Whatever your business’s peak hours of operation, having the scope to deliver great customer service when resources are stretched and customer need is high could be an important factor in your business’s success.
How? If you can demonstrate good service even at the busiest times, your customers will recognize this, and come back to you when they require that service again, helping you to build loyalty.
Here are four ways to not just survive rush hour, but own it.
Understand the peak and troughs
You might note that there are key times of the day – or week – when your business is busier than usual, but you might not have a process for tracking that information efficiently so that it can be used.
If you’re a business that sells products, such as a retail company, real-time cash flow software could help you see these trends. If you’re a services-based business, you might want to ask your employers to use a time-tracking technology like Harvest so that you can see when your team feels stretched.
Build combative promotional strategies
Once you have clear data on what your busy periods look like, you can start to implement strategies to even out the peaks and troughs. Promotional strategies that generate leads in your off periods can be a great way to balance things out, and redistribute your customers. This will make it easier for your team to pay more attention to each customer.
A strong annual marketing calendar could be a great way to plan this activity so that it aligns with your business objectives. If you know that you’re usually busier in the afternoons, then perhaps a strong morning social media campaign could help reduce stress in the afternoon.
Introduce flexible working hours
Flexi-time is becoming more fashionable in the modern workplace and it could be for good reason. Not only does it boost morale, helping employees do their best when it comes to coping with busy times, it also gives businesses the flexibility they require to deal with the busiest times in the day. Your employees know best when they’re likely to be stretched, so giving them the chance to do optimise their working hours will not just help themselves, but it’ll help your business, too.
Get tailored, outside advice
Sometimes, a little outside perspective is no bad thing. If you outsource your operations to a business like Capita, they can help review the services you offer to ensure that they – and your team – are best optimized for your busy times. Their consultation is completely bespoke, meaning that each factor that contributes to your organisation’s peaks and troughs will be taken into consideration as they work in partnership with you to help you get into best shape you can to take on your rush hour.
