Imagine this is your business: People walk up and hand you $5 and you hand them back a $1. That’s $4 of profit per transaction.
How quickly would you want to make that transaction happen?
As fast as possible.
Transactions like these happen on a regular basis at your local bar, snow cone stand, and hot dog vendor. When I see a long line at any of these places, it makes my business brain want to explode. We have all been there. Trying to get the bartender’s attention for what seems like hours as he or she deftly avoids making eye contact. You hold money in your hand, jockey for position at the bar, only to be ignored until it is finally your turn.
For every 20 minutes you wait, you buy one drink less per hour. That is $4 less profit per hour multiplied times 100 people at the bar. That’s a grand total of $400 less profit per hour.
I was at a festival in Allen Texas a few years ago where the lines to get coupons for beer purchases were 40 people deep. The lines to then get a beer were also 40 people deep. I left and went home. I had a similar experience waiting in line for a corny dog at the Texas State Fair.
The point? It is in your financial interest to dramatically reduce the time it takes for people to trade you money for services. One hot dog vendor came up with a genius idea to have customers make their own change out of a basket. It was a huge success. He developed goodwill with his customers, sold more hot dogs quicker, and made more money.
Develop pre-pay solutions, increase your staff, offer grab and go options, do inline order taking, and anything else possible to eliminate lines.
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