has been valuable in different schools around the world.

RE2 Int. Computer School, Ipoh, Malaysia

Established in 2002, the RE2 International Computer School was the first school with well-developed ICT curriculum for Primary School and Secondary School students in Malaysia according to collaboration with The United States of America and United Kingdom National Curriculum.

They have set up an iPad for the parents of the children to line up when they come to collect the report cards.
They have also enabled the option to queue up remotely from the Qminder smartphone application.

"I like Qminder because the interface is very simple and clear, setup configuration is also easy."
- Catherine Teh Pei Yee

The Central Institute of Technology, Perth Western Australia

"Qminder, it's a fantastic app. I teach at The Central Institute of Technology, Perth Western Australia. At the end of the term many students need my assistance, often at the same time.
Qminder inside the computer classroom environment works brilliantly. It enabling students to remotely add themselves to the queue via their mobile phones or web browser. The ticketing system keeps students in check and breaks the serve me now attitude. Educators will find this system a God send. Its elegantly simple and really helps to manage the demands of modern students"
- Lawrence Grosvenor

The Ball State University, USA, Indiana

The Ball State Universities Scholarships and Financial Aid department, had a problem where at peak hours they had a 1-2 hour wait time and were looking to improve their customer services.

Due the nature of their services, they opted in for the option where they are adding people into the virtual line manually. A member of the staff greets the students and adds them to the appropriate queue. From the waiting area the students are called by name to the correct desk.

"It is going fantastically! My users love the software and how we are working the lines this year. The primary customer service person answers general questions so she is the one you see with a lot of volume. Our advisors respond to more complex, in-depth situations so they see fewer students but they take longer. Then we have some part-time assistants who take turns helping our primary desk person."
- Melissa Shearer Associate Director of Operations

Qminder has been a valuable help for all these schools in Malaysia, Australia, and USA.

Qminder isn't just for schools. Read about queue management in the healthcare industry.

The set-ups and waiting lines have been different, but the unifying trait is the care of customer service and strive for efficiency.

To learn more about different use-cases of Qminder check out our use-case page or just set it up yourself. It really is that simple. :)

Qminder is a great tool in every location where there are people waiting in line. Here's how we helped manage the line at Project Homeless Connect.

On September 19, 2013, volunteers at United Way of Central Maryland's Project Homeless Connect helped change the odds for more than 2,000 homeless and low-income people in central Maryland.
Qminder was there to help with the waiting lines and make the event more efficient.

"The event went very well. We were expecting approximately 1,200 people at the event, and we ended up serving more than 2,000. We even had to turn away about 700 people who were still in line to get into the event. We were overwhelmed with the sheer number of participants, and even though we had about 1,300 volunteers, we still were short staffed." – said Scott Gottbreht, Project Manager at Homeless Connect.

Qminder was set up for some of the most essential and longest lines like dental care, social security cards and employment assistance.

Mr. Gottbreht: "For some of the lines, Qminder was a great asset. Interestingly, several of the Qminder lines had long lines to get a Qminder number, and some of the Qminder number queues were in the hundreds, with wait times of several hours."

We, at Qminder, are very happy that our system helped both the volunteers and participants.

If you have a similar event coming up and think that you could benefit from Qminder, then set it up yourself or contact us by email.

No trained technicians or special configuration was needed and everything was done by the volunteers.

Fred Smaklin, a professor at Baltimore Law School and a volunteer in the Planning Committee added:
"Qminder was a great success at Project Homeless Connect 2013. Even our older volunteers who are less comfortable with technology found Qminder easy to navigate and use."

A waiting line consists of two parts. Firstly entering the queue and secondly being notified about your turn.

Qminder has multiple options to queue up:

• Entering your name on a on-site tablet.
• Taking a ticket from your smartphone remotely.
• Taking a paper ticket from the printer.

This time it is about but the second step: how to guide the visitors to the right person.

To help Qminder customers with this, we have come up with an innovative queue management solution based on Android tablets.

The tablet will blink brightly with the customer’s number or name and make a sound to notify them about their turn and where to come.
No need for cabling as everything will work over Wifi.

When using desk monitors, you can avoid the situations where people approach desks without being called first.

This will lower the stress of the staff and they can finish up with the previous session, without being rushed by the next visitor.

On top of that, Qminder offers the analytics side of your physical location as well. Learn about how quickly your lines are moving and how effective your employees are.

The National Blood Service of Latvia is using Qminder and this is how they are set up. The donors usually walked in with no prior appointments.

The wait time to donate blood is usually 15 minutes, but it can be as long as 45 or even more. Previously donors didn’t have an overview how long they needed to wait.
Not everyone qualifies to donate blood and some are sent back - this may speed up the movement of the queue. Donors missing their turn was a regular problem.

To offer the best solution for the National Blood Service we partnered with Tele2 and Samsung.
Tele2 is one of Europe’s fastest growing telecom operators and is providing the 3G Internet.
Samsung is world's largest information technology company and supplied a Samsung Galaxy Note Android tablet to be used for Qminder.

Queue Management App

Donors can queue up with the free Qminder smartphone application and they can be sure that will not miss their turn again.
The app informs them about the waiting time and how many people are before them – all information is updated in real-time.
Qminder will remind you with notifications even when your phone is locked and in your pocket.

Self Sign-In to the Queue

Visitors who don’t have smartphones can line up by just entering their name into the Samsung Galaxy Note Android tablet. The tablet will also inform them about the estimated time of service and how many people are already in line.

The Director of the State Blood Donor Centre Gita Nemceva says:
"We know that waiting before blood donation process is a problem. We are following latest technologies and solutions therefore we and donors are happy that Qminder supports blood donation community and provides this great solution."

To set up Qminder like this, you don't need more than a tablet and to sign up on our website.
Try it out right now!

With Qminder there is no software to download, server to maintain nor specific hardware at your work station. You can log in from your browser and manage the line from there.

Just to showcase how flexible and easy it is, we wanted to go over couple of great features that you can use right now.

You can add people manually:

This can be the perfect feature if your visitors are greeted by a person.
What service do they need? Do they have the correct documents? Should they queue up at all?

Waiting lines and service are different, especially if your visitors are afraid of technology, you have special requirements or you want to give them the premium service.
Here we can give the customer servant the power to help.

You can see who is in line and call them out of order:

Depending on your location and what service the visitors need, a first-come-first-served order might not be the best option. In our system you can see who is currently in line and call the people as you see fit.

Close the Mobile Queue:

We only show your location in the mobile app, when someone is logged in and ready to serve the visitors.
This way there is no need to enter opening-hours, lunch breaks or to adjust according to holidays.
It might happen that there are more people interested in your service than you can manage at that day. To finish up with people already in line and close down the mobile queue just click on the gears button.

Want to see it all yourself? Just sign-up for our full featured free trial!

Christmas is coming and shopping malls will once again be filled with waiting lines. If you manage a shop, gift wrapping station or Santa himself, then Qminder might be for you!

Our queue management system can be easily set up by yourself. Just put up a tablet for visitors to type in their name to line up. This is not limited to a name, but can also be a pre-order number, id-code, phone number or the kid’s name who wants to tell Santa what they want for Christmas.

You can manage the queue from any browser.

Wouldn’t it be nice, if Santa could greet the little guy by name and not just by yelling: "NEEEEEXT!"

Learn more about the name feature or just set up the system yourself!

Apple recently introduced world with their newest iOS version. The user interface has changed completely. Now all applications must pick up this new look and feel as well. The new conception is created to concentrate more on content and make design flatter and easy to understand for users.

The Qminder development team made the decision to not only redesign for the new iOS 7, but rewrote the whole application from ground to adapt new features functionally and visually. This took us some time but outcome is mind blowing. These are the biggest changes in our iOS applications for iPhone and iPad ever.

The new Qminder line-up application user experience is simple and brilliant at the same time. We believe that applications should not only be functional but designed well too. Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how everything works. We focus on simplicity and Qminder is clear to understand for users without any user guides or manuals.

Making insanely great product is not just packing it up with dozens of features, but make things more understandable and simpler to user. We focus on on quality, less quantity.

We made Qminder because at Qminder we all mind waiting in line and now it’s your opportunity to skip the waiting line! Try out Qminder at your business and bring your customer satisfaction to next level. Sign up for 14 days free trial without any charge and download new iOS application form AppStore right now.

Apple recently introduced world with their newest iOS version. The user interface has changed completely. Now all applications must pick up this new look and feel as well. The new conception is created to concentrate more on content and make design flatter and easy to understand for users.

The Qminder development team made the decision to not only redesign for the new iOS 7, but rewrote the whole application from ground to adapt new features functionally and visually. This took us some time but outcome is mind blowing. These are the biggest changes in our iOS applications for iPhone and iPad ever.

The new Qminder line-up application user experience is simple and brilliant at the same time. We believe that applications should not only be functional but designed well too. Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how everything works. We focus on simplicity and Qminder is clear to understand for users without any user guides or manuals.

Making insanely great product is not just packing it up with dozens of features, but make things more understandable and simpler to user. We focus on on quality, less quantity.

We made Qminder because at Qminder we all mind waiting in line and now it’s your opportunity to skip the waiting line! Try out Qminder at your business and bring your customer satisfaction to next level. Sign up for 14 days free trial without any charge and download new iOS application form AppStore right now.

This is not a story about the long waiting times for the new iPhone versions, but an example how easy it is to setup Qminder.

Earlier today the news broke about Apple store employees suing for unpaid waiting time. Turns out Apple Store employees had to spend 10-15m everyday waiting in line for security check or to clock-in and this is not the first lawsuit about this waiting time.

The staff of Apple Store worldwide totals more than 40,000 people. Definitely not all of them qualify for the lawsuit, not all of them were subject to this wait etc, but it’s easy to see how multiplying the time spent with hourly wage does adds up to a significant loss.

This is just a clear example how a bit of waiting all the time cumulates in a major problem. Without queue management, even short waiting times end up as bad experience. People love order and organization, and with the tools we have today, even relatively short waiting times or one time events have have no excuse of wasting our time.

This is how any Apple Store could have set up Qminder in less than 3 minutes, increase employee satisfaction and potentially avoided the lawsuit.

The workers could have been instructed to queue up before-hand and continue working until their turn. Same goes, for coming back from lunch or just clocking-in; why wait in line, when they could have been in the cafe next floor. They all have iPods around their neck and most have smartphones anyway.

The security guards could manage the whole waiting-line from an iPad, calling the next in line.

All companies do not have strict security checks nor can their customers sue them – we just wanted you to show how easy it is to manage a waiting line with Qminder.

Set it up yourself, with a free trial! The same exact setup can work for castings, auditions, ice-skating rinks, school exams, gift wrapping stations at Christmas etc.

Drop us a line at sales@qminderapp.com for a personalized setup guide.

This is not a story about the long waiting times for the new iPhone versions, but an example how easy it is to setup Qminder.

Earlier today the news broke about Apple store employees suing for unpaid waiting time. Turns out Apple Store employees had to spend 10-15m everyday waiting in line for security check or to clock-in and this is not the first lawsuit about this waiting time.

The staff of Apple Store worldwide totals more than 40,000 people. Definitely not all of them qualify for the lawsuit, not all of them were subject to this wait etc, but it’s easy to see how multiplying the time spent with hourly wage does adds up to a significant loss.

This is just a clear example how a bit of waiting all the time cumulates in a major problem. Without queue management, even short waiting times end up as bad experience. People love order and organization, and with the tools we have today, even relatively short waiting times or one time events have have no excuse of wasting our time.

This is how any Apple Store could have set up Qminder in less than 3 minutes, increase employee satisfaction and potentially avoided the lawsuit.

The workers could have been instructed to queue up before-hand and continue working until their turn. Same goes, for coming back from lunch or just clocking-in; why wait in line, when they could have been in the cafe next floor. They all have iPods around their neck and most have smartphones anyway.

The security guards could manage the whole waiting-line from an iPad, calling the next in line.

All companies do not have strict security checks nor can their customers sue them – we just wanted you to show how easy it is to manage a waiting line with Qminder.

Set it up yourself, with a free trial! The same exact setup can work for castings, auditions, ice-skating rinks, school exams, gift wrapping stations at Christmas etc.

Drop us a line at sales@qminderapp.com for a personalized setup guide.

Waiting-lines are something that many branch managers overlook.

A queue management system like Qminder does not only increase your customer satisfaction tremendously, but also provides you an amazing dataset to improve your locations performance.

We do not complicate things with licenses and limiting access. It’s your data, it’s there, it’s useful and its beautiful!

See what time people visit your location and make staff adjustment accordingly. Get insight into trends and personnel needs. What time to schedule the lunch break and are 2 extra clerks enough for the peak hours?

See and analyze your past performance. Compare clerks and make note of your best and worse performers.

Learn more by visiting our Statistics page or just Sign Up and see your stats rolling in!

During this summer we have seen hundreds of tweets, complaints and tips about how festivals and other events have horrible queues.

And it is not just the parking, registration, food and toilet queues that we all know!

The examples are ranging from cell phone charging tent, to special attractions, bungee jumping, shower queues and many more.

Problem of queue management

The problems is clear and age old: When you have a large number of people at any location with limited resources, there will be queues!

What has changed is the queue management systems are not anymore just for the high-end banks and public offices. They don’t require large investments, complex contracts, licenses and wiring that only a team of trained experts can manage.

You can get a tablet from any electronics shops and you can just download an app – Qminder Connect and be the merchant that cares about his customers!

The queues and scarcity do not end with the summer! Waiting lines for ice-skating rings, ski rentals and to the shower on your winter trips are inevitable if you don’t plan ahead..

On Monday, after presenting how Qminder can help clinics with waiting lines, we heard how somehow the long wait at the doctor's office is being blamed on patients themselves.

The video points out how not be the so-called "Oh, by the way" patient, who after the appointed time-slot suddenly remembers a new problem they forgot to mention before. But because most people will probably still continue to do that, please share Qminder to your local establishments! We will smoothen the process!

For a queue management system like Qminder, the competition isn't usually another technology, but instead a set of unwritten rules.

„Who is last in line?“ is the common practice when entering a waiting area in a hospital or in any other more quiet queuing situation for that matter.

This is a situation with no alternatives. You cannot go to a competing shop, you just have to wait there patiently.

The questions is – does your time have to be filled with anxiety and nervous fidgeting?

Are all those people in front of me? How long will it take? I came 8 a.m. sharp like my doctor told me to, how can there still be so many people before me? Do I have to pay extra for my parking? What if I want to go to the toilet? Could I finish another procedure before? The guy next to me is coughing really intensely – I bet it's that latest flu strain that I saw on the news.

In a barely, but still functioning situation with no other alternatives, people tend to accept the status quo. Why bother? Why improve on a „functioning system“? Who cares?

This kind of thinking will not do anymore! When doctors are being paid by performance and more than 65% percent of reviews on doctors include something about the waiting times, - the doctor, the hospital, and you as a patient should care and do whatever you can to improve on the matter!

Some of you who haven't been to the doctor's for a while, might think that with „all kinds of online-bookings“ and other improvements waiting surely must have gone better over the years?

Annual Analysis of Average Patient Waiting Times finds that actually we're waiting longer!

US doctors reviewing site Vitals that gathers reviews and ratings for more than 870 000 doctors found that the shortest average waiting time to see a physician has actually increased more than a full minute.
Read more about the results from vitals.com

The first progressive doctors are using Qminder's Queue up by Name.

They have installed a simple iPad with Qminder, where patients can queue up by typing in their name.
This way, doctors don’t have to check whether there is a line behind the door, who is next in line and what they want. Distractions by knocks on the door or even worse - people rushing in the middle of an examination are also things of the past with Qminder.

Let your doctors know about Qminder! We know that we can help them and with your help we can spread the word.

Qminder remote queuing and waiting line management in the cloud is amazingly lightweight and easy to take on compared to legacy systems. Queue management used to be available only for public offices and banks that could invest thousands into systems that will become obsolete within a year or are thrown out after a simple office layout redesign. Things have changed!

We built Qminder Connect iPad app for merchants to easily set up a queue management, and we have seen the adoption and testing from some pretty unexpected locations: a jeweler in Bangkok or an IT helpdesk for 7000 people in-house employees in Manhattan. What they had in common was the question about iPad setup.

You might know that you can set up Qminder Connect as a point of entry for visitors, in order to insert their name to be called when their turn is up. But does the iPad have to be on the wall? On a desk? Mounted? In the concierge's hand? Or just taped to a pole?
Although all of these options work, we now offer a more professional solution.

Qminder partnered up with premium tablet cases manufacturer Bouncepad.
Bouncepad is the choice of high-end brands. You might have seen their cases while visiting The London Eye or Paramount Hotel in Times Square, they are also the choice of well-known brands like BMW and Vodafone.

Contact us or Bouncepad directly for the best solution for you. They offer a wide selection of tablet cases form complete floor stands to standard VESA wall mounts to lightweight but safe table-top versions. The product range combines functionality, aesthetics and security.

Queue management systems used to be only for “managing” crowds and chaos, but taking the mobile approach, we see that waiting lines can be addressed everywhere where the merchant values its visitors and work flow.

Affordable and now even easier to set up. Give it a try!

We all mind waiting!

Qminder App offers remote queuing from smartphones. It is a convenient way to get a ticket up-front and from a distance or obtain the freedom to be mobile and not be forced to stand in the waiting-room for your number to be called out.

This location-based mobile feature has made quite a few people draw a parallel with “checking-in” with Foursquare.

Foursquare is a location-based social network which has more than 25 million users, 3 billion check-ins, with 6.2 million added daily.
Besides people sharing their whereabouts, they also share photos and tips about worthwhile locations and Foursquare makes wonderful recommendations based on that information.

(Did you know you can Sign-Up for Qminder with Foursquare and if you have claimed a venue we will pull venue information automatically)

We at Qminder are all familiar with Foursquare. Some of us use it daily to check in, others just to Explore new locations. And it is not just for personal use either – more than one million businesses are using their Merchant Platform.

This weekend, they held a #4sqhackathon, a weekend hackers' event, which in essence is similar to Garage48, where Qminder got started.
We didn't make it to NYC or SF for the official event on that occasion, but that didn't stop us from taking part.

The problem of waiting lines is clear from their platform as well.
Warnings about waiting lines, lengths of queues, and some of the most frequent “tips” and comments left about locations. The #HateOfWait is a powerful thing!

So to give power to the people, to make your cries heard, we are a trying a new feature in Qminder App where you can vote for place that should use Qminder.
This gives us the information where you want to see Qminder, and it's a clear sign for the businesses how unhappy their customers are about waiting lines.

We have already data coming in around the world.
We haven't been to South Korea, but we know where their waiting lines are.

We all mind waiting!

Solving the problem of waiting lines with the help of smartphones and tablets has put us into a slightly different state than any of the other queue management systems out there.

Besides the added flexibility that using commodity hardware provides, we are at those amazing stages of our development, where people are suggesting new ideas and asking us for solutions for queuing-problems that have never been addressed before.

Yes, everyone can imagine or has used the queue management system at a bank, a governmental building, or at a hospital – but what about seasonal events or even one-timers, such as supermodel castings, the beer stand at a rock-festival, X-factor auditions, or the launching of a new iPhone ?
For the last 2 weeks we have seen an increase of interest from the US and although Black Friday shopping craze and waiting lines for days and nights were to thank for some of that, the curiosity did continue.

It wasn’t until today that we talked to a specific client and realized that we couldn’t ignore the Christmas carols any longer – whole families are waiting in lines for hours at a time, in order to just get to meet Santa.
They wait for so long that there are online tutorials to help with the process.
We have been talking to European shopping malls to relieve gift wrapping stations from waiting lines, but indeed – why stop there, why bother the elves, when Qminder, the mobile queue management, can help manage the stressed out parents way more efficiently?

And any elf will be able to set the system up all by themselves, as it really is that simple.

In the spirit of holidays you can get the system for FREE until the end of the year. All you have to do is register your venue and send us an e-mail with the subject heading “SANTA”.

We all mind waiting! Especially when there are gifts to receive.

We all mind waiting!

This was the simple idea, that brought six of us together, who shared the pain enough to act on it. Then we hacked together a modern day solution for queue management based on smartphones. Thinking of ourselves as our own customers.

As many of you know, Qminder continued on with great speed and support. Our problem and solution was recognized by Europe’s leading micro-seed investment fund and mentoring program, Seedcamp. Which invested in us, in less than 100 days from inception at the Garage48 hackathon.

Next week is the flagship event of Seedcamp‘s program and a great time for us to take a step back and remind ourselves and everybody else why we are doing this?

As Seedcamp is more than just a “program” and often mentioned as a family, we got help from another Seedcamp company called Teleportd. They helped us find and use real-time relevant crowd-sourced photos from the smartphone generation, to easily visualize why we are doing this.

Take a look at some of the latest photos shared on Twitter, Instagram and other platforms. You can see that waiting in line is a big problem and feel the cries for help.

Furthermore, as Apple hasn’t yet signed up for Qminder to manage the iPhone 5 queues, we suggest you take a look at our other friends from Seedcamp, who are in the business of getting anything done by trusted, friendly people nearby – Milkly. They have kindly offered to wait in line for you.

Stay tuned for updates during Seedcamp Week by Following us on Twitter or on Facebook - its going to be a blast!

And of course, if you know or own a venue that has a waiting line, Sign-Up and start using Qminder today.

We all mind waiting!

As many of you might know, Qminder started at a weekend hackathon Garage48.
What is Qminder? Simply put: it's a queue management system.

Since the next event is taking place this weekend and we are getting more and more pings and questions about our experience, we offer a quick overview of Qminder’s first 48h and hopefully some useful tips:

Briefly on the concept of Garage48:

Garage48 events usually start at 5pm on a Friday evening. All participants gather together in a big room and pitch about 30 to 40 ideas on stage. Each idea is put on the wall and everyone can choose their favourite idea and team. Usually, about 12-15 ideas will be selected and teams start working.

Friday

…or even before Friday - Do your homework! - although a common guideline for these kinds of events suggests that no work should be done beforehand.
The Garage48 ideas are posted in the participants’ Facebook group, listed, tweeted and presented in some form before the event. Getting familiar with these ideas is not cheating, but rather common sense to speed up the process on-site, in order to find the best suitable idea for you. Because the way the teams are formed can only be described with the word ‘chaos’.

When you are pitching and trying to attract talent – it gets even harder. Not to get into the intricacies about the art of pitching, suffice it to say that you have to make sure it’s clear, visual and offers information on who you are looking for and what you hope to establish in 48h.

This was exactly the case with Qminder:
Our design and concept author Markko Karu listed the idea and thus made it a no-brainer for me, Rauno Rüngas, to approach him before the event started, as I had had a similar idea written down a few months prior to the event. This glimpse of mutual vision helped us gain confidence and form the team more quickly. And again on the subject of preparation: Markko’s one-pager in its visual glory was miles ahead of the pitches that consisted of “here is the word document – read it”.

Don’t hold back on forming the teams! Furthermore, you need to make sure that there are enough people in your team to handle the different sides of the project. It may vary according to your goals – depending on whether you want to start a business, have fun, challenge yourself or just find that one person who is willing to work with you .
But you have to take into account that even the brightest idea and the most elegant code will fade fast, if it has no face or it is not backed by someone who can communicate it all to the audience.

Pro-tip: There is no shame in targeting your initial 48h prototype to the direction of sponsor prizes.

In our case, it was the Nokia Prize. To win a couple of development phones, we had to ship something on the Nokia Meego platform. We did exactly that and won the phones, regardless of it having a low groundwork value for the future development and platform. It still provided us with a solid prize for further motivation, a fast reward for the developers and having a smart and hands-on sponsor representative close during the whole time. Most of all, the developer who we recruited last, “who had done something on Qt/Nokia platform 7 years ago” and was willing to “give it a try”, wound up being one of the most valuable assets – our CTO Siim Raud.

Once you get working: if possible, sit behind one table! As many of these events are held in auditoriums and classrooms, don’t fear to mess around and quickly form a conference table.

Pro-tip: leave a chair empty, door open, pathway seen to project manager/marketing guy, so that people can visit you. They could be organizers, mentors, journalists, event sponsors or whoever. This can be summed up into the simple fact of keeping an open mind-set, keeping the dialogue going and being available to spontaneous others.

A big part of Friday will be planning, but that does not mean that you have to decide the platforms, frameworks, the name, domain etc. then and there.
Brainstorm, and if something is left undecided, just mark the deadline for the next morning at 10:00.

Pro-tip: Getting everybody under the same roof definitively helps bond the team. So, if you have floor space in the same city where the event is held, be ready to take in nomad team members. Aside from making sure nobody sleeps in after a long night, it speeds up the process of continuing where things were left off the previous evening.

Saturday

Make no mistake – you do not have 48 hours! You have Friday for preparation and Sunday for finishing up and polishing – to get something done, you actually only have the one Saturday!

By noon, the plan has to be almost solid, so that everybody could focus on their work and get into the zone, get wired in, be in the moment or whichever term suits best – everybody has one. This is the time to be on the top of your game.
For the project manager, it means a clear plan and following it, for coders and designers, it means focusing on the creative effort, for the ones responsible for marketing, it means calling/going to potential customers and partners.

In our case, it meant hustling people on the last weekend of the summer – demonstrating that there are no excuses to be made on the customer development part! Validating the idea and preparing for the future is just part of that – in 48h having that extra confirmation and validation on Saturday evening to motivate a tired and a newly formed team is priceless!

Tip: Use whatever resources you have. Your job is to make it happen in 48 hours. That is difficult. That is what great men have taught for ages:
“All is fair in love, war and Garage48″. For Qminder, it meant forcing a friend to pick-up the machinery from a potential partner we had called, and to drive 2o0km to Tartu, where the event was held.

Pro-tip: If as a project manager/marketer you want to motivate the developers to give all they have on that Saturday evening , you’d better know what time the nearest pizza place closes, deliver it, leave them alone to not over-manage and hope for the best.

Tip: If you are the guy having to pitch the next day, maybe give an interview, talk to customers, mentors etc. – get some sleep, you don’t have the privilege to be grumpy, tired, smelly or anything the like on the next day.

Sunday

By Sunday morning, the product will most likely not be ready, your vision on the other hand had better be ready. You have to know what you are going to pitch, what is the plan for the day, the coming weeks etc. This will all change anyway, but while talking to visitors, mentors, or judges on the last day, you have to have a plan – they cannot help, advise or comment, if you don’t have the plan. We are now talking about the plan that is the mix of the naive vision you had on Friday, the harsh reality you experienced on Saturday (both tech, bizdev and custdev), and a plan that has to win the hackathon and keep the team together even after they go back to their daily jobs on Monday.

On the last day, the project manager really has to step in, evaluate what has been done, what can be done in the last hours and how to gain the maximum out of all the options. To get a working demo for example. To see what he or she can pitch on the stage in the evening.

Tip: Don’t change the pitch at the last minute. You might have gotten some great new idea, but changing a pitch that you are doing for the first time at the last minute, will most likely mess everything up.

Unfortunately, this was the case with Qminder. A pitch within the time-limit was completely restructured at the last minute and basically collapsed on stage.
…But it didn’t matter:

Pro-tip: Don’t worry about the pitch – DEMO! Show the progress, show what you did, communicate how the customer reacted and what the partners said. Nobody is taking your short pitch word by word giving information about the made-up numbers, about the market size and what you THINK customers need. Surely after 48 hours you can’t know that (even if it is true, they will not be convinced). The only thing that matters is a working demo with every validation point you can get your hands on: a customer testimony, letter of intent or partnership.

Be sure to have a webpage up with a clear call-to-action and conversion plan. The hype and traffic you get will most likely be the high point for many weeks or months.
For Qminder, the primitive webpage with a couple of screenshots and e-mail collection fields was the only thing visible for the outside world for almost 4 months.
Good thing we had great designer on board who created it, because the prototype you ship within 48h will most likely suck pretty badly and will not be operable anyway, so all you have is the design. The design of the plan and the design of the webpage.

Tip: Help others! Although this might contradict the strict “All is fair in love, war and Garage48″ postulate, don’t forget that this weekend is also about networking and proving with hundreds of other people, that times have changed and shipping something within 48h is possible. The benefits of having connections and helping others should in general be clear to everyone anyway.

How to win a hackathon,
how to get the maximum out of the weekend,
how to connect,
how to form a team,
how to pitch,
- these are all subjects demanding discussion and experience-sharing.

… in the end it just comes down to #JFDI

Just F****** Do It!

]]>

As many of you might know, Qminder started at a weekend hackathon Garage48.
What is Qminder? Simply put: it's a queue management system.

Since the next event is taking place this weekend and we are getting more and more pings and questions about our experience, we offer a quick overview of Qminder’s first 48h and hopefully some useful tips:

Briefly on the concept of Garage48:

Garage48 events usually start at 5pm on a Friday evening. All participants gather together in a big room and pitch about 30 to 40 ideas on stage. Each idea is put on the wall and everyone can choose their favourite idea and team. Usually, about 12-15 ideas will be selected and teams start working.

Friday

…or even before Friday - Do your homework! - although a common guideline for these kinds of events suggests that no work should be done beforehand.
The Garage48 ideas are posted in the participants’ Facebook group, listed, tweeted and presented in some form before the event. Getting familiar with these ideas is not cheating, but rather common sense to speed up the process on-site, in order to find the best suitable idea for you. Because the way the teams are formed can only be described with the word ‘chaos’.

When you are pitching and trying to attract talent – it gets even harder. Not to get into the intricacies about the art of pitching, suffice it to say that you have to make sure it’s clear, visual and offers information on who you are looking for and what you hope to establish in 48h.

This was exactly the case with Qminder:
Our design and concept author Markko Karu listed the idea and thus made it a no-brainer for me, Rauno Rüngas, to approach him before the event started, as I had had a similar idea written down a few months prior to the event. This glimpse of mutual vision helped us gain confidence and form the team more quickly. And again on the subject of preparation: Markko’s one-pager in its visual glory was miles ahead of the pitches that consisted of “here is the word document – read it”.

Don’t hold back on forming the teams! Furthermore, you need to make sure that there are enough people in your team to handle the different sides of the project. It may vary according to your goals – depending on whether you want to start a business, have fun, challenge yourself or just find that one person who is willing to work with you .
But you have to take into account that even the brightest idea and the most elegant code will fade fast, if it has no face or it is not backed by someone who can communicate it all to the audience.

Pro-tip: There is no shame in targeting your initial 48h prototype to the direction of sponsor prizes.

In our case, it was the Nokia Prize. To win a couple of development phones, we had to ship something on the Nokia Meego platform. We did exactly that and won the phones, regardless of it having a low groundwork value for the future development and platform. It still provided us with a solid prize for further motivation, a fast reward for the developers and having a smart and hands-on sponsor representative close during the whole time. Most of all, the developer who we recruited last, “who had done something on Qt/Nokia platform 7 years ago” and was willing to “give it a try”, wound up being one of the most valuable assets – our CTO Siim Raud.

Once you get working: if possible, sit behind one table! As many of these events are held in auditoriums and classrooms, don’t fear to mess around and quickly form a conference table.

Pro-tip: leave a chair empty, door open, pathway seen to project manager/marketing guy, so that people can visit you. They could be organizers, mentors, journalists, event sponsors or whoever. This can be summed up into the simple fact of keeping an open mind-set, keeping the dialogue going and being available to spontaneous others.

A big part of Friday will be planning, but that does not mean that you have to decide the platforms, frameworks, the name, domain etc. then and there.
Brainstorm, and if something is left undecided, just mark the deadline for the next morning at 10:00.

Pro-tip: Getting everybody under the same roof definitively helps bond the team. So, if you have floor space in the same city where the event is held, be ready to take in nomad team members. Aside from making sure nobody sleeps in after a long night, it speeds up the process of continuing where things were left off the previous evening.

Saturday

Make no mistake – you do not have 48 hours! You have Friday for preparation and Sunday for finishing up and polishing – to get something done, you actually only have the one Saturday!

By noon, the plan has to be almost solid, so that everybody could focus on their work and get into the zone, get wired in, be in the moment or whichever term suits best – everybody has one. This is the time to be on the top of your game.
For the project manager, it means a clear plan and following it, for coders and designers, it means focusing on the creative effort, for the ones responsible for marketing, it means calling/going to potential customers and partners.

In our case, it meant hustling people on the last weekend of the summer – demonstrating that there are no excuses to be made on the customer development part! Validating the idea and preparing for the future is just part of that – in 48h having that extra confirmation and validation on Saturday evening to motivate a tired and a newly formed team is priceless!

Tip: Use whatever resources you have. Your job is to make it happen in 48 hours. That is difficult. That is what great men have taught for ages:
“All is fair in love, war and Garage48″. For Qminder, it meant forcing a friend to pick-up the machinery from a potential partner we had called, and to drive 2o0km to Tartu, where the event was held.

Pro-tip: If as a project manager/marketer you want to motivate the developers to give all they have on that Saturday evening , you’d better know what time the nearest pizza place closes, deliver it, leave them alone to not over-manage and hope for the best.

Tip: If you are the guy having to pitch the next day, maybe give an interview, talk to customers, mentors etc. – get some sleep, you don’t have the privilege to be grumpy, tired, smelly or anything the like on the next day.

Sunday

By Sunday morning, the product will most likely not be ready, your vision on the other hand had better be ready. You have to know what you are going to pitch, what is the plan for the day, the coming weeks etc. This will all change anyway, but while talking to visitors, mentors, or judges on the last day, you have to have a plan – they cannot help, advise or comment, if you don’t have the plan. We are now talking about the plan that is the mix of the naive vision you had on Friday, the harsh reality you experienced on Saturday (both tech, bizdev and custdev), and a plan that has to win the hackathon and keep the team together even after they go back to their daily jobs on Monday.

On the last day, the project manager really has to step in, evaluate what has been done, what can be done in the last hours and how to gain the maximum out of all the options. To get a working demo for example. To see what he or she can pitch on the stage in the evening.

Tip: Don’t change the pitch at the last minute. You might have gotten some great new idea, but changing a pitch that you are doing for the first time at the last minute, will most likely mess everything up.

Unfortunately, this was the case with Qminder. A pitch within the time-limit was completely restructured at the last minute and basically collapsed on stage.
…But it didn’t matter:

Pro-tip: Don’t worry about the pitch – DEMO! Show the progress, show what you did, communicate how the customer reacted and what the partners said. Nobody is taking your short pitch word by word giving information about the made-up numbers, about the market size and what you THINK customers need. Surely after 48 hours you can’t know that (even if it is true, they will not be convinced). The only thing that matters is a working demo with every validation point you can get your hands on: a customer testimony, letter of intent or partnership.

Be sure to have a webpage up with a clear call-to-action and conversion plan. The hype and traffic you get will most likely be the high point for many weeks or months.
For Qminder, the primitive webpage with a couple of screenshots and e-mail collection fields was the only thing visible for the outside world for almost 4 months.
Good thing we had great designer on board who created it, because the prototype you ship within 48h will most likely suck pretty badly and will not be operable anyway, so all you have is the design. The design of the plan and the design of the webpage.

Tip: Help others! Although this might contradict the strict “All is fair in love, war and Garage48″ postulate, don’t forget that this weekend is also about networking and proving with hundreds of other people, that times have changed and shipping something within 48h is possible. The benefits of having connections and helping others should in general be clear to everyone anyway.

How to win a hackathon,
how to get the maximum out of the weekend,
how to connect,
how to form a team,
how to pitch,
- these are all subjects demanding discussion and experience-sharing.

… in the end it just comes down to #JFDI

Just F****** Do It!

]]> Rauno Rüngas https://www.qminder.com/startupnow/ https://www.qminder.com/startupnow/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.qminder.com/startupnow/

To inspire others – here is a nice collection of lessons learned from 2011 Seedcamp participants. Including Margn, GrabCAD and ourselves.

#startupnow teams

The ebook is free to view and download from: http://slidesha.re/startupnow11.

You can find Qminder's small contribution on page 29.

Startup Now: A Guide from the Seedcamp 2011 participants

]]>

To inspire others – here is a nice collection of lessons learned from 2011 Seedcamp participants. Including Margn, GrabCAD and ourselves.

#startupnow teams

The ebook is free to view and download from: http://slidesha.re/startupnow11.

You can find Qminder's small contribution on page 29.

Startup Now: A Guide from the Seedcamp 2011 participants

]]> Rauno Rüngas https://www.qminder.com/hello-world/ https://www.qminder.com/hello-world/#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.qminder.com/hello-world/

In the 21^st century, it is outrageous to be having the need for physically standing in lines and waiting for service, when we have the technology that could do it for you and relieve both the end-users and the venues of unnecessary nuisance.

“Wait in line without wasting your time” was a simple idea that gathered 6 people to work on it in a Garage48 hackathon in August 2011. After having an explosive start by making the prototype in 48 hours, landing a pilot customer and two partnerships, our success raised the big question of whether this was a one-weekend-wonder or the beginning of something much more.

Today, ending the 6 week intensive development cycle in Startup Sauna, we are proud to provide you access to the simplicity of the basic functions. As agility and openness are our core values, we wanted to provide you with the option to play out the use cases while we are still making some finishing touches. Although we are waiting behind Apple's approval of Qminder for AppStore, we are already in progress of setting this up with our pilot customers, adding and rejecting some features –we didn't want to make you wait any longer. Because it is you we want to show it to and hear from!

As an end-user, you can download the application from Google Play or AppStore. We will show you how easy it is, and ask you to tell us where you would like to use it first.

If as a business you value your customers and hope to provide them with stress free queuing, we kindly ask you to tell us more about your specific needs, so we could take it into account and cater to your particular requirements!

Seeing that distributors from around the world are interested in speeding up the processes of adaptation and are contacting us based on the little information that was previously available, we are confirming that as a local reseller, we are most willing to cooperate with you and looking forward to hearing from you.

Because in the end,

everybody freaking hates to wait.

]]>

In the 21^st century, it is outrageous to be having the need for physically standing in lines and waiting for service, when we have the technology that could do it for you and relieve both the end-users and the venues of unnecessary nuisance.

“Wait in line without wasting your time” was a simple idea that gathered 6 people to work on it in a Garage48 hackathon in August 2011. After having an explosive start by making the prototype in 48 hours, landing a pilot customer and two partnerships, our success raised the big question of whether this was a one-weekend-wonder or the beginning of something much more.

Today, ending the 6 week intensive development cycle in Startup Sauna, we are proud to provide you access to the simplicity of the basic functions. As agility and openness are our core values, we wanted to provide you with the option to play out the use cases while we are still making some finishing touches. Although we are waiting behind Apple's approval of Qminder for AppStore, we are already in progress of setting this up with our pilot customers, adding and rejecting some features –we didn't want to make you wait any longer. Because it is you we want to show it to and hear from!

As an end-user, you can download the application from Google Play or AppStore. We will show you how easy it is, and ask you to tell us where you would like to use it first.

If as a business you value your customers and hope to provide them with stress free queuing, we kindly ask you to tell us more about your specific needs, so we could take it into account and cater to your particular requirements!

Seeing that distributors from around the world are interested in speeding up the processes of adaptation and are contacting us based on the little information that was previously available, we are confirming that as a local reseller, we are most willing to cooperate with you and looking forward to hearing from you.

Because in the end,

everybody freaking hates to wait.

]]>